"W-why?' I stuttered, my voice failing me yet again. Why should I call him father?

The man grinned, showing his too-white teeth. "I'm disappointed that you don't remember me, son"

My eyes widened in confusion. Son? Was that his sort of pet name for me?

"I- I'm not your son" I whispered, confused. My mother and father, hell, my whole family, left me all alone. I loved them all dearly, but I was the only one left behind when they moved on. This man wasn't my father.

At least, I assumed they moved on. They didn't leave me anything, not even a note. Maybe they abandoned me because I have trouble shifting...

"You're half correct, you're not my son by blood relation. But make no mistake, child. You're my son for I made you what you are"

"No... You're lying to me! I don't understand what you mean!" I cried, but some of the pieces of the fragmented puzzle in my brain began to slot together, even before he began elaborating.

"You know I speak the truth. You're an artificially crafted leopard shifter, made what you are by the power of science. Though you didn't quite work out as you were supposed to, you were the first to survive and still function afterwards"

"Do you think it'll work? The others all failed"

It couldn't be true. But it all made so much sense.

"We kept you here for 2 years in this research facility, trying to transform your frail human body into one with the ability to become a strong, powerful leopard. And eventually, we succeeded. But you could never shift as quickly or painlessly as one born into the ability, nor would you ever truly find your mate since you were originally human. Shame, really" he finished, picking up a syringe filled with a familiar pale blue liquid. My eyes widened, realising his intentions.

"But why? Why would you do something so cruel and inhumane? You can't just take people from their lives and use them in your twisted experiments! It's not right!" I yelled, my voice trembling with anger.

How many other children had this research facility taken from their homes? How many had died to achieve whatever goal they had?

"Money, child. Money doesn't grow on trees, and I had two daughters to support. I used to work as a doctor, but the pay was low and getting a promotion took time. And when I was offered a job here at the Human Transformation Lab, I jumped at the opportunity. You want to know what they were offering me? Millions of pounds, and just for coming to work here! And then I got paid triple that for the work I was doing!" He yelled, advancing on my immobilised form.

"But they wanted something in return, didn't they?" I pressed, something coming back to me. Oh god, I remember it a clearly now! "Your daughters"

"Yes, they wished to use my daughters as part of the experiment" the man replied, gritting his teeth and halting his advance momentarily.

"They died, didn't they? Your daughters died, yet you're still subjecting other children to the same experiments that killed them! They wouldn't want that!" I reasoned, all too aware of how close he was with the syringe. I can't let him put me through the same torment again, who knows what it'll do to my body!

When he remained silent, I continued. "I remember. They were in the room next to mine, and all I could hear was their screaming, day in day out, until one day..." I paused, tearing up slightly at the memory.

"They fell silent"

"Shut up! You don't know anything, you're just a kid! How could you possibly understand! I did what I had too, the HTL said that if I didn't they'd use my wife. I couldn't do that, not to her... But why should I feel the need to explain myself to you? You're just distracting me!" He yelled, stabbing the syringe hard into my thigh and pushing the plunger.

For a split second, pain overwhelmed my body. But then mercifully, my world turned to black.