Chapter 2

The master bedroom door wasn't closed all the way.

In the darkness, even with my gland collapsed, my wolf ears still caught the faint sounds from within.

Victoria was coaxing Lila to sleep.

Lila's ears were pinned flat against her skull—that instinctive posture of utter rejection unique to wolves.

"I don't want that useless thing coming with me to the gathering tomorrow," Lila's young voice dripped with disgust.

"He is your father, after all," Victoria said, patting her back absently.

"I don't like him!" Lila flung off her mother's hand, baring a mouthful of newly grown fangs. "My father should be Uncle Sebastian!"

Candlelight through the door crack glinted off those cold, sharp teeth.

I watched that light calmly. That entire row of strong, razor-sharp wolf teeth was a miracle I'd bought with my own right fang, torn out by the root, through countless sleepless nights.

Once, it had been the proudest proof of my bloodline. Now, this cub raised on my heart's blood was using it to show me her defiance.

I didn't push the door open. I didn't get angry.

A slow, tearing pain radiated from deep within my gland. I turned silently and left that door behind me for good.

The next day was the Northland's annual cub race.

Tradition demanded that the Alpha stand before the starting line and carve the "Moon God's Mark" deep into the frozen ground with his claws—a boundary defining the race path, symbolizing the Alpha clearing the way for the next generation.

I arrived at the frozen field early. The moment I crouched down, the crowd's noise died to silence.

I extended my right paw. With my gland atrophied, the claws that once tore through grizzly bears with ease had long since degenerated.

Blunt nails scraped across the hard, frozen earth—barely leaving three pale white scratches. The wind blurred their edges instantly.

"Mom, he can't even leave a mark—how are we supposed to run on that?" An eight-year-old cub broke the silence.

Laughter crashed over me like a wave. I rose slowly, my gaze sweeping the distance. Victoria glanced at my gray, sightless right eye and deliberately pulled Lila closer to Sebastian's side.

"You can't even shift, so naturally you can't participate," she said, her tone utterly flat.

Sebastian made a show of stepping back, but Lila threw herself into his arms, her fluffy tail curling affectionately around his calf—the unmistakable gesture of a cub's absolute trust reserved only for a "father."

"With you as my father, I won't be embarrassed."

I didn't defend myself. I simply tucked my numb right hand back into my wide sleeve.

I had nothing left to clear the way for them.

The gathering was packed.

I deliberately stood in the most crowded, scent-muddled corner, but I still couldn't escape the premeditated humiliations.

A young male wolf slammed hard into my shoulder, letting out a provocative growl from deep in his throat: "Can't see where you're going? Oh—sorry, forgot you're blind in one eye."

Laughter erupted around me.

I turned my head, my remaining left eye gazing back at him—empty. No anger. No shame. Just a cold, dead look, like staring at a carcass.

The smirk on the young wolf's face froze. His throat bobbed instinctively, his foot shrinking back half a step.

Even without fangs and claws, the inescapable pressure of an Alpha's blood still could choke a lowly underling's throat in a single second.

I didn't bother with him. I walked straight through the crowd.

Before the race, the Alpha was required to step onto the platform and offer the Moon God's blessing.

The moment I climbed the dais, a chorus of jeers rose from below. More than a dozen cubs turned their backs on me outright, letting their tails droop—the most direct physical rejection of my authority.

"May the Moon God grant you fleet feet," I began.

"We don't need your blessing!" The elder's grandson shouted from the crowd. "Sebastian already licked my forehead! His blessing is the one that counts!"

Lila clapped enthusiastically at the front, letting out a short howl of approval. That sound hit me like a dull blade.

I lowered my gaze, turned, and stepped off the platform. The moment my foot landed on the first wooden step, a searing pain shot through my sole—a silver nail embedded in the board. Sebastian had arranged for the guards to place it there.

Silver poison surged up through the meridians of my foot, exploding into my marrow. My vision blacked out; my insides churned. But my spine didn't bend.

Under the jeering eyes of the crowd waiting to see me collapse like a broken dog, I swallowed the bone-deep pain, pulled my foot free expressionlessly, and walked steadily off the dais.

The race began.

Sebastian deliberately released a thick wave of pheromones as he ran.

My one good eye watched him coldly—that scent was entirely stolen from the blood I'd given him.

Lila followed close behind, greedily breathing in the scent of her biological father, completely unaware. Victoria ran with powerful grace. The shadows of the three wolves overlapped on the snow.

To anyone watching, they were the picture of a perfect, flawless family.

After winning, Victoria tossed the recording stone into my hands and told me to take their picture.

I raised the cold stone. Through its lens, I caught Sebastian whispering something in Victoria's ear. Her wolf ears flicked in delight; the corner of her mouth curled to reveal a satisfied fang—the same expression she'd once reserved only for me.

"Click."

The recording stone froze the image.

And in that moment, I finally severed the last thread of connection between us in my heart. My neck felt empty; even the Alpha bone ornament had been taken away long ago. I stood there like an outsider holding a stone.

That night, the kitchen stove stayed cold.

On every full moon night before, I would secretly cut my wrist and mix the remaining drops of my blood into moonherb broth, using it to stabilize their post-transplant rejection.

But tonight, I left not a single drop. Not because I wouldn't—but because this ravaged body had no more blood to give.

"This tastes terrible!" Lila knocked over the ordinary bone broth. "Uncle Sebastian's cooking is way better!"

I sat quietly in the darkness. My wolf ears picked up distant enemy howls from beyond the territory.

Once, a single chest-rattling roar from me would have silenced them. Now, all that came from my throat was a hoarse whisper of wind.

The next morning, Sebastian arrived with a "gift"—a wolf-bone comb embedded with silver threads.

He knew my claws couldn't touch silver. The moment he placed the comb nearby, he deliberately fell to the ground, letting out a pained howl.

"Why did you push him?!"

Victoria stormed over. No questions. She kicked hard at the bend of my knee: "Kneel! Kneel until sundown!"

I dropped to my knees in the gravel-filled yard. The silver-thread comb slid off the table and grazed the back of my hand—a sizzling burn that raised a string of blisters.

"Useless!" Lila grabbed a handful of sharp stones and hurled them at my face.

A stone edge split my forehead; warm blood trickled down my brow.

The moment the blood hit the air, an intensely pure, overwhelmingly dominant Alpha scent unfurled without warning.

Victoria's pupils contracted sharply; her nostrils flared uncontrollably. No matter how much she despised me, her body was more absolute than her reason—her knees weakened, a subconscious urge to submit rising within her.

She bit her lip hard, forced herself to look away, and masked her loss of composure with utter disgust: "Just smells like rotting meat."

I knelt in silence, hearing the fourth faint crack deep within my chest.

My gland had collapsed for the fourth time.

The physician had said the fifth would be the end.

Gravel and silver shards dug into my knees, into the gaps between my bones. The last shred of wolf nature within me was rapidly draining away.

Late that night, two young patrol guards passed by on the frozen ground.

One leaned in to sniff, then drew back in disgust: "This is our Alpha? Kneeling like an Omega with his spine broken."

"Sebastian is the Northland's future—his blood scent grows stronger every day. This piece of trash will soon be nothing but bones in the wind."

They strode off without a pause, their tails brushing past my cheek.

The wind howled.

I tilted my head up slightly, looking at the silver-white moonlight spilling through the clouds.

That was the wolf clan's faith. But when it fell on me, it brought only the cold of dead ash.