Chapter 1

Brennan noticed the change first. He did not say anything. He took the bowl as usual and muttered a quiet thank you.

Callum was idly taking apart the handle of a training knife. He did not notice anything until I stood up, said goodnight, and started heading to my room.

"Hey," he said without looking up. "Did we run out of herbs? Or are you too tired to make an extra portion?"

Unlike Brennan, who was quiet, Callum was sharp, hot-tempered, and unforgiving.

I wanted to explain, but the words died in my throat. My smile faded a little. I said, "No."

"No? Then why is there no bowl for me?"

A few nights earlier, Brennan and Callum had been called out for an emergency border patrol. They did not get home until almost one in the morning. I waited too long and fell asleep on the couch. The sound of the door woke me up. Still two bowls of herbal broth.

Callum looked exhausted. I noticed the bloody bandage wrapped around his forearm. I was about to ask if he was okay when he shoved me away. Werewolves are stronger than they look. I hit the ground hard. Herbal broth spilled everywhere.

Callum froze for a second. Then the irritation came back. "Are you blind? Can you not see I am hurt? Stop bothering me. It is annoying."

To him, my waiting and worrying were just a nuisance.

The disgust in his voice cut deep. Embarrassment flooded through me. I got up without looking at him and stumbled back to my room. A thud came from the living room.

Brennan had punched Callum. A little while later, Brennan came in with a medical kit and knelt in front of me. Only then did I realize I had twisted my ankle in the fall. It was already starting to swell.

I had always known the Stone brothers resented me.

They were elite members of the Federal Guard. Strong. Good-looking. Pureblood werewolves with top-tier speed and strength. I was just a human. If it were not for the shockingly high compatibility score, the system would never have put us together.

At first, I was happy. I grew up in a human care center, and all I ever wanted was a family. I naively believed that Brennan and Callum were the family I had been given. So no matter how badly they treated me, no matter what they said, I pretended not to feel it and kept trying. Every time they ate the food I made, I felt a rush of satisfaction, like I mattered.

The first six months were the hardest. Both resented the match. Their old rivals from training camp finally had something to mock them about. They laughed at them for being paired with a human.

For two proud, arrogant purebloods, it was humiliating. So they took it out on me. Brennan was more restrained. Most of the time he just ignored me. Cold. Distant. Callum had a worse temper. He mocked me constantly, saying humans were slow, fragile, and always one step behind werewolves.

But slowly, things started to shift. Brennan started taking the herbal broth from me. Sometimes he even said thank you. Occasionally, he would reach over and ruffle my hair, the way bonded mates do. I had never been treated like that before. It startled me.

Callum also stopped mocking me as much. Sometimes he even showed me a few basic self-defenses moves, though he never stopped calling me clumsy.

I thought I was finally getting through to them. That if I kept trying, they would eventually accept me.

Until that night.

It was like waking up from a dream. Everything I had given over the past year, all my warmth and patience and effort, came down to the word “annoying”.