Chapter 3

　　Celine's POV

　　"I... I..." My wolf whimpered pathetically inside me, so weak from the poison that she could barely make her presence known.

　　I had just caught my boyfriend, my mate, or so I'd thought with my sister, yet they both looked at me like I was the intruder.

　　"Celine, you should go back to your pack. It's not safe for you to be out here in your condition." Damien reached out to touch my shoulder, but I jerked away from him, I felt so irritated with his face alone.

　　"Get your hands off me!" I yelled with immense pain. "Don't you dare touch me! How can you stand there and act like you care when all of this, the poisoning, the pain, everything is your fault?"

　　Damien's expression didn't change. No remorse or shame in his eyes. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way, but it wasn't my intention for you to hear any of that. Let's just pretend this never happened. You're going to die soon anyway."

　　His tone was almost gentle, "Trust me, all of this will be over soon and you'll be at peace. No more pain, no more struggling to fit in where you don't belong."

　　Something inside me snapped!

　　All the years of trying to be good enough, quiet enough, useful enough. All the times I had swallowed my pride and accepted scraps of affection. All the love I'd poured into people who saw me as nothing more than a tool to be used and discarded.

　　Before I could think, I lifted my hand up and slammed him hard on his face, my fingerprint was immediately visible on his face mixed with shock.

　　"What!" Damien and Jessica both gasped in unison, their mouths falling open in shock.

　　I had always been the calm one, the peacekeeper, the girl who apologized even when she was the one being hurt.

　　I'd never raised my voice, never fought back, never demanded anything for myself. No doubt they had never imagined I would ever do such a thing, especially to a man like Damien who I'd practically worshipped.

　　"How dare you, Celine!" Jessica's eyes flashed red as her wolf surged forward. "Has the wolfsbane rotted your brain so much that you've lost your mind? You raise your hand to him?"

　　"Shut up, Jessica!" I yelled out at her as my eyes were brimming in rage "How could you do this to me? How could both of you?"

　　Jessica's lips curled into a cruel smile. "Do what, exactly? You invaded my home, my pack, my life. You forced your way into our family and made us pretend to care about some rogue orphan. I shared my father, my home, my resources with you. So I don't think it's such a terrible thing that I share your boyfriend too. Fair is fair, isn't it?"

　　The casual cruelty in her voice made my stomach turn. "You'll regret this, Jessica. Both of you. I sacrificed everything for this pack, for Father, for you. I took the blame for those falsified maps even though I warned Father about the discrepancies before the ceremony. I gave up my reputation, my honor, my future, all so you wouldn't be embarrassed. Wasn't that enough? What more could you possibly want from me?"

　　Tears streamed down my face as I clutched my chest, feeling my wolf's presence flickering like a dying flame. The wolfsbane was spreading faster now, burning through my veins like liquid fire.

　　All I had ever wanted was to be loved, to belong somewhere, to matter to someone. Was that really too much to ask?

　　A smirk appeared on Jessica's lips the same smirk I'd seen on Father's face earlier. She was enjoying this, feeding off my pain like a predator savoring a kill.

　　She stepped forward until we were inches apart, her wolf's dominance pressing against my weakened one, making me want to bare my throat in submission. But I refused. Not this time.

　　"You don't deserve anything good, Celine. You're just worthless, pathetic trash." Her voice dropped to a venomous whisper.

　　"And to think that my grandfather, my blood left you that massive trust fund that should have been mine. The inheritance from my family that you have no right to. It's only justice that I take back what belongs to me."

　　The trust fund, of course! My biological parents had left me a substantial inheritance before they died, money that had been held in trust by Jessica's grandfather who'd felt some obligation to honor their dying wish. Money that Jessica had always resented.

　　"How dare you!" I whispered, "That's all I ever was to you, wasn't it? A bank account to drain?"

　　Jessica laughed in a mocking tone. "Come on, Celine. Deep down, you know the truth. Even in your next life, if the Moon Goddess is cruel enough to grant you one, you'll always be the same thing: a worthless piece of trash that others step on and discard."

　　Something broke inside me.

　　With a feral snarl that surprised even me, I lunged at Jessica. My weakened wolf surged forward with the last ounce of her strength, and I struck my sister across the face, sending her stumbling backward.

　　Before she could recover, I was on top of her, months, years of suppressed rage and pain pouring out in a flurry of strikes.

　　"Celine, stop!" Damien shouted, trying to pull me off, but I was beyond reason.

　　Every hit was for every cruel word, every dismissive glance, every time Father had looked through me like I didn't exist. For every false smile Jessica had given me while plotting my death. For every gentle word Damien had whispered while slowly poisoning me. For the little girl who'd lost her parents and been taken in by people who saw her as nothing more than a burden and an opportunity.

　　My wolf howled inside me, a broken, agonizing sound as I finally, finally fought back.

　　Damien ran his fingers through his hair, his eyes darting around the room as he realized I wasn't going to stop.

　　Jessica was screaming beneath me, her nails scratching at my arms, but I barely felt it. The wolfsbane had numbed me to most physical pain but not to the emotional agony that had been building for so long.

　　Then Damien's eyes landed on the heavy bronze wolf statue on the side table a ceremonial piece, meant to honor the Moon Goddess. Without hesitation, without a moment's pause, he grabbed it and swung it at my head with all his warrior strength.

　　Pain surged through my entire brain, slowly spreading through my entire body. My vision went white, then red, then dark around the edges.

　　I felt myself falling, the world tilting sideways as I tumbled off Jessica and fell onto the floor.

　　Through the ringing in my ears, I heard Jessica's snarl. "You bitch!"

　　I tried to move, tried to protect myself, but my body wouldn't respond. My wolf was completely silent now, her presence extinguished like a candle in the wind.

　　Jessica stood over me, her face twisted with rage, blood trickling from her split lip. She grabbed the bronze statue from Damien's hands, and I saw her raise it high above her head.

　　"This is for every moment I had to pretend to care about you," she hissed.

　　The statue came down.

　　My own blood began running down my face, soaking into the floor beneath me. My eyes were open but I couldn't focus. Everything was blurry, fading in and out like a dream.

　　Through the haze, I saw Jessica standing over me, chest heaving, the statue still clutched in her hands, now stained red.

　　Damien stood behind her, his expression carefully blank.

　　Neither of them moved to help me.

　　They just... watched.

　　I tried to speak, to ask why, to beg for help, but only blood bubbled from my lips. My wolf was gone, I couldn't feel her at all anymore. The bond that had connected me to my other half since birth had been severed, leaving a gaping void inside me that hurt worse than any physical wound.

　　Is this how I die? Beaten to death by the people I loved most?

　　Jessica crouched down beside me, her face coming into focus for just a moment. That smirk was still there, satisfaction gleaming in her eyes as she watched the life drain from mine.

　　"In the end," she whispered. "you were always going to die alone, Celine. Unloved, Unwanted and Forgotten."

　　My vision was darkening now, the edges closing in like a tunnel. I could feel my heartbeat slowing, each pulse weaker than the last. The pool of blood beneath me was warm, almost comforting in a horrible way.

　　As consciousness slipped away, my last thought wasn't of revenge or justice or even survival.

　　It was simply: I just wanted someone to love me.

　　Then everything went black, and I felt nothing at all.