Be proud you’re useful

Corinne POV

I focused on my shifts and my work, ignoring that bastard Glacier.

The system here was almost sacred. Everything measured, monitored, tightly controlled.

Amid all of that, I moved with a portable analysis device. No one paid me any special attention. I wasn’t in leadership, I wasn’t a fighter, and I wasn’t from one of the prestigious families.

A second-tier wolf.

I worked in the Pattern Analysis Department.

Quiet, respectful, diligent… that was all.

But when I reached the compound’s courtyard, Yossi was waiting for me, like she did at the end of most days. She was the gentle, innocent sister of Alpha Glacier.

Sometimes, I doubted she was really his little sister. Since I came from the human world, she had been my companion, warm and kind, unlike that cold, overbearing Alpha.

“You’re late.”

Yossi said loudly, opening her arms as if welcoming a heroine returning from battle.

Yossi, the Alpha’s sister, a frontline warrior, had a presence impossible to ignore.

Bold, strong, quick-tempered at times, but she carried a pure place in her heart reserved only for me.

She wasn’t just a friend… she was a sister by choice.

A shy smile touched my lips.

“The shift ran long. One of the devices gave wrong readings.”

“Your devices love causing trouble.”

Yossi said, patting my back, then slinging her arm around my shoulders.

“Come, I saved the last piece of Moon Pie for you.”

“You ate it, didn’t you?”

“Never. Maybe a tiny bite… just to make sure it’s safe. No one wants you sick.”

We laughed together and walked to a quiet corner of the residential area, where casual sitting didn’t break any protocols.

We sat there, under dim light, talking about everything and nothing.

Yossi spoke passionately about her training, council disagreements, and a new guy on the team who couldn’t fully transform.

And I… just listened.

I laughed, raised an eyebrow, asked the occasional question, looked at ease. Totally at ease.

Despite the huge differences in our lives, Yossi never acted superior, and I never felt inferior.

Between us was that rare, pure friendship, untouched by time, uncorrupted by ambition.

And when it was time to leave, Yossi suddenly said,

“I love you, you know that?”

I looked at her and understood she wasn’t joking.

I nodded lightly, not with words… just with a sincere gesture, as if saying: Me too.

---

Nothing unusual happened that night.

I walked alone down the stone corridor leading to the inner residential area, where small houses were scattered among trees and climbing night plants.

I had decided to leave Glacier’s palace willingly. I didn’t want to burn seeing him with Lumi. I wanted isolation, distance, and they allowed me.

Moonlight filtered through tree branches, casting broken shadows on the ground. The breeze carried the damp scent of dewy leaves.

The place was quiet, not loud… as if the night itself guarded Silver Stone’s inhabitants.

My little house sat on a low hill, facing a garden of night-blooming flowers under the moonlight.

My room was simple but warm.

A bed with light cotton sheets, a small window overlooking trees, a side table with a glass of water.

I threw my jacket on the back of the chair and sat on the edge of the bed, gently untangling my hair, massaging my neck with a tired hand.

This was my favorite part of the day… no responsibilities, no faces, no questions.

Just silence… and breathing.

I stood in front of the mirror, studying my face for a moment.

I wasn’t looking for anything, just used to seeing myself every night before closing my eyes to the same mystery I woke to each morning.

I lay on the bed, turned toward the window.

Outside, stillness. No movement, no sound…

except distant water trickling and faint light reflecting on a trembling leaf in the wind.

I closed my eyes, letting myself melt into the darkness…

but sleep, as usual, didn’t come quickly.

As if something, somewhere… was awake for me.

**************

When the first thread of light slipped through the window curtains, I was still in the same position I had slept in.

Lying on my side, arms crossed over my chest, hugging myself against a cold no one could see.

I woke slowly, as I did every morning, no alarm needed.

After putting on my uniform, I tied my hair as always: one tight knot, no decoration. No time for mirrors, no need for looking pretty.

When I stepped out, the corridors were full of active wolves, footsteps, soft orders exchanged, a serious atmosphere as if everyone was in an unspoken war.

I entered the sub-lab where I worked, a long, cold-walled room with screens and analysis tools…

I sat at my table, opened my file, and began reviewing the development models I had worked on for days, designing a tracker device that could merge with wolf instincts.

An innovative idea.

No one else had thought to combine nature, wolf intuition, and silent technology.

But before I could finish, Seraphine entered… a first-rank wolf, higher-ranked employee, confident presence, but heavy.

He stood at my desk without asking permission, and in his usual dry, arrogant, disrespectful voice, said,

“The Alpha is impressed with the proposed device.”

“Device…?”

I whispered.

He extended his hand, dropping a copy of my report on my desk… signed by him.

“I submitted it as my final proposal. It’s not logical for a second-tier hybrid wolf to be credited with such projects.”

His words weren’t new.

I knew them, memorized them, tasted their bitterness in my throat for months.

But the pain didn’t numb.

“I didn’t ask for credit… just my name.”

I said quietly, hurt.

He laughed mockingly, turning away:

“Names don’t matter as long as the work serves the pack. Be proud you’re useful… even if from the shadows.”

Then he left, without looking back.

I sighed slowly.

My tears weren’t visible, but a weight settled on my chest, as if someone had ripped a small piece of me… again.

I looked at the screen and saw my idea, born from long nights, stolen with the stroke of a pen.

But I didn’t break anything, didn’t scream, didn’t complain.

In this world… a weak wolf wasn’t allowed to raise her voice.

All I did was return to work, stitching a new wound, silently.

I sat in my chair as if I had lost my balance.

The paper Seraphine threw in front of me wasn’t just stealing an idea… it was erasing my identity.

My eyes stayed locked on his signature.

He hadn’t invented the device.

He hadn’t even understood the idea when I explained it a week ago.

Yet… now he owned it.

I took a deep breath and stood.

My hands trembled slightly, but I forced them steady.

I went to him, found him at the central table talking with two technicians.

I didn’t wait for him to finish.

“Seraphine, we need to talk.”

I said in a quiet but firm tone.

He raised an eyebrow without turning fully, then gestured to the technicians to leave.

“Do you have a problem?”

I stepped closer, lowering my voice:

“I designed the device. The model, the biological modification, every step I built alone. I recorded all details in my file, it was clear.”

He stared at me, with a look not of anger… but boredom.

“And what do you want? Recognition? Congratulations? A golden statue?”

“I just want… my work credited to me.”

I said, suppressed.

He laughed, but the laugh was cold, lifeless.

He leaned closer until the space between us was suffocating, then said in a low voice, as if whispering a secret:

“You’re second-tier, Corinne. You know that, right?”

I didn’t answer.

“In a pack like Silver Stone, we don’t elevate the unworthy. You may be smart, yes, but you’re not strong. Not prestigious. Not tied to noble blood. You’re simply… replaceable.”

His words almost pulled the response from my chest, but what came after hit harder than any objection:

“And if you think of filing a complaint, or making noise… I’ll make it a security issue. You know how some tech intentions are interpreted here, right? Imagine someone saying you tried to implant self-control in wolf instincts without permission.”

My eyes widened, my heart trembled.

I understood the threat perfectly. No explanation needed.

“Stay in your place, do what you do best. Don’t raise your voice, don’t climb above those above you. Because if you do… I’ll drop you without anyone noticing you were even here.”

He turned and left as if nothing had happened.

And I was alone, in the lab where I built my project… feeling every wall tighten around me now.

The place I existed to create something… had become a cold grave for my dignity.

But I didn’t cry.

I didn’t allow my eyes to show defeat… not in front of them.