Chapter 1

I opened my chat with Dad and sent him a message.

[Dad, can you come get me now?]

Although the message was marked as delivered, ten minutes stretched into thirty, and thirty minutes became an entire night. My screen never lit up.

My wolf, Seraphina, let out distressed whimpers. She desperately urged me to transform and protect myself, but I was so terrified that I couldn't bring myself to do it.

It wasn't until the sky began to turn bright that I finally dragged my exhausted human body out of the cave. I cautiously circled around two groups of patrolling rogues before making my way home.

My clothes were soaked with sweat and rainwater. At last, I made it back home.

Firewood crackled in the fireplace, and its warm glow illuminated the living room.

My parents, my older brother Tommy Gray, and my younger sister Ella Gray were huddled together beneath a thick blanket. Their arms were wrapped around one another.

The bed could barely accommodate the four of them. If I tried to squeeze in, there wouldn't even be space for anyone to stretch out their legs.

When I opened the door and walked inside, Mom looked up. Her expression immediately darkened as she lowered her voice and yelled at me. "Alice, it's still early. Can't you walk more quietly? Tommy and Ella were frightened last night and just fell asleep. Do you really have to wake them up?"

Dad glanced at the mud caked on my pants with a disgusted expression. "You're covered in mud! Didn't you shower last night? Step back. Don't get mud all over the new wool carpet!"

I stared at their irritated faces. Instead of backing away, I took another step forward. "I just got home. You promised you'd come back for me after you slipped past the rogues."

A flicker of guilt appeared in Mom's eyes. "W-We didn't mean to leave you behind."

"The cave I told you to hide in was well concealed. The rogues wouldn't have found you." Dad's expression softened slightly. "Besides, your mother and I lured the rogues halfway around the mountain. There was no danger where you were."

Did they really lure the rogues away?

All they'd done was howl a couple of times while running away. They hadn't lured the rogues anywhere. When I finally crawled out of the cave, several groups of rogues were still patrolling the area. I had nearly been caught.

Recalling the scene made my heart ache. My eyes immediately welled with tears. "But I almost died out there!"

My emotions got the better of me, and I raised my voice involuntarily.

Ella stirred awake. She rubbed her eyes and let out a sleepy whine. Dad immediately pulled her into his arms and gently ruffled her hair.

He then turned to me and frowned. "Enough, Alice! Tommy's wolf spirit is weak, and Ella hasn't even awakened hers yet. The rogues could've torn them apart at any moment!

"You've already awakened your wolf spirit. You're ten times stronger than they are. What's the big deal about surviving one night on your own? Would you rather the whole family die with you?"

He continued speaking in a hushed voice. He was afraid of waking Ella again.

I clenched my fists and was ready to argue, but Mom climbed out of bed and impatiently pushed me toward the bathroom. "That's enough. Stop making a fuss. Ella and Tommy both need rest. Quit throwing tantrums and go wash that awful smell off yourself. Then go to bed!"

She turned on the shower, and cold water came splashing over my head. I gasped and instinctively tried to step away, but she just grabbed my head and pinned me beneath the freezing water.

"Mom, the water's cold! There's no warm water!" I shouted hoarsely.

"You should be grateful there's water at all!" she snapped impatiently. "Ella used up all the warm water for a bath last night. It'll take two hours to heat more. Your wolf is already awakened. Surely a cold shower won't kill you!"

The scratches on my back burned with excruciating pain as the cold water hit them. Deep inside my mind, Seraphina let out a desperate cry.

After the cold shower, Mom casually grabbed a dark gray piece of cloth from the nearby shelf and tossed it at me. The fabric was rough and smelled awful. There were tiny grains of sand clinging to it.

I picked it up and looked at it more closely. It wasn't a towel at all. It was the rag Ella used to wipe her rain boots.

Mom froze when she realized what she'd handed me. Embarrassment flashed across her face, but the moment she met my resentful gaze, her guilt gave way to irritation.

"Enough. The bathroom lighting is dim. I grabbed the wrong thing by mistake. It's not like I did it on purpose." She folded her arms and looked down at me. "Just get another towel. Stop looking at me like that. Hurry up and clean yourself up so you can sleep."

With that, she yawned and walked away.

I threw the rag onto the floor and headed to my room. Just as I walked past the living room, a wave of dizziness washed over me, and my temples began throbbing violently. I realized I probably had a fever.

I had no choice but to turn back toward the living room to get some medicine, but Mom caught me by the arm and pulled me back. "Where do you think you're going? Don't disturb Tommy. He needs to prepare for the Royal Werewolf Council exam."

"I have a fever. I need some medicine to bring it down." My voice was barely more than a rasp.

Mom sighed. She rummaged through the first-aid kit and tossed me a brown bottle.

I looked down at it. The label bore Tommy's name, and the first ingredient listed in bold letters was vetiver extract.

I stared at Mom in disbelief. "I've been severely allergic to vetiver since I was a pup! You know that. If I take it, my throat will swell up and I'll suffocate to death! Have you forgotten?"

"Tommy takes it all the time and he's perfectly fine. Why do you always have to be so difficult?" Mom interrupted impatiently and waved her hands dismissively.

"Take it or don't. Why are you acting like some poor, pitiful victim? You make it seem as if I owe you something. The sun isn't even fully up, and you're already ruining everyone's mood," she added.

With that, she climbed back into bed and settled down behind Ella for another nap.

Clutching the bottle of medicine, I slowly sank onto the cold, damp floor.

I received a message from my mentor, Vera Lambert. She had sent me the application form.

[A private shuttle will take you to Royal City in three days. You won't be allowed to leave the academy without special permission.]

Vera followed up with another message.

[You said before that you couldn't bear to leave your parents. Are you sure you won't regret leaving now?]

After reading her message, I looked up at Dad, who was half asleep but still pulled the blanket over Tommy.

'If there's no place for me here, then there's no reason for me to stay,' I thought.

I wiped away tears I hadn't even realized I'd shed and entered my name into the applicant field without a moment's hesitation.

[Alice Gray.]