Chapter2

I frantically shook my head, a tearing agony immediately erupting at the roots of my teeth. "No. I wasn't faking it. Mom and Dad threw me into the rogue wilderness. I was there for three days without food or water before they brought me home."

"Wilderness?" Caleb sneered. "They already told me they sent you to a high-end pack summer camp. Why are you still lying?"

My mother, Vera, immediately chimed in. "We sent her there to build some character. The camp has instructors and plenty of supplies. How could it possibly have been the rogue wilderness?"

My father, Thorne, also applied crushing pressure with his deep voice. "Elara, when did you learn to tell such lies?"

They sounded perfectly synchronized, as if they had rehearsed this exact script beforehand.

Looking at their warning glares, I suddenly remembered the last time. Serena’s Wolfsbane fever had flared up, her throat burning as though it were on fire, and she had cried in pain all night. The next day, my parents pinned me down in front of the fireplace, using iron tongs to force a red-hot ember into my mouth.

My mother had said, "You ought to taste the suffering your sister endures."

When the charcoal hit my tongue, I smelled my own flesh burning. Following that, my throat scalded into a mess of bloody blisters, and I couldn't make a sound for three days.

When my brother Caleb returned from his mission and discovered my ruined mouth, he flipped the dining table in a pure rage. He snatched a solid silver ornament from beside the fireplace and ruthlessly crushed it in his palm right in front of our parents. Silver was a werewolf's most lethal weakness. His flesh sizzled audibly against the metal, but he didn't loosen his grip.

"Since they are both your daughters, things should be fair," he demanded, his eyes bloodshot. "If Elara must suffer alongside Serena, then as your child, shouldn't I be swallowing charcoal too?"

Terrified, my father scrambled to pry his hand open, while my mother tearfully threw her arms around him, swearing, "Don't do this! We promise you, we will never hurt Elara again!"

But the moment Caleb left the house, they dragged me down to the underground blood dungeon on the outskirts of the city. Unidentified werewolf blood stained the stone walls. My mother grabbed me by the hair and forced me to look at the exiled rogues pacing behind the iron bars.

"If you dare breathe a word to Caleb, we will throw you out," she hissed.

My father stood behind her and added, "Without the protection of the pack, you won't survive a single month."

I had been so terrified that I could only nod frantically in agreement. From that day forward, whether they forced me to swallow fire peppers, kneel in ice water, or tossed me into the wilderness, I never dared to beg my brother for help again.

Now, Caleb was still waiting for my answer. I opened my mouth, met my mother's dark, threatening gaze, and finally lowered my head. "...There was no wilderness."

"So you were lying to me again just now." Caleb's voice dripped with irredeemable disappointment. "Elara, I always thought you were just a coward, but I never imagined you would use something like this to fight for attention. It's disgusting."

I wanted to tell him it wasn't true. But my teeth throbbed violently, and my throat felt as though it were being seared by charcoal all over again; I couldn't force a single word out.

Caleb closed his eyes, refusing to look at me any longer. "Forget it." He picked up a cup of pale purple moonberry nectar from the table and slammed it down harshly near my hand. "Haven't you always wanted to drink this? Take it."

The nectar was still chilled, covered in tiny beads of condensation. "I have things to do at the academy, so I'm leaving. Since Mom and Dad are back, take good care of Serena."

After the heavy front door clicked shut, a dead silence fell over the living room. I didn't dare check my parents' expressions; I simply picked up the plastic cup with trembling hands and took a tiny sip through the straw.

The refreshing, sweet taste of berries bloomed on my tongue, and even my broken fangs seemed to hurt a little less.

I hadn't tasted anything sweet in a very long time. Whenever Serena had to drink bitter medicine, I had to drink it too. Since Serena couldn't have sugar, all the sweets in the house became off-limits to me as well. In the past, any candy Caleb occasionally brought back for me was tossed straight into the fireplace by my mother.

She would always say, "If your sister's life is so bitter, what right do you have to eat something so sweet?"

I clutched the cup tightly to my chest, intending to sneak this one tiny scrap of sweetness down to my basement room and drink it slowly.

But just as I prepared to turn around—

Smash!!!

A heavy glass shattered against the floor right beside my feet without any warning, the flying shards instantly slicing deep into my calf.