Chapter 2

Early the next morning, I went to the academy to complete the handover arrangements.

A notification from the official Lunar Hunt system popped up on my phone, informing me that the team roster had been updated. My name, Avril, had been crossed out and replaced with Lily's.

I stared at her name for a few seconds before dismissing the notification.

Once the competition began, messages started flooding into the family group chat.

Leo sent several photos in a row. In one of them, Lily was sitting on the grass, a faint red mark visible on her calf. Adrian was kneeling in front of her, carefully applying medicine to the scrape.

My fingers began to tremble as I looked at the picture.

Two years earlier, when I'd competed in the Lunar Hunt with them, I'd lost my footing and tumbled down a steep slope, leaving my body covered in scratches from the thorns. The wound on my right knee had been so deep that the bone was almost exposed.

But Adrian had merely glanced at it before urging me on. "If you can still walk, get up and keep moving. Don't hold up the whole team."

My three brothers had mocked me for being so delicate, too. They said werewolves had strong healing abilities and that an injury like mine might even be gone by the end of the competition.

Then they'd left me behind without looking back and continued on.

To avoid slowing the team down, I'd gritted my teeth and followed them. In the end, I'd helped them secure first place.

But because I'd brushed against a small amount of wolfsbane leaves while running, my wounds had taken an unusually long time to heal. Even now, an ugly scar remained on my right knee.

Yet the same people who had always cared so much about winning had now willingly stopped for Lily's tiny scrape.

So, they weren't incapable of showing concern. Their patience had simply never been meant for me.

After the competition ended that evening, their team had unsurprisingly failed to make it into the top ten. But they didn't seem to care at all. Instead, they gathered around Lily, anxiously asking about her injury.

Even in the official group photo released by the organizers, they'd placed her right in the center.

I opened the full-sized photo on the promotional page, and the caption beneath Lily's picture immediately stung.

"Lily, Alpha Adrian's partner."

The ambiguous caption soon sparked a flood of speculation in the comments.

"Is she the future Luna? She's wearing a matching ring with the Alpha. How sweet!"

I refreshed the page again and again, but Adrian never posted a single clarification.

The only thing I got was a photo he reposted on his personal account, accompanied by the caption, "The bravest warrior today."

I called Adrian.

The phone rang for a long time before he finally answered. The background was filled with the clinking of glasses and cheerful chatter.

"Are you not going to explain the comments under the official account's post?"

Clearly annoyed that I was questioning him again, Adrian replied impatiently, "It's just a promotional photo. What does it prove? Why have you become so sensitive lately?"

"But everyone's misunderstanding it. They're saying—"

"That's enough!" Adrian cut me off. "It's Lily's first pack event, and she was already nervous. If I go out of my way to issue a clarification now, she'll only feel like an outsider."

I gripped my phone, my fingers turning cold.

There was a burst of noise from the other end, followed by Lily's tearful voice.

"Avril, please don't be mad. I really had no idea the organizers would caption it that way! I'll ask them to take the photo down right now. I never deserved to stand in your place anyway."

Her voice grew quieter as she continued.

"I was just so happy to finally have my family there with me at a competition. I didn't realize it would make you feel so uncomfortable…"

Before I could say anything, Adrian took the phone back.

"That's enough! Avril, are you satisfied now?" he snapped, his voice turning cold. "Lily suffered so much while she was away. Now that she's back, she's been careful about everything, and you're still making a fuss over one photo. When did you become so petty?"

After hearing Adrian defend her, I no longer had the energy to explain myself.

When I stayed silent, Adrian's tone turned threatening.

"Lily can't even eat after the way you've interrogated her! Come to the camp right now and apologize to her in person," he ordered. "Clear up this misunderstanding today."

"I'm not going, and I'm not apologizing."

Adrian's patience finally ran out.

"We're holding the marking ceremony next week. You'll be the Luna of the entire Silvercrest Pack. If you can't even show this much tolerance, I'll have to reconsider the whole thing."

In the past, whenever we argued, I would always give in as soon as Adrian brought up the marking ceremony.

But now, I was simply exhausted.

"Then cancel the marking ceremony."

Before Adrian could respond, I hung up.

I immediately opened the Silvercrest Pack's official government services page on my phone and selected the option to cancel the marking ceremony.

Less than a minute later, a staff member from the government services office called to verify my request.

"Ms. Wolcott, once you cancel the marking ceremony, the system will automatically reset all the progress you've made so far. If you apply again, you'll have to go through the entire process from the beginning. Are you sure you want to proceed?"

I looked at the five-person photo that no longer included me and answered, "Yes. I'm sure."