Chapter 71

• Throughout my life, I had always avoided danger, not walked straight into its jaws. Hiding felt safer, even natural. I’d never deliberately confronted my fears. Facing my father and his pack had always seemed like a battle I couldn’t win—not when I was fighting alone.
• But everything changed when Hadrian stood beside me. His strength and influence gave me a foundation to rely on, yet I wasn’t the same person anymore. I had grown stronger, fiercer. When I fought that wolf from the northern pack, it wasn’t a desperate struggle to survive. It was something more—a declaration of my right to be free.
• Hadrian’s decision to take me to the noble gathering still struck me as recklessly bold, yet I couldn’t deny a strange sense of safety in his presence. At some point, I’d begun to trust him completely, though I couldn’t pinpoint when it happened. Deep down, I was certain he wouldn’t let anyone harm me.