Chapter 2

“Mrs. Bennett.” A hand closed gently around Mom’s wrist.

It was Chloe, my childhood sweetheart.

She was the daughter of our pack’s Alpha and Luna, and we had grown up together.

Standing outside my cell, Chloe frowned slightly.

“Mrs. Bennett, you know how stubborn Ethan can be. I don’t think anything you say right now is going to get through to him.”

She paused, then softened her voice as she spoke to me through the gap.

“Ethan, I know this feels unfair. But Ryan hasn’t done anything wrong either. Just this once, can you think about what this could do to him?”

I couldn’t answer.

I couldn’t move anymore.

The agony of my first shift and the silver poison were tearing through me at the same time.

My wolf thrashed wildly inside my mind. He was trying to save me.

Instinct drove him to force the transformation, as if the stronger healing of my wolf form might keep me alive.

But every time my bones began to change, the silver already inside me burned deeper.

I curled up on the floor, my wrists still locked in the chains.

Sweat soaked through my clothes.

I stared at that thin strip of light.

Mom. Open the door.

I was so close.

But then the light disappeared. The door shut again.

I heard Chloe sigh softly outside.

“Ethan, don’t be mad. Once Ryan gets through his first shift safely, I’ll come back and stay with you, okay?”

Their footsteps faded.

My wolf kept fighting to save me. My bones twisted beneath my skin. My nails sharpened into claws. But the silver had already reached my heart.

My wolf only managed half the transformation. His anguished howl inside my head grew weaker and weaker.

Then it disappeared completely.

My hand was still stretched toward the door when I stopped breathing.

Mom, if you had waited just a little longer, you would have found me.

As a spirit hovering in the air, I watched them usher Ryan out of the dungeon.

Mom straightened the clothes he would wear for the awakening ceremony and prepared a clean set for him to change into afterward.

Dad kept reminding him not to be afraid.

Chloe stayed by his side too.

All of them looked relieved.

By pack tradition, when a werewolf awakened at eighteen, their family and loved ones stayed with them.

The first shift was brutal. Bones reshaped. The wolf awakened.

Sometimes the transformation dragged on for hours.

So the family stayed close and helped them endure the worst of it.

Everyone had someone. Except me.

On the day I was supposed to awaken, I had been locked alone in a dungeon.

There, poisoned by silver, I went through my first shift.

And my last.

Mom. Dad.

You spent eighteen years trying to prevent Ryan’s death.

But what about mine?

My spirit followed them to the awakening ceremony.

Across the clearing, young wolves our age were surrounded by their families. Some screamed through the pain. Others had barely grown their first claws before their parents were crying with joy.

Ryan couldn’t sit still. His eyes kept drifting toward the dungeon.

Halfway through the ceremony, he finally grabbed Mom’s hand.

“I’m still worried about Ethan. He kept saying there was silver poison in there. Can we please go check on him?”

Mom frowned.

“Check on him for what? The silver was cleared out years ago. Right now, your awakening is what matters.”

Ryan tugged desperately at her sleeve.

Mom slapped him. Her eyes filled with tears.

“Your only job today is to make it through your awakening safely! Otherwise, what was the point of Ethan making this sacrifice for you?”

Ryan bit down hard on his lip.

Then Mom said, “Stay here. I’ll go get the blessing stone you forgot and check on your brother while I’m there.”

Only then did Ryan relax.

Mom returned home soon after. She picked up the blessing stone from his room, then went to the dungeon.

Her voice softened outside the door.

“Ethan, I know you’re angry. But everything we did was to protect your brother.”

“Just hold on a little longer. Once Ryan finishes his awakening, we’ll take a family trip. You can have anything you want. How does that sound?”

There was no answer.

Mom’s expression hardened.

“Ethan,” she said in a low voice. “When are you going to stop making everything about yourself?”

“Is proving how strong your wolf is really worth risking your brother’s life? How can you be this cruel?”

She struck the door hard as she spoke.

Then her hand suddenly stopped.

She frowned.

“What’s that strange smell in there?”

Her fingers closed around the handle. The door opened a crack.

One of my hands lay just within sight.