Chapter 1

　　CRYSTAL POV

　　My mother's nails sink into my ear like hooks, twisting it until all I saw with red. The sting mix with the knuckle wound I got hurt. She drags me forward, my knees scraping the rug, turning sour.

　　"You worthless, cursed wolf," she hisses, her breath sour from the wine she just gulped. "Expelled from a second school in two years. What have you cost us this time?"

　　Father stays seated on his chair, his gaze cutting mine. "Doom-bringer. Draining what's left of our name."

　　I don't cry. Tears only make her hit harder, I learned that years ago.

　　My mother finally released my ear with a shove. I stumbled back a step but didn't fall. Falling only gave them more reasons to look at me with disgust.

　　"Do you know what the whispers are about?" she continues, her voice rising. "The pack talks, about you, about us. Disaster follows you like everywhere you go."

　　Father stands, the air filled with the smell of smoke coming from him. "We lost everything the year you were born, allies turned again us, our wealth gone, the pack rotted from inside." His eyes bore in. "And the Moon Goddess left you alive, Wolfless at the age of nineteen. You are a creature that should never exist."

　　Nineteen. Everyone shifted by thirteen. I called to the wolf inside every full moon, begged, howled alone in the dark. Nothing answered. I clenched my fist at his word, fight back my tears.

　　His lip curls. "A mistake. One that should never have happened."

　　My throat locks. Copper floods my mouth, I bit my tongue. Something low in my chest stirs, like a growl, that doesn't belongs to me, it sound like that of a baby wolf. I swallow it down.

　　"If we had known what you would become," my mother added bitterly, "we would have sent you away long ago."

　　I almost laughed.

　　Sent me away? They had never kept me close to begin with.

　　"So what now?" I asked quietly, my voice flat. "Are you done yelling, or is there more?"

　　Her eyes widened in fury.

　　"How dare you speak back to us?" she snapped. "After everything you've cost us?"

　　"Everything I cost you," I repeated, tasting the words. "Or everything you lost on your own and decided to blame on me an innocent child?"

　　Before I could process what she was doing her hand flies to my face. The slap hit my cheek, heat blooming at that spot instantly. My head snaps sideways. The room tilts for a second,not from pain, but from the stupid hope inside of me that still waits for one kind word.

　　I crush it fast. Clenching my jaw until my teeth ache. The rule was, don't break for them or in front of them.

　　That only made it worse.

　　"You will never learn," my father said, his tone icy. "You are ungrateful, violent, and useless. No school wants you. No pack wants you."

　　His lips curled in disgust.

　　"No one ever will."

　　His words hurt me more than it should. Ringing repeatedly in my head.

　　For a brief moment, something fragile inside me trembled, something young, foolish, and still hoping. I crushed it instantly. Hope had always been the most dangerous thing in this house.

　　I straightened my back, forcing my shoulders to straighten. I refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing me break.

　　Mother scoffs. "Look at he, just blank, no shame, nor remorse."

　　They weren't wrong.

　　Shame, guilt, remorse, those things didn't live in me anymore. They got beaten out of me a long time ago, not all at once, but little by little.

　　Whenever something went wrong for them, I was the one they used to let it out. They would tie me down, yell at me, hit me, then left me alone on that spot like nothing happened.

　　I learned early that crying, talking back, and hoping made it worse.

　　So I stopped, feeling, hoping, caring, being empty hurt less.

　　Father paces around the room, his hands behind back. "Do you know how many apologies I rendered because of you? How many doors slammed because of you?"

　　I never asked to be born," I said quietly.

　　The room erupted in a loud gasp.

　　My mother gasped like I had committed a crime. "How dare you say that!" she shrieked. "After everything we've endured because of you?"

　　"Endured?" I echoed, my voice still calm. "You mean blamed."

　　Her hand twitched again, but this time my father stopped her with a sharp look.

　　"Enough," he said. "She's not worth it."

　　Not worth it.

　　That hurt more than the slap.

　　"You've embarrassed us enough," he continued. "And we're done cleaning up your messes."

　　He walked over to the desk and picked up a sealed document. The envelope looked official.

　　"We received this earlier today," he said. "The council suggested it."

　　I watched him, my expression blank, my heart beating faster.

　　"You will be transferred," he went on. "This is your last chance to prove you are not what everyone believes you to be."

　　For a split second, I almost laughed at the irony.

　　Prove I'm not a curse, by being sent somewhere that only accepts cursed wolves.

　　But I said nothing, even though I have alot to say.

　　"There is one last option," he continued. "One final institution willing to take… cases like yours."

　　My eyes flickered up despite not meaning to.

　　"A disciplinary Alpha college," my mother said with clear disdain. "A place for delinquents, failures, and wolves no one else wants like you."

　　She stepped closer, her voice dropping to a whisper that hurt more than her shouting

　　"If you fail there," she said slowly, "you're on your own. Completely."

　　I nodded once, that was fair. I had been on my own long enough, since I was born.

　　As I turned to leave the room, my father's voice followed me.

　　"Remember this, Crystal," he said. "If something goes wrong again, don't come back. Because we won't be accepting you."

　　I paused at the door, my hand resting on the handle.

　　"I won't," I said calmly.

　　And for the first time, I meant it. Because people rarely survive the Alpha Disciplinary college.