Chapter 1

Mom always said I was the toughest kid in the family—that nothing could kill me, no matter what they put me through.

That’s why whenever my little sister messed up, I was the one who took the fall.

When my sister got addicted to sneaking cough syrup, Mom spiked my syrup with poisonous herbs, just to scare her.

As I was being loaded into the car, coughing up blood, she casually told the checkpoint guards that our transit pass was forged.

Dad was shaking with rage, but she didn't even blink. "That's what you get for forgetting our anniversary," she told him.

That day, with her own two hands, she destroyed three separate chances to save my life.

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Chapter 1

"You wolves these days are absolutely useless. You can't even tell that it's a fake pack travel pass? How are we supposed to trust you with the safety of the pack if this keeps up?"

Mother said it while I was doubled over in the back seat, convulsing. Black blood spattered the leather. I stared at her, waiting for her to tell the captain she was joking.

The captain of the guard frowned and spoke in a stern voice.

"According to wolf pack law, even if you are the Alpha, I'm afraid you'll have to step out of the vehicle and cooperate with an identity check. We can let you through once everything has been verified."

Father's expression darkened, and his eyes were red as if they were bleeding.

"Are you crazy? Why would I make a fake pack travel pass? It's real. Don't you know that? This is no time for jokes. Riley isn't going to make it if we delay any longer!"

My younger sister, Hazel, rushed to our mother's side and grabbed her arm, shaking it desperately. Her voice trembled so badly that the words nearly broke apart.

"Mother! Stop saying things like that! Riley's been poisoned. If we wait any longer, her wolf spirit is going to scatter!"

Mother finally turned her head and glanced at Hazel, sounding almost reproachful. "So, you do know how to be scared. Take a good look. This is what happens when you drink random things you shouldn't."

Then she turned back to the captain of the guard, with the faintest smile still playing at the corners of her mouth. "Well? Can you confirm whether this pack travel pass is real?"

At that, the captain's expression became even more serious. He walked to the car door and asked Father to step out for an identity check.

I was frantic.

Father was the only one of us who could drive the mountain road through Blackpine Pass. Mother and Hazel couldn't take the wheel. Beyond the checkpoint, on the other side of the icy Montana foothills, was the pack emergency clinic. If we waited here, I would die before we got there.

I used the last of my strength to push myself upright and begged the captain in a hoarse whisper.

"Captain, the permit is real. Mother... She's just talking nonsense. Please, let us through. We need to get to the infirmary as quickly as possible. The wolfsbane has already reached my marrow. I really can't hold on much longer..."

Before I could finish, another violent coughing fit tore through me. A huge amount of dark blood surged up my throat and splattered across the seat and car door.

The captain's expression changed instantly when he saw me.

He was a fighter in the pack. He had seen far too many poisoned wolves and knew exactly what my condition meant.

An unscheduled order to inspect pack travel passes had come down that morning. The captain had too few guards and no spare vehicle to take me to the pack emergency clinic himself.

There was nothing wrong with Father's pack travel pass. Its seal matched the one in the checkpoint register. But if Mother insisted it was a forgery, the captain would have to run the full identity check under wolf pack law. That would take an hour I didn't have.

He stopped and looked sternly at Mother.

"Luna, please tell me the truth. Is the pack travel pass real or not? We've done a preliminary inspection, and there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. If you're only joking around and the permit is real, you can leave right now.

"However, if it's fake, you'll have to cooperate with the identity verification, and you'll be responsible for whatever consequences follow."

I tried to wipe the blood off my mouth and begged Mother.

"Mother, please. Just tell them the truth... I really can't hold on much longer. As long as you agree and save my life, you can punish me or yell at me however you want afterward. I'll take it all."

The wolves waiting in line nearby could not stand watching anymore. One after another, they started pleading with her.

"That's right, Luna. The cub is already in that condition. Saving her life should come first!"

"Exactly. What could possibly be more important than a life?"

Hazel joined in, desperately begging, "Mother, I'll never drink cough syrup again. I swear I won't!"

At that, Mother's voice finally softened a little. She gently stroked the top of Hazel's head.

"Good. At least you know to be afraid.

"Your wolf spirit has always been weak. Have you forgotten how you nearly lost your soul the first time you shifted? That cough syrup may be medicine, but drinking too much is bad for your body, and it can become addictive. You absolutely cannot drink it anymore."

She finally sighed and waved dismissively at the captain. "All right, all right. It's not a big deal. I was just joking around and trying to lighten the mood."

The weight crushing down on my heart finally lifted. The moment I relaxed, my body went limp.

The captain waved the guards aside. Father reached for the ignition. Then Mother laughed, softly at first, as if she had remembered a private joke.

Then she started laughing harder.

"You really are too trusting. The Alpha brought a fake pack travel pass to test you, and you couldn't even spot it. If this gets investigated, don't say I didn't warn you."

