Chapter 1

My wolf was damaged the day I first shifted, when I was ten. I’ve healed slower than other wolves ever since, and a wolf like that can’t inherit a pack.

I grew up mocked and bullied for being the weak one.

My sister, Seraphina, shifted on the same day and came through it perfectly. She became the Alpha heir, the prodigy my parents poured everything into.

I thought they loved her more because she could carry the pack and I couldn’t. I took a rabid bear’s claws for her at thirteen. I was her sparring partner by day and her tutor by night, and I learned not to argue.

When Seraphina was accepted to the Royal Wolf Academy, the whole estate celebrated. My parents were going to escort her there themselves in a bulletproof Cadillac. But nobody cared that I’d been accepted to a college a thousand miles from home.

And today was the day I was leaving for school, too.

When I asked whether I should leave for the airport, my father told me to figure it out myself. My mother told me to clean up after my sister's party first.

I was done waiting for them to care. I decided to let them be the perfect family of three.

I already had a one-way ticket on my phone. By tonight, I would be gone from their lives.

...

The morning after Seraphina's party, the estate was still buzzing. Everyone was getting ready for her grand send-off to the Royal Wolf Academy.

My father, Darius, Alpha of the Ironvale Pack, was loading her luggage himself. My mother, Marianne, leaned out a second-floor window.

"Seraphina! Do you have all five of your pack crests? Let me check again!"

"I have them, Mom! You've asked five times!" My sister rolled her eyes and hugged her favorite stuffed animal.

I waited in the hall with a faded backpack over my shoulder and a battered canvas duffel at my feet. I was their second daughter, Elara. I was leaving for college that day, too.

Everything I was taking to New York fit in those two bags.

"Dad, my flight's at four. Should I leave now?"

He waved a guard over to close the trunk, then glanced at me.

"Can't you see I'm busy? Figure it out yourself."

Mom came down the stairs in heels. Her gaze passed over my luggage.

"We're about to leave. The house is a disaster after last night. Make sure the servants clean everything before you go."

"I'm leaving today, too."

"Then change your flight." She sounded annoyed that she had to explain it. "It's just a human school. A day won't make a difference."

I tightened my grip on my backpack strap.

My flight left at 4:25 p.m. A one-way economy ticket, paid for with the money I'd earned as a sparring partner. I'd taken enough blows to cover every dollar.

Seraphina had our parents escorting her in a motorcade led by a bulletproof Cadillac. After they dropped her off, the three of them would spend a week vacationing in the Lycan Capital near the academy.

I didn't argue. I'd learned what happened when I tried.

"All right, let's go," Dad said. "Get in the car."

Mom slid into the passenger seat and lowered the window.

"Don't forget to water the wolfsbane in the greenhouse."

Seraphina looked at me from the back seat. For a moment, she seemed guilty.

She knew I'd taken the hit from the rabid bear at the trials. She knew I'd been her sparring partner by day and her tutor by night, helping her get into the academy. She'd been there for all of it.

She waited a few seconds before speaking.

"Text me when you get there."

The window went up before I could answer. The motorcade pulled away, and I was left in the entryway in my dirt-stained canvas shoes.

I went upstairs and pushed open Seraphina's bedroom door.

A huge family portrait hung opposite her bed. Dad looked imposing. Mom looked elegant. Seraphina stood between them, smiling.

I wasn't in it.

They'd had it taken two years earlier, on a day when my fever was so high I'd collapsed on my bedroom floor. They went to the studio without me. When Mom finally opened my door late that night, she scolded me for being antisocial and refusing to join family activities.

I looked away from the portrait and bent to pick up some trash on the carpet. Even now, I was cleaning up after her.

My hand caught the edge of the desk. A half-open jewelry box tipped, spilling trinkets across the surface.

At the bottom lay a small silver wolf pendant.

I stopped breathing for a moment.

Grandma had pressed it into my hand just before she died, a gift for my tenth birthday. It had been the one present meant only for me.

That same afternoon, Seraphina had come to me with red eyes.

"Elara, I love it so much. Can I please borrow it? Just for one day?"

She had so many gifts already. I'd wanted to ask why she needed mine, but she'd looked so desperate that I placed it in her hand.

"One day."

She promised. She never gave it back.

When I asked later, she shrugged.

"Oh, that? I don't know where I put it. I have too much jewelry. If you want something, take it from my room."

Mom had heard the whole exchange.

"See how generous Seraphina is? It's just a pendant. Are you really going to keep nagging her about it?"

I'd stopped asking. It wasn't the first thing Seraphina had taken from me, and I hadn't known how to make either of them understand why this one mattered.

Now here it was, tarnished black at the bottom of her jewelry box.

My wolf whimpered inside me. I picked up the pendant and closed my hand around it. The small, rough edges pressed into my palm.

I'd spent years wanting her to give it back. Wanting Mom to tell her it was mine.

Neither of those things had happened.

I opened my fist, set the pendant in the open box, and walked out. If I stayed to fight over it, I'd miss the flight I'd worked for. I couldn't spend another day in that room waiting for them to care.

At one o'clock, I ordered the cheapest Uber I could find.

My phone buzzed as I opened the car door.

Mom: SERAPHINA FORGOT THE CUSTOM NECKLACE FOR THE OPENING CEREMONY! FIND IT AND FEDEX IT TO HER HOTEL IN THE CAPITAL. IMMEDIATELY!

Another necklace. Another errand that apparently mattered more than my leaving.

I silenced my phone, put it in my bag, and got into the car.

That afternoon, I settled into my narrow economy seat. Before takeoff, I checked my screen once more.

Seraphina: Did you send the necklace? And text me to let me know you're safe.

My thumb hovered over Block.

If I cut them off now, before I'd even reached New York, they'd be furious enough to come looking. I needed time to get settled first.

I turned off the screen.

When the plane accelerated down the runway, I pressed back into my seat. Then the wheels lifted, and the pack lands began falling away beneath us.

For now, it was enough that I was going.