공유

Chapter 3

작가: Selene Blackwood
I opened my eyes.

I was floating above my own body.

So ghosts were real.

Dawn light seeped through the tall windows. The Volkov mansion was deathly quiet.

Kael had dismissed all the staff years ago. He preferred it this way—no witnesses, no interruptions. Just me, trapped in this gilded cage as his silent servant… and his outlet for violence.

My ghost felt no pain, no weight.

And yet, a deep, instinctive chill coiled through me.

Kael was waking up.

I didn’t stay.

I turned and drifted upstairs, passing effortlessly through the closed bedroom door.

Mira was a small, trembling shape beneath the blankets.

The sheets were damp.

She hadn’t dared to leave the bed. Not even for that.

Something inside me shattered.

“My baby…”

I reached out, desperate to soothe her, to brush her tangled hair back the way I always did.

My hand passed straight through her. Nothing.

I couldn’t even comfort my own child.

A shout exploded from downstairs.

Kael had found my body.

I froze. Then slowly… I drifted back down.

What I saw hollowed something deeper than death.

Kael stood over what remained of me, his expression twisted, not with grief—but with irritation. Calculation.

He dragged my body across the floor, leaving a dark smear behind, then disappeared briefly—returning with knives, heavy-duty bags, and plastic sheets.

He worked methodically. Cold. Efficient.

The sound of the blade cutting through flesh echoed faintly in the room.

There was no hesitation in him. No reverence. No trace of the bond that was supposed to tie mates together.

Only practiced brutality.

I recoiled, even as a spirit.

This was what he truly was.

And my family had handed me over to him with smiles on their faces.

Originally, the alliance had been meant for Seraphina.

The Volkovs were the prime pack. Kael—powerful, dangerous, destined to lead.

Seraphina had been thrilled.

Until the rumors began.

A dead she-wolf. A night that went too far. A mess that couldn’t be buried quietly enough.

Suddenly, my parents hesitated.

Not about the alliance—never that.

But about her.

So they rewrote the plan.

I could still hear their voices, clear as if they stood beside me.

“Elena is our true-born daughter. Her bloodline is stronger. She’s a better match for the Volkov heir.”

“She’s obedient. Gentle. Easy to manage. Not like Seraphina.”

“Seraphina is too delicate. She isn’t ready to bear pups. Elena will give you a strong heir.”

Every word sounded like sacrifice.

But none of it was for me.

Every flaw they assigned to Seraphina was protection.

Every virtue they praised in me was a chain.

I drifted into the kitchen, unable to look away.

Kael was separating the remains into sections, sealing them into thick plastic bags.

One. Two. Three.

“Stupid bitch…” he muttered under his breath. “Had it coming…”

His lip curled.

“Filthy little liar…”

Liar?

His voice rose, defensive, almost frantic.

“Don’t look at me like that! Seraphina told me everything!”

My world went colder still.

“She said you were never clean,” he snarled. “Sneaking around with young males when you were barely grown… always clinging to them… letting them touch you…”

Each word hit like a blow.

“She said you’d do anything for attention. That I was the one stuck taking what everyone else had already used.”

The truth slammed into place.

Seraphina. Of course.

That was when everything had changed.

We’d had months of tense but peaceful coexistence after the mating.

Then, after a family gathering where Seraphina had pulled him aside, the beatings started.

You won, Seraphina.

You took everything from me. Was that not enough? Why poison my well until it killed me?

By nightfall, Kael was finished.

What remained of me was sealed away in heavy bags and stacked inside two large freezers in the basement pantry. Out of sight. Erased.

He scrubbed the living room until the scent of bleach and artificial pine overwhelmed everything else.

Until it was as if I had never existed.

A small figure appeared at the top of the stairs. Mira.

Kael looked up. His eyes glowed faintly amber in the dim light.

“Mira,” he said slowly. “What did you see?”

She froze.

“I asked you a question.”

His voice dropped, thick with Alpha command.

“N-nothing…” she whispered, shrinking in on herself.

His gaze lingered on her.

“Stay upstairs,” he said coldly. “If you come down again, I’ll break your legs.”

She vanished instantly.

Kael grabbed one of the bags and headed out into the night.

The front door clicked shut.

Silence returned.

As soon as the door closed, Mira crept back down.

She didn’t go to the kitchen. She went to the basement door, wrestled it open, and padded down the cold steps.

She went straight to the larger freezer.

I followed, dread coiling tighter with every step she took.

She went straight to the larger freezer.

With a soft grunt, she pulled the heavy lid open.

Cold mist spilled out, curling around her small frame.

Among the frost-covered parcels was one unmistakable shape.

“Mama?” her tiny voice echoed in the concrete room.

I had no tears left, but my soul wept.

