Chapter 1

"Harper's pathetic. Nine years and she couldn't even make Chief Alchemist."

"Please. Chloe's high-born. She got 'Serenity' to market in two months. That's real talent."

"Figures. An Omega alchemist was always a joke."

I stood just around the corner, their familiar voices like poison in my ear.

The main hall of Silverclaw Tower was packed. They were all buzzing about today's ceremony.

Chloe was about to become Chief Alchemist. She was getting everything that should have been mine.

"I always said Harper was just a front," said Elena, the woman I once called sister. "Someone with real skill wouldn't need nine years."

A small vial of pale green liquid hung from her belt.

The "Soul-Heal" potion I’d made for her three months ago.

She'd been attacked by rogues. Her inner wolf was dying.

I stayed up for seventy-two hours straight, testing hundreds of herbs to save her life.

Now she was standing there, laughing at me with the others.

"Bloodline is everything," Elena continued. "Chloe's father was an Alpha. Even if her pack fell, she was born better than some."

A sharp pain shot through my chest.

Then I smirked.

I strode into the crowd. The chatter died the second they saw me.

"Harper?" Elena’s face went pale. "What are you doing here?"

I didn't say a word.

I walked right up to her and snatched the vial from her belt.

"No—" Elena tried to stop me, but she was too slow.

I yanked it free.

The glass vial shattered on the marble floor.

Green liquid splashed everywhere.

A life-saving potion worth fifty thousand dollars.

Elena stared at the broken glass, terror in her eyes. She knew that without it, her inner wolf would begin to wither.

But she didn't dare move. She knew my temper.

The others were dead silent.

I stared at the pack I’d bled for. My heart went cold.

If this pack won't give me what's mine, then to hell with it.

I turned on my heel and stalked toward the underground lab.

As the elevator went down, I remembered that night nine years ago.

I carried my dying adoptive father, Marcus, to the edge of the Silverclaw territory.

Liam had just become Alpha. The Rage Curse had just taken hold of him.

After he lost control one night, he saw what I could do.

"We don't care about rank in this pack," he’d told me. "Only real talent."

"My father is dying. He needs medicine," I said.

"Help me control this curse, and I'll give you a ten-million-dollar share," Liam promised, grabbing my hand. "Enough to cure any sickness."

I believed him.

For nine years, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this lab.

Countless sleepless nights. Countless burns. Countless failures.

The Silverclaw pack grew from a back-alley crew to a pharma empire.

We used the profits from other potions to fund our work, hunting for a cure to the Rage Curse.

Finally, "Serenity" was born.

Liam went from an unstable Alpha to an untouchable leader.

But the potion was still missing something. It wasn't stable enough for a full market release.

Two months ago, Chloe joined.

I knew Liam hired her as another alchemist. I knew she was the daughter of a fallen Alpha.

But she never looked down on me. She acted like she was eager to learn, saying she’d lost her home and just wanted a place to belong.

At the time, Marcus was getting worse. I was swamped, trying to finalize "Serenity."

Sometimes I’d give Chloe my notes and send her to find rare ingredients.

I thought she was here to help.

I never imagined it. In their eyes, she was the prodigy. I was just the hired help.