Chapter 3

"You have to come home for Thanksgiving."

That was how Mom opened the call.

I looked down at Game Theory and Strategic Analysis, open on my desk. "I'm working on my final project. I don't have time."

"You'll make time. There are gaps in the estate's perimeter fence. You can fix them while you're here."

"Isn't that the patrol's job?"

"They're busy! Seraphina has the Alpha League Tournament next month. Everyone's helping her prepare, and the warriors are on extended patrol. You're her sister. What's the big deal about fixing a fence?"

I hung up and dropped my phone on the bed.

I spent six days of the break in Columbia's library. On the seventh, Tessa dragged me out to explore Manhattan.

We ate hot dogs in Times Square, laughing while she tried to get both of us into a photo. She posted it to my Instagram, and within half an hour, the likes began appearing. Hers first, then a few from my human classmates.

None from the accounts with the Ironvale family prefix.

At the end of November, the family chat erupted again.

Mom: FIRST PLACE IN THE QUARTERLY ASSESSMENT! SERAPHINA BROKE THE ACADEMY'S FRESHMAN RECORD!

She followed it with fireworks emojis. Dad contributed a paragraph.

This is the true power of the Alpha bloodline. This is the future of the Ironvale Pack. Seraphina has not disappointed me.

I scrolled past and switched on Do Not Disturb.

When I checked my messages at eleven, there was a private one from Seraphina.

Seraphina: Elara, how have you been?

It was the first time she'd asked in two months.

Me: Still alive.

Seraphina: So are you coming back for the Winter Solstice? I wanted to ask you about some tactical stuff in person.

Of course. She needed help.

I put the phone facedown on my desk without answering.

The Alpha League Tournament took place the first weekend in December. Wolves across North America watched on private streams, including everyone in Ironvale.

I opened the link.

Seraphina stood in the arena wearing custom white combat leathers. Her opponent was a lean mixed-blood wolf from a western pack. He didn't have her size or strength, but he watched her closely and gave her very little to hit.

Within three minutes, she was losing.

Each time she lunged, he slipped aside and countered. His claws got past her guard. She stumbled backward, then rushed him again without fixing her footing. All that famous Alpha dominance was a joke against someone who actually knew how to fight.

The referee blew the whistle for a five-minute break. The stream cut to an academy commercial.

My phone rang.

Encrypted Call — Seraphina.

"Elara! You're watching, right?" She was breathing hard. "Every time I go left, he gets into my blind spot. What do I do? Where are his openings?"

I held the phone without answering.

Since childhood, she'd asked like that. A problem dropped in my lap, an answer expected before she had to face it herself. I'd explained pack laws, drawn up her strategies, and taken blows for her. I'd called it helping my family.

Now she was standing at the academy in her custom leathers, with our parents watching, and she still needed me to tell her how to win.

She hadn't called when my knee gave out. She hadn't asked how I was getting by. But she knew exactly where to find me when her reputation was at stake.

"Elara? Say something! I'm back on in a minute!"

I took a breath.

"Aren't you the once-in-a-generation prodigy?"

"What? Elara, Mom and Dad are watching—"

"Figure it out yourself."

I ended the call and deleted her saved contact.

When the match resumed, Seraphina charged in headfirst again. Without me in her ear, she had nothing else. Her opponent feinted, slipped past her guard, and threw her out of the ring in fewer than ten exchanges.

A humiliating defeat.

The chat that had been filling with praise went quiet.

I shut my laptop. My heart was racing. Part of me wanted to laugh. Another part couldn't get past how many years I'd spent making her look better than me, believing she'd love me for it.

Tessa came up behind me and set a glass of amber liquor on the table.

"What happened? You look awful."

I drank it. The burn made my eyes water, and I put the glass down harder than I meant to.

"I've made another decision," I said. "I'm not going home for the Winter Solstice, either."