Chapter 3

Caleb called from out of territory.

"Mom, isn't Wren's defense this week? I've been trying to reach her for days. Nothing."

Mom's voice was clipped. "Why is it always Wren with you? Noelle just came into her wolf—you didn't ask about her first?"

"I already checked on Noelle. She's fine." Caleb paused. "Wren spent six months on that defense. She wouldn't just vanish."

Mom scoffed. "She wouldn't give her sister a kidney either. Guilty conscience. Ran off."

"Caleb, if that girl dies out there, it's her own damn problem."

Caleb was the only one in the family who ever gave a damn about me. But every time he stood up for me, Mom said he'd been played.

He tried again, level. "Mom, Wren clawed her way through the last three years. Finished school on her own, got into college. She's training to be a healer. Same as you."

"A healer?" Mom laughed. "Her? That research last time was Noelle's. Wren stole it."

"That was Wren's work. I read the first draft myself."

"Enough. I don't have time for this."

"Mom, I think something's happened to her. I'm coming home."

"Suit yourself. But you tell Wren—if she's not back by the end of the week, she doesn't need to come back. Ever."

Mom ran into Dad in the hallway and told him about the call. He hesitated, pulled out his phone, dialed my number. Nothing. Dialed again. Nothing.

His face went hard. "We never should've brought her home. All she does is make things harder."

He put the phone away and walked straight to Noelle's room.

The enforcers came by that afternoon to pull the awakening records in full. "Alpha, the wolf was taken by someone who knew the old craft. We're checking every awakening in the pack this last month, one at a time."

Dad walked them through it. He got to Noelle's and didn't even slow down. "This one's my daughter. I ran the review myself, and my wife led the ceremony. Wolfless from birth—her wolf finally woke." The enforcer nodded and crossed it off. "Then that's clear."

Two young enforcers walked off down the hall after, talking between themselves.

"This one's ugly. Dead for days before anyone noticed. Still can't reach the family."

"Blood-records got a hit. She's got a pack out there somewhere. Nobody ever reported her gone."

"When your blood dies, you feel it. The bond snaps and it drops you to your knees. What kind of family doesn't feel their own girl die?"

They walked right past Dad. He was looking at his phone—a photo Noelle had sent from her bed, two fingers up, new wolf new start. He didn't hear them.

Nobody felt me die. There was no bond to feel. Three years home and they never once brought me into the pack, never stood me in the circle and claimed me as theirs. Every time it came up, Noelle had some soft little reason to wait, and every time they listened.

When I was five and taken, they stopped everything for six months to find me. Now I'd been gone for days and they figured I was sulking.

I told Dad I wanted to train as a healer. He barely looked up. "You? You're not cut out for it."

Next to him, Noelle turned the pages of one of Mom's old healing books. Mom smiled at her. "Noelle's got the touch for it."

That night I tore up the pamphlet. But I kept studying in secret—because I still wanted to prove I belonged.

My first day back, Noelle grabbed my hand in front of everyone. "I'll take care of you, big sis."

Then she leaned in and whispered, "This is my house. You're a guest."

Maybe they were right. Maybe I never should have been found.

This was Noelle's house, not mine. The years when a family loves a daughter hardest—they gave every one of them to her.

If I were still alive, I'd probably still be leaving herbs by the door, hoping someone would notice who left them.

Not anymore.