It was the first time Thora had ever seen Darius look so serious and heavy. Her heart sank with his expression. "I got it. Thora nodded solemnly, then added, "I'll protect you." To her, Darius might have regeneration, but he wasn't like those werewolves who had awakened power-type abilities. In her view, he barely had any real way to defend himself. And there were way too many people who wanted him dead. Whether now or later, Darius belonged to her. That meant no one was allowed to touch him. Darius raised an eyebrow. Her judgment was obviously a bit wrong, but being protected so seriously by Thora still felt nice.He smiled without realizing it. Lorcan complained in his mind, "You're the Alpha of Nightclaw Pack, and you're happy letting your mate protect you like a pup? Show her our power! Even without abilities, we could crush trash!" Darius replied through the mind-link, "That's Thora being biased toward me. You wouldn't get it. I'm not explaining myself to a stupid wolf." Ignoring Lorcan's angry response, Darius turned serious again. "Still, I don't know who attacked you." Thora looked straight at him. After confirming he wasn't lying, she asked, "Did your people bring their bodies back?" "They did. Leaving bodies out on the road wouldn't be appropriate." Before she could continue, he added, "But as soon as we brought them back, they melted into blood and evaporated. Nothing remained except their clothes." Thora's expression grew even colder."Just like that person." "Exactly. Same as that man." Her voice dropped. "They hadn't awakened abilities, and their wolf spirits were low-level. But their bodies and healing were far beyond normal werewolves. Why?" Darius laughed softly and leaned back. "Have you heard of artificial werewolves?" Thora nodded. "I have." Since she already knew, Darius didn't beat around the bush. "Blue Star has a convention that bans cloned artificial werewolves. But there's another type—modified artificial werewolves—that isn't fully covered. "They use living werewolves as carriers, inject serums, edit genes, and forcefully boost their bodies, sometimes even triggering abilities. Basically, they treat living werewolves as test subjects, trading unknown risks for superpowers. Only insane organizations would mess with tech like that." He curled his lips slightly. "And according to Blue Star law, those artificial werewolves can be killed on sight." Thora immediately got it. "So they were modified artificial werewolves." But creating enhanced werewolves, recruiting ability users, and even installing self-destruct chips? That wasn't something one person could pull off. There had to be a huge organization behind it. And their target was obviously the stone that could boost abilities. A sharp light flashed in Darius' eyes. "Do you know why they came after you?" Thora snapped out of her thoughts and met his curious look, a slight smile forming. "I have a guess." After a pause, she added, "But I'm not telling you." Darius was speechless. She had already gotten the info she wanted. There was no reason to keep talking. Thora stood up and walked out of the basement, calling loudly, "Howard, make some food. I'm starving!" "Yes, miss!" Howard replied right away and rushed into the kitchen. Darius casually activated the basement's cleaning system, clearing away the blood left by the self-destructing ability user. By the time he came upstairs, Thora had already gone back to her room to shower. Hot water washed over her, taking away the smell of blood and sweat, but her thoughts stayed tangled around Darius' words. The clues seemed clear, yet they only brought more doubts. How did those people know the stone was at the Greens' place? Even Marlon didn't know its origin, so how did they know so much? The stone had been left behind by the original Thora's father. Did they know who he was? The more she thought, the more questions appeared.And all of them pointed to one person—the real father she had never met. Thora shut off the shower. Water slid from her forehead, down her face, and into the hollow of her collarbone. Her closed eyes snapped open, sharp and cold. No matter who this body's father was, or how strong the enemies might be, anyone who targeted her had better be ready. Thora had never been afraid of taking the fight to her enemies. She changed into a robe, stepped out, and roughly dried her hair. Turning around, she headed downstairs for dinner. But as she reached the stairs, the voices coming from the dining room made her stop.