Danill led Liam away from the noise of the factory floor.

The sound of machinery gradually faded behind them as they walked deeper into one of the quieter sections of the building. The workers were busy elsewhere and the long hallway they entered was almost empty except for stacks of crates and metal shelves lining the walls.

Danill stopped beside a row of containers and folded his arms.

For a few seconds he didn’t speak.

Liam raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

Danill scratched the back of his head.

"Since you told me to look into Tatiana’s past..."

Liam immediately paid attention.

Danill continued.

"I’ve been wondering something."

"What?"

"What exactly were you trying to find?"

Liam stayed silent.

Danill shrugged.

"I checked again and again. Records. Reports. Old files. Anything I could get my hands on."

"And?"

"And I found absolutely nothing."

Liam wasn’t surprised.

Tatiana was a mystery even to him.

Danill leaned against a container.

"At first I thought maybe you suspected she was connected to something important."

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"Then I remembered something."

Liam looked at him.

"What?"

"Your hand."

Liam froze for the briefest moment.

Danill pointed at him.

"It was bleeding when you told me to check about her."

Liam’s eyebrows rose.

Danill nodded confidently.

"Which means she must have hurt you when you tried touching her."

For the first time since the conversation started, Liam looked genuinely surprised.

"And how do you know that?"

A grin spread across Daniel’s face.

"Don’t worry about it."

Liam crossed his arms.

"Danil."

The werewolf laughed.

"Fine."

He lifted his right hand.

"It happened to me too."

Liam blinked.

"What?"

Danill nodded.

"A while back."

He shook his head at the memory.

"I tried touching her."

"And?"

"She snapped my hand."

Liam stared.

Danill casually shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal.

"Completely snapped it."

Liam looked at his hand.

Danill noticed.

"Yeah. Not fun."

"How bad was it?"

"It took weeks to heal."

That got Liam’s attention immediately.

Weeks?

For a werewolf?

That wasn’t normal.

Their regeneration abilities were ridiculous.

Even severe injuries normally disappeared quickly.

Weeks made no sense.

Danill chuckled.

"I’m actually more surprised by you."

"Why?"

"You healed in one day."

Liam remained calm outwardly.

Inside, however, his thoughts immediately started moving.

So the system had been right.

Tatiana’s ability wasn’t simply causing damage.

It was interfering with healing itself.

When she injured someone, their regenerative abilities became suppressed.

That explained Danill’s injury.

That explained his own hand.

That explained why the system had reacted so strongly when it analyzed her.

A strange light appeared in Liam’s eyes.

If they could understand that power...

If they could control it...

Tatiana would become one of the most dangerous assets they possessed.

A fighter capable of shutting down regeneration would be terrifying against vampires, and countless other supernatural creatures.

Danill continued speaking, unaware of Liam’s thoughts.

"So I started putting things together."

Liam looked back at him.

Danill nodded.

"If you got your hand snapped when you touched her..."

"And the same thing happened to me..."

Liam waited.

"Then clearly it wasn’t random."

Danilo pushed himself away from the container.

"And I watch her a lot."

Liam slowly raised an eyebrow.

"You watch her a lot?"

Daniel immediately pointed a finger.

"Not like that."

"Sure."

"Not like that."

Liam smirked.

Danill rolled his eyes.

"She’s part of the pack. I pay attention to people."

Liam didn’t look convinced.

Danill ignored him.

"What I noticed is that she avoids men."

Liam’s expression became thoughtful.

He continued.

"Not just avoids."

"What do you mean?"

"She really avoids them."

His voice lowered slightly.

"She doesn’t get close."

Liam listened carefully.

"She keeps distance."

Danill gestured with his hands.

"If a group of men are standing somewhere she’ll walk around them."

"If a man gets too close she moves away."

"If someone tries talking too much she ends the conversation quickly."

Liam thought back.

Now that Danill mentioned it...

He had noticed small signs of that himself.

At the time he hadn’t paid attention.

Now it seemed significant.

Danill shook his head.

"Honestly, it’s a miracle she even joined your team."

Liam opened his mouth to respond.

Then suddenly—

Ding.

A familiar notification appeared in front of his eyes.

[Yeah, thank me bitch for activating your passive charm and getting past her defense mechanism.]

Liam froze.

Completely froze.

His brain stopped working.

For a moment he wasn’t even sure he had read it correctly.

His eyes slowly widened.

What.

The.

Fuck.

He blinked once.

Then twice.

The message remained there.

Liam stared at it.

The system...

Had just called him a bitch.

Not a warning.

Not a notification.

Not a mission.

An actual insult.

Liam’s mouth slowly opened.

What was going on?

For months the system had acted like a machine.

Cold.

Direct.

Emotionless.

Now suddenly it sounded like a person.

A very annoying person.

An extremely annoying person.

Did this idiot’s sense of humor return?

Had it always been there?

Was it broken?

Was Liam finally losing his mind?

The questions exploded inside his head one after another.

Then another notification appeared.

[Your father’s the idiot you dumb fuck.]

Liam’s jaw physically dropped.

He looked around instinctively.

As if someone nearby had said it.

But nobody had.

Only Danill stood there.

Completely unaware.

The more Liam read the message the more unbelievable it became.

He genuinely didn’t know whether to laugh or panic.

Another message appeared.

[Yes, your daddy is back, I went away on vacation, did you miss m—]

"Nope."

Liam immediately force-closed the notification.

The window vanished.

He shut down every system interface he could access.

Then he mentally slammed every door he could find.

Silence.

Finally.

Complete silence.

Liam stood there staring into nothing.

That...

Was weird.

Very weird.

Possibly the weirdest thing that had happened to him recently.

Which was saying something considering he had fought Cain and Alexander.

Meanwhile Danill had been talking for a while.

"Liam?"

No response.

"Liam?"

Still nothing.

"Liam?"

Liam finally blinked.

"Huh?"

Danill frowned.

"I’ve been calling your name."

Liam rubbed his face.

"Sorry."

Danill tilted his head.

"I called you four times."

Liam stared at him.

Danill looked genuinely concerned now.

"You completely froze."

A brief silence followed.

Danill narrowed his eyes.

"Liam?"

"Yes?"

"You look frozen."

He paused.

"Is everything okay?"