Chapter 4

It was my parents.

I was upstairs, about to come down, when I heard my mother's voice break. "It's all that cursed Selene's fault. My poor Vanessa. Why is she the one suffering? Why couldn't it be Selene who got sick instead?"

My foot stopped on the stair.

One witch's prophecy, with nothing behind it, and I had been branded a curse for life.

People avoided me. My parents shipped me off to my grandmother's in the countryside and never visited once.

Not until I'd graduated college, found a decent job, built something for myself in the city. Only then did they remember they had a second daughter.

They hadn't changed their minds. I'd just become useful.

Vanessa had barely finished school, between her health and the way they'd coddled her. She couldn't hold down a job.

My parents were getting old. They couldn't take care of her anymore. So they conveniently forgot about the curse business and dropped Vanessa on me.

They said it was my chance to atone.

That was when I understood. To them, I had always been the criminal who'd made Vanessa sick.

They heard me on the stairs and stopped. My mother's face stiffened with embarrassment.

I pretended I'd heard nothing. "I'm leaving for work for a while. The house is yours and Vanessa's."

A free house. My mother couldn't hide the gleam. "Fine, go. Just remember to send money every month."

I nodded. I'd always been their cash cow.

This time, though, I was getting out from under them for good.

I dropped the signed paperwork off at the registry office. Walking out, I felt almost weightless. Five more days and I'd be out of this pack for good.

Then I came home and saw my suitcase open on the floor, my things scattered everywhere.

Vanessa was leaning against the doorframe, arms folded, watching me.

"Sister. Going somewhere?"

My stomach lurched. "It's a business trip."

She gave a thin little laugh. "Business trip, or are you running off to spy for someone? You know exactly which one."

"What are you talking about?" My fists clenched. "Have you lost your mind?"

She pulled a manila envelope from behind her back. "These are pack confidential documents. You know what they do to people who steal pack secrets."

It was every medical report I'd written over the past few years.

"Give them back. They're not pack property. They're mine."

I lunged forward and tore the envelope from her hand.

I opened it. Empty. Just blank paper inside. My head went hot. "Where did you put them?"

She just smirked.

Then she let herself fall backwards.

I didn't even see what hit me. I was shoved hard, my stomach slamming into the corner of the coffee table. The pain knocked the air out of me.

Adrian was already crossing the room toward Vanessa.

"Vanessa, you okay?"

When his eyes turned on me, they were ice. "Selene. You know she's sick. You pushed her?"

I tried to speak. Vanessa got there first. She gripped his hand, eyes shining with tears. "It's all right, Adrian. At least the pack documents are safe. A few bruises don't matter."

He stilled. "What documents?"

"I found them in her suitcase. I don't know where she was planning to take them."

There it was. That little flash of triumph in her face.

The pain in my stomach was nothing next to the cold in his eyes. "I didn't. Those reports are mine—"

"As long as you're a member of this pack, every document you produce belongs to the pack. Unless you separate."

He scooped Vanessa up. He didn't look at me again. He left me one cold sentence as he walked out.

"Your mother was right. You are a curse. You made her sick, and now you're trying to kill her. How vicious can one person be?"

The word curse slid in like a blade. I went cold all the way through. My body started to shake.

Anyone else could call me that. Anyone but him.