The captain turned livid.

"If that's the case, then, Alpha, please hand me the travel pass. We'll conduct a detailed examination to determine whether it's genuine. You'll also need to step out and cooperate with the identity verification."

I could not catch my breath. The agony of the lethal wolfsbane burning through my organs twisted together with the suffocating pressure in my chest. My vision went black, and I nearly passed out.

The lethal wolfsbane had already taken away my ability to shift. My hands curled into tight claws as my entire body began to convulse uncontrollably.

Hazel could not take it anymore. "Mother! Are you insane? Can't you see that Riley is dying?"

Mother calmly turned her head toward Hazel. She even reached out and patted the top of her head.

"What are you yelling about? Look carefully. Today, I'm going to use your sister's pain to teach you a lesson. I want you to remember this forever. You can't just mess around with medicines when you don't know where they came from.

"And you certainly can't spend every day drinking bottle after bottle of cough syrup! Your sister was born with a strong constitution, and even she ended up like this.

"Now think about yourself. You've always been weak. If you drink something like that, something terrible could happen."

I stared at her in disbelief, my eyes widening.

At a moment when my life was hanging by a thread, Mother was actually using my life to teach Hazel a lesson.

Father was shaking with rage. Even his voice had changed. "Riley is already like this! And you still... You still..."

Mother cut him off. "What are you so afraid of? I only put a tiny amount of lethal wolfsbane in the cough syrup. I diluted it with three times as much Moon Spring water. It can't be as poisonous as you think.

"Besides, Riley is the strongest wolf in the family. Her constitution is incredibly strong. What are you all panicking about? She can still talk, can't she?"

She turned to Hazel, and her voice became even sharper. "And you. Your cough was already gone, but you kept begging for cough syrup every single day. I've been sick of watching it for a long time.

"Today, I'm going to make sure you remember this lesson! Your sister took this lesson for you, so you'd better remember it!"

I curled up in the back seat as the burning pain from the wolfsbane eating through me spread from my marrow all the way to my fingertips.

My healing ability had already been pushed past its limit by the wolfsbane. Those few sentences had used up almost every bit of strength I had left.

Now, I could not even force out a complete sentence.

However, Mother would never know. She could not feel my pain.

A few months ago, Hazel had secretly slipped out to have some fun. To keep our family from finding out, she had quietly blocked the mind link between herself and the rest of us.

On her way home, she ran into a giant beast. She panicked and completely forgot to restore the mind link and call for help.

If the guard patrol had not happened to be passing by that night, she probably would have lost her life.

Mother had been terrified. She stayed by Hazel's side for several days afterward. She even blocked her mind link with me so she could focus entirely on taking care of Hazel.

Father had been worried that something might happen to me too, but Mother had shut him down with a single sentence.

"Don't you know how strong Riley is? Nothing can hurt her. Besides, she's the best-behaved child in the family. She always listens and never does anything reckless. Instead of worrying about her, you should focus on Hazel. She's at that age where she's always getting into trouble.

"Once some time has passed and Hazel grows a little more sensible, we can restore our mind links again, can't we?"

Father had thought about it and decided she had a point, so he went along with her wishes.

Now, when I was actually in danger, they could not feel a thing.

Voices swirled together around me, but I could barely make out what anyone was saying anymore.

My consciousness was fading when a rugged vehicle bearing the Red Ridge crest suddenly pulled up.

Through my blurred vision, I vaguely saw a middle-aged wolf hurry toward us.

It was Owen Mercer, Father's Beta since I was little, a fighter trusted throughout the neighboring Montana packs.

He had obviously seen me coughing up blood. Without asking a single question, he shouted to the captain of the guard.

"Captain! You issued my pack travel pass yourself this morning. I'll drive Riley to the pack emergency clinic. Keep checking the Alpha if you have to, but don't hold up her treatment!"

The captain clearly knew him.

After taking one look at Owen's pack travel pass, he visibly relaxed. He immediately nodded and called over his men to open the checkpoint and let us through.

Hazel held my increasingly cold body in her arms, her eyes red from crying. She could do nothing but thank Owen over and over.

Father gripped Owen's shoulder, his voice breaking as he promised the pack would repay him.

Mother stood beside the car, frowning slightly, but she said nothing. She simply lowered her head and softly reassured the frantic Hazel.

"All right. Your sister will be fine. Just remember what you learned today."

I curled up in Hazel's arms. Her thin arms wrapped tightly around me as she kept calling my name and encouraging me to hold on.

My vision had gone completely black. The pain tearing through my organs felt as if it were shredding me into pieces, yet I finally let out a breath of relief.

Owen was reliable. If he took me to the pack emergency clinic, they could purge the wolfsbane from my body and save my life.

I would survive.

However, just as Owen was about to carry me into the vehicle, Mother suddenly rushed over and grabbed the car door with both hands. No matter what, she refused to let me get in.