Chapter 4

Unfortunately, I still didn't get my wish.

Evan, the strongest warrior among us, used his own wolf spirit—the one he was about to use to rank up into a God of War Beta—as collateral. He begged the witch to purge the silver poison from my body, dragging me back from the brink of death.

When I regained consciousness, I was lying in a four-poster bed.

Staring at the medicine bottle the witch had sent over, I remained silent for a long time. Then, I raised my hand and threw the remaining half into the fireplace.

Right at that moment, Evan pushed open the door.

He walked in carrying a bowl of steaming, bitter medicine. The moment his eyes caught the flare of the flames, his pupils shrank violently.

The clay bowl shattered instantly against the stone floor.

"Vivian!" his roar echoed through the room. "That was a silver antidote I traded my own wolf spirit for! How could you just throw it away?!"

I looked up, my face completely devoid of emotion. "Yes, I threw it away. So what? Are you going to kill me?"

In the next instant, his hand clamped tightly around my throat, slamming my back against the cold stone wall.

The tips of his fingers had already shifted into sharp wolf claws, and his golden-brown eyes burned with absolute fury.

"Vivian, how did you become so cold? Where is the sensible, obedient Vivian I used to know?!"

As suffocation took over, my heart felt nothing but barren and cold.

She died.

She died during every single moment you chose to show favoritism to Victoria.

"Evan, stop! She just recovered!"

Chris’s deep voice rang out as he and Aidan rushed forward, yanking Evan away from me.

Evan staggered back a few steps, staring at his trembling fingertips. A flash of bewilderment crossed his face.

Just then, a young wolf servant stumbled through the door, his voice shaking.

"Lady Victoria was just hit by a severe backlash during her Alpha ascension ritual on this full moon night... She can barely maintain her human form!"

The entire room fell dead silent.

Evan snapped his head toward me, his eyes instantly igniting with catastrophic rage.

"Brilliant! So you did this on purpose! You chose tonight of all nights to throw a tantrum with your life, just to ruin Victoria's night of ascension!"

Chris and Aidan turned their gazes toward me, their eyes filled with nothing but disappointment.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out.

What was the point of defending myself? They wouldn't believe me anyway.

My silence only fueled their anger. They grabbed me roughly and blurred into three swift shadows, rushing toward the trial grounds at the peak of the mountain, which was currently enveloped in chaotic moonlight.

Victoria lay unconscious in the center of the altar, covered in dirt.

Yet as the blood slave who shared her pain, my own body was completely calm and undisturbed.

She was faking it.

But my brothers rushed forward anyway, anxiously channeling their energy into her without pause.

After inspecting her condition, Aidan's face turned deathly pale.

"Her wolf spirit is withering," he said, turning sharply toward me, his gaze suddenly turning razor-sharp. "We must use the blood slave's heart-blood to sustain her, or we won't be able to save her!"

A sudden icy dread gripped my heart.

They... wanted to carve open my heart?!

That would be a hundred times more painful than any injury I had ever endured before!

I instinctively took a few steps backward.

"No... That's my heart... You can't just rip it out of me while I'm alive..."

I could accept death, but I refused to endure such agonizing torture for Victoria ever again!

My life should be in my own hands!

A flicker of hesitation crossed the faces of the three men opposite me.

But in the next second, Victoria's body actually began to shift into a wolf!

Her inner wolf was completely consuming her physical body—a sign of impending death for her.

The veins along Chris’s jaw bulged as he stepped in front of me, blocking out all the light.

"You don't have the right to refuse! Victoria is the only one in our pack who can become an Alpha. She cannot die! Saving her is your responsibility!"

“It’s just a little blood!” Evan shouted at Aidan, his eyes bloodshot. “Even if Vivian ends up crippled, we can protect her for the rest of her life. Aidan, do it!”

Aidan closed his eyes tightly.

In the next instant, a cold silver light ignited at his fingertips, and he plunged them straight through my chest!

The moment the agony exploded, I felt as if I could hear the sound of my own soul being torn apart.

I let out a cold mental laugh.

This was the final time. They had no idea that my body was already broken beyond repair and couldn't withstand another single injury. Victoria would never have a blood slave again.

To my real brother... I'm so sorry.

I can't believe I have to return to your side in such a humiliating way!

Over on the other side, Victoria's aura finally stabilized.

Seeing color slowly return to her face, Chris let out a long sigh of relief. He rubbed his temples and turned toward the dark corner with a weary sigh.

"Alright, Vivian. It's over. Let's go home."

No one answered.

Evan frowned and strode over, his voice stiff. "Enough. Stop lying on the ground, acting pitiful. Get up!"

But in the next second, the words choked right in his throat.

There on the scorched ground of the altar, only a tiny, lifeless wolf pup lay silently curled in a ball.