I couldn't move for the first few seconds after I looked him in the eyes. In his werewolf form, he is far taller and more enormous than I am, and I must raise my head in order to keep eye contact with him at all times. I was doubtful of what he had been saying, and I was not convinced that he and Valdim were true associates of mine, or that they were even aware of the existence of my family. When he told me that my eighteenth birthday was coming, I was taken aback by the news.

"If that's what you were thinking, do you mean, it was my...