Leo’s POV
Very few people had ever seen my face.
The mask I wore was not just a cover but a fortress. It allowed me to walk among my people without truly being known, a necessity when you are cursed to destroy all you touch. Everyone knew I was a hybrid—the son of the Lycan Queen and their Alpha King.
They whispered about the shadow-born king, a tyrant cursed to drain the land and soul of anyone who came too close. But no one, not even the council, knew my face.
Except for a select few. My beta Zane, and Isabella, my only childhood friend, are the only ones that know that Leo Ashton is indeed the Alpha King.
The memory of my uncle’s visit in the human world surfaced unbidden, his desperate plea still as absurd as the day I’d heard it.
I remembered suppressing a laugh. The irony had