She had seen everything.
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  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 9

    I lingered in the mortal world for a while longer.My anchor was Mira.She was placed with a good family.Her new mother was a mediator for the Clan Council. Calm. Patient. Steady as stone.Her new father was a healer. Gentle, warm, a little awkward in ways that made him honest.Mira was their only child.It took my little girl two full moons to settle.Two long, fragile cycles of fear and silence.Then—She laughed again.She ate with bright, eager hunger.She slept without trembling.She was young.Memories blurred.Pain softened.A full belly and sunlit days became her world.That was all I had ever wanted.I stayed close.An unseen shadow.A quiet presence.I watched her new mother wash her tiny clothes until they were spotless, folding each piece with care.In summer, she pressed cool cloths to Mira’s back.In winter, she wrapped her hands in soft mittens before she ever stepped outside.Her new father was… less graceful.He relied heavily on a thick, worn book titled Rearing the

  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 8

    On the day of my pyre, my body had been reassembled.The mortician was skilled.I looked… almost whole.For a moment, I studied the still figure laid out before the sacred flames.I had to admit—Death became me.I looked better than I had in years.No fear.No pain.No exhaustion carved into my bones.Just stillness.Peace.My parents came to see me off.Caden could not.Pack justice for killing Seraphina had been swift—and merciless.I noted the change in them.Their hair had gone completely grey.Their movements were slow, heavy—like wolves who had lived far too long.Not middle-aged.Ancient.“My dear girl…”Mother’s voice trembled as she looked down at my face, tears spilling endlessly.“I’ve come to beg your forgiveness.”“I made a terrible… terrible mistake.”Her hand shook as she wiped her tears.“After you were taken at five… I was lost.”“Every night, I howled for you. The pack feared I would go feral.”Her voice cracked.“Then we found Seraphina. She was… light. Warmth. Some

  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 7

    My family stood in the wrecked living room.No one spoke.No one moved.They looked like ghosts more than I did.I drifted closer.Mother’s lips were trembling, her voice barely audible as she whispered to herself.“No… Seraphina wouldn’t…”“She always spoke so kindly of Elena to Kael…”The words sounded fragile.Even she didn’t believe them.Father’s voice cut through the silence, hoarse and strained.“Where is Seraphina?”No one answered.A heavy, suffocating pause followed.Then Caden turned—And walked out.My parents followed, their movements stiff, uncoordinated, like sleepwalkers being pulled toward something inevitable.I went with them.The pull of this unraveling… I couldn’t look away.The pack infirmary was brightly lit, sterile, untouched by death.Seraphina was there.Alive.Unharmed.Safe.She had claimed “shock” and refused to leave.Of course she had.We entered her private room.She sat upright in bed, wrapped in soft blankets, sipping warm broth.Color had already ret

  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 6

    The Pack Enforcers found Kael barely alive.Caden had reached him first.My brother had beaten the Alpha-heir within an inch of his life.Another few minutes…Kael would have died where he stood.I drifted through what had once been my home.For the first time since my death, something inside me stilled.Mira was safe.She would not grow up under his shadow.She would not starve in silence.She was free.Days later, the Enforcers brought Kael back to the house to reconstruct the crime.He looked less like a man and more like something broken and discarded—his movements stiff, his face hollow.My parents were there.So was Caden.All under guard.Caden held a hunting knife.The moment he saw Kael, he lunged.Pure instinct.Pure rage.Two Enforcers intercepted him instantly, forcing him back.“Let me go!” he roared, voice tearing into something feral.“I’ll kill him!”Father looked decades older.His hand shook as he pointed at Kael.“You animal!” he roared, though the Alpha command in h

  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 5

    Screaming. Shrieking. Chaos.My mother’s piercing scream tore through the entire estate, dragging everyone toward the room.Footsteps thundered from every direction. Doors slammed open. Voices overlapped in confusion—until they saw the screen.Until they saw me.The pack house erupted.Seraphina, standing closest to the screen, went deathly pale—then collapsed instantly, her body crumpling to the floor.Caden staggered backward as if struck, crashing hard into a heavy oak table.Father’s face drained of all color. He swayed, barely able to remain standing.Mother…Mother simply broke.Her whole body trembled violently before her legs gave out beneath her. She hit the stone floor, hard—then began to crawl.A raw, animal sound tore from her throat.“Elena… Elena, what’s happened to you?”“No… no, this isn’t real… Elena!”It wasn’t just grief.It was denial clawing its way out of her chest.She dragged herself forward, inch by inch, toward the screen—toward the open freezer.She couldn’t

  • After I Died, My Family Went Mad   Chapter 4

    The following days fell into a grim routine.Kael became a nocturnal creature, disposing of me piece by piece across his vast territory.But even Kael couldn’t risk everything.But the city and the surrounding woods were watched by rival packs. It wasn’t easy. My head remained in the freezer.Back at the mansion, Mira obeyed.She never disobeyed him. Not once.She only came downstairs when Kael was gone.Each time, she moved the same way.She would stand in front of the basement freezer, her tiny hand pressed flat against the cold metal.Then she would run.She survived on whatever Kael left behind—dry cereal, sealed snacks, bottles of water abandoned on the stairs like scraps for a pet.The isolation would have broken a grown wolf. For a pup, it was a slow suffocation.And I could do nothing but watch.The pain inside me twisted into something deeper than grief—something that pulled at me, dragging my awareness away from the mansion.The last remnants of a pack bond that had never tru

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