—- Chapter 8 “Do Ihave to accept your apology?” I met Dax’s eyes, my voice low but heavy enough to make him flinch. The courtyard outside my dorm, usually alive with the chatter of young wolves, had gone eerily quiet. The tension between us had drawn curious glances. They couldn’t understand our words, but the weight of it was palpable-something was breaking. Thated the idea of being on display. But there was no hiding this.
All those years of silence, of shrinking away from my own emotions, came rushing out. “You say you redirected your love to Eris, like that makes everything okay. But why did she get your protection, while I got nothing but your dismissal?” “You hated it when I fought her. Said I was loud, too rebellious. But if I hadn’t fought, you wouldn’t have even seen me. You would’ve let me fade into the background.” “J found something better when I left. I went to the outpost.
At least here, I earned my place. There, I wasn’t just some quiet shadow of the golden child. There, I had —- power. I was seen.” I felt my mother flinch beside me. Her breath hitched, and she swallowed down the sobs. “Vera, you’ re our daughter. You can’t just-cut yourself off from us.” I didn’t meet her eyes. “Then I don’t want to be your daughter anymore.” The words cut through the air, and I could see it-the crack in their faces. But I didn’t linger. I turned and walked away.
They didn’t follow. Maybe it was the finality in my voice that froze them. Or maybe they didn’t know what to say when everything they thought they could rely on crumbled in front of them. They gave me space. For a while. But eventually, the attempts started again. Sometimes, I found packages outside my door-venison stew, wild berries, bundles of herbs wrapped with care. There were no notes, just their scent. —- Inever took them.
I passed the food to others in the den-those who hadn’t yet turned their backs on second chances. I didn’t need to give them a chance. Not anymore. A few months passed, and then the rumors started. Ascandal had rocked the international werewolf community. One of my closest allies from the outpost sent mea report. I opened it without much thought-until I saw her name. Eris. She’d gone back to the Wolfsbane Academy for the Alpha training. But she’d spiraled into a wild existence, chasing freedom.
without care for the consequences. Her time at Wolfsbane Academy had been nothing but a lie. All those stories about her having the talent to be a great Alpha, about her powerful wolf that could lead a pack-they were all part of the farce she’d created. She even faked a sickness to squeeze more money out of our parents.
