Chapter3

I forced myself to meet her gaze with an eerie calm. "Don't worry, I don't have long to live. Once I finish these experimental drug trials, I'll disappear for good. I’ll never be a burden to your family again."

Selene’s expression faltered for a fraction of a second. "Don't think playing the dying card will get my sympathy. It won't buy you a ticket back to the pack."

"I will never forget how your vicious father dragged me into that dungeon," she sneered. "How he forced himself on me. Any bloodline of his is just as cursed!"

She pulled a check from her designer bag and tossed it onto my hospital bed. "Take it. Whatever your little scheme is, this is enough to get you treatment somewhere else. Don't ever show your face in front of my family again."

I didn't even glance at the slip of paper. I just closed my eyes in silence.

Seeing I had nothing left to say, Selene scoffed, turned on her heel, and walked out.

By afternoon, the water pitcher in my room was empty. Parched and desperate, I dragged my aching body out of bed and made my way toward the water dispenser at the end of the hall.

On my way back, I rounded the corner and collided with a young woman in a haute couture dress. She was strikingly beautiful, sharing Selene's distinct features, but her entire demeanor reeked of arrogance.

She stopped and looked me up and down. "So, it's you." She crossed her arms, radiating a sharp, oppressive Alpha aura. "The nurses said some pathetic stray used a cheap sympathy act to trick Kael into carrying her into the ward. That was you, right?"

So, this was my half-sister. Chloe.

Another sharp cramp twisted my stomach. Exhausted and unwilling to fight, I muttered a low "Excuse me" and tried to sidestep her with my glass of water.

"Halt! Did I say you could leave?" Chloe’s eyes flashed with malice. Without warning, she unleashed the crushing weight of her Alpha bloodline and slammed her shoulder hard into mine. "You're a wolfless cripple who doesn't even know her place. Who the hell do you think you are, eyeing what belongs to me?"

I barely had the strength to stand as it was. The impact sent me crashing to the floor. The glass slipped from my grip, shattering against the tiles. Jagged shards pierced directly into my palm, and blood instantly welled up.

I clenched my teeth, struggling to push myself up.

"What is going on here?" an authoritative voice snapped from down the hall.

Selene strode over with several wolf guards trailing behind her. Seeing the mess on the floor, she knitted her brows.

Chloe, who had been fiercely domineering a second ago, instantly grew teary-eyed the moment she saw her mother. She threw herself forward, hooking onto Selene's arm with a terribly wronged expression. "Mom! This woman is completely unreasonable! I was just nicely asking about her condition, and not only did she talk back, but she deliberately smashed her glass at my feet! She almost cut my legs!"

"She's probably jealous that Kael is going to marry me, so she's purposely causing trouble to throw a fit..." Chloe twisted the truth effortlessly, her tears falling on cue.

I sat slumped on the floor. It wasn't just my pierced palm that throbbed with pain; even my heart constricted blindly in my chest. I knew Chloe was the apple of her eye, the beloved daughter she had with the mate she truly loved. And me? I was nothing but a defective product carrying the bloodline of the monster she despised most in this world.

I didn't open my mouth to defend myself. I just numbly used my free hand to pluck the glass shards from my bleeding palm, waiting for my mother's impending fury to descend upon me.

But the anticipated reprimand never came.

Selene patted the back of Chloe's hand. She looked up, her gaze fixing on the security camera mounted directly overhead.

"The hospital's surveillance runs 24/7." Selene's voice held no trace of warmth. "We just need to check the footage to see what really happened."

The grieved expression on Chloe's face instantly froze. Guiltily, she tugged at her mother's sleeve. "Mom... forget it. I'm not hurt anyway. Let's not lower ourselves to deal with someone like her..."

"Shut up." Selene coldly shook off her hand, her eyes sweeping over the panicking girl. "As a member of our pack, playing such a pathetic, clumsy trick only makes me feel humiliated."

"Go. Apologize to her," Selene ordered sharply.

Chloe's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "Mom! You want me to apologize to this wolfless trash? I am..."

"I only care about the truth!" Selene cut her off, every word ringing with ironclad authority. "I said, apologize!"