Chapter Ten

Catherine's POV: The Sister I Refuse to Call Family

People think I hate Maria because she's an omega.

They're wrong.

I hated her long before anyone knew what she would become.

She stole everything.

Not on purpose.

Not by trying.

Just by existing.

When we were children, everyone used to say she was beautiful. Our relatives would pinch her cheeks, tell Mom she had the prettiest daughter in the family, and smile whenever Maria laughed.

I remember standing beside her, invisible.

Then I was born with my wolf.

Strong.

Healthy.

Everything changed.

Suddenly, I was the daughter everyone admired.

The one people praised.

The one who made our family proud.

And Maria...

She never shifted.

Year after year, everyone waited.

Nothing.

The whispers started.

"Maybe she's just a late bloomer."

"Maybe her wolf is weak."

Eventually, the whispers became something else.

"She's wolfless."

"She's only an omega."

I should have felt sorry for her.

I didn't.

For the first time in my life...

I was the one everyone noticed.

Then came the academy.

I became popular almost immediately.

Beautiful clothes.

Powerful friends.

The attention I'd always wanted.

Maria couldn't even walk through the hallway without someone laughing.

People expected me to defend my own sister.

Why would I?

Defending her would've made me just as pathetic.

So whenever someone insulted her...

I laughed too.

Whenever they called her names...

I pretended I didn't know her.

It was easier that way.

Safer.

Mom and Dad approved.

Andrew approved.

Everyone approved.

Except Maria.

Not that she ever complained.

That was the annoying part.

She never fought back.

Never screamed.

Never tried to expose any of us.

She'd just lower her head and whisper, "I'm sorry."

Always sorry.

For breathing.

For speaking.

For existing.

Sometimes I wanted her to yell at me.

Just once.

To prove she had some pride left.

But she never did.

Then there was the secret no one knew.

The secret that followed me every single day.

The reason I couldn't stand looking into her eyes for too long.

Years ago, when Maria was almost old enough for her first shift, our pack healer gave her a rare herbal tonic. It was meant to strengthen a young wolf before it awakened.

Mom left it on the kitchen table.

I remember staring at the bottle.

Everyone was excited.

Everyone kept talking about how, once Maria shifted, she'd probably be stronger than anyone expected.

I hated hearing that.

I hated the hope in their voices.

So...

I switched the bottles.

Not with poison..... I think.

Just another mixture from the healer's shelves that looked almost identical.

Barely...

It was a silvery coated purplish - blue liquid.

I told myself it was harmless.

I told myself nothing would happen.

But something did.

Maria became terribly ill for months.

She was struggling to survive.

After that...

Her first shift never came.

Months turned into years.

The pack doctors couldn't explain it... Or they were to afraid to speak.

Neither could the elders.

Eventually they declared her a wolfless omega.

No one ever questioned why.

No one ever suspected me.

I was only a child.

How could they?

I've replayed that day in my mind a thousand times.

Sometimes I tell myself it wasn't my fault.

Maybe she was always meant to be wolfless.

Maybe changing those bottles had nothing to do with it.

I cling to those thoughts because the alternative is unbearable.

If I caused it...

If I stole her wolf...

Then every insult she's endured...

Every tear...

Every lonely walk home...

Every cruel word...

Would have started with me.

I can't let myself believe that.

So I don't.

Instead, I tell myself she's weak.

That she's the reason everyone looks down on her.

That she deserves it.

It's easier to hate her than to face the possibility that I destroyed her future with one selfish decision.

Then yesterday happened.

My phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

Message after message.

Pictures.

Rumors.

Voice notes.

"Your sister wrote in her diary."

"She confessed to one of the Alpha brothers."

"Everyone's talking about her."

I was furious.

Not because she liked one of them.

Because once again...

People were talking about Maria.

Even after everything.

Even after all these years.

She still found a way to pull attention toward herself.

When she came home, I wanted to laugh in her face.

I wanted to remind her exactly where she belonged.

And I did.

Yet later that night, when I walked past her bedroom, I heard something through the door.

She wasn't talking.

She wasn't defending herself.

She was crying.

Quietly.

Like she didn't even want anyone to hear.

I stopped walking.

Just for a second.

Then I kept going.

Because if I opened that door...

If I looked at her...

I might have to admit that somewhere beneath all my anger...

There was something else.

Something that looked too much like guilt.

And guilt is a weakness I refuse to have.

I tell myself I don't care about Maria.

I repeat it so often that sometimes I almost believe it.

Almost.

The problem is...

No matter how much everyone hates her, they never stop noticing her.

She's the girl everyone laughs at.

The girl everyone whispers about.

The girl everyone pities.

Even hatred is a kind of attention.

And somehow...

Maria always has it.

I hate that.

Yesterday, after everyone went to bed, I opened one of the academy gossip pages.

There were dozens of anonymous posts.

"Did you hear about the omega's diary?"

"She's in love with one of the Alpha brothers."

"How embarrassing."

I smiled as I read them.

Then another post appeared.

"Damien defended her today."

My smile disappeared.

I read it again.

And again.

No...

That couldn't be right.

Future Alpha Damien never involved himself in things like that.

Someone in the comments even claimed he had stood up for her in front of the entire class.

Lies.

It had to be.

But the more I scrolled, the more people repeated the same story.

Some even wondered why Damien would help an omega everyone looked down on.

I threw my phone onto my bed.

Why her?

Why would someone like Damien even notice Maria?

It didn't make sense.

She wasn't pretty anymore.

Not with those oversized uniforms.

Not with the tired eyes and the way she constantly kept her head down.

She wasn't confident.

She wasn't popular.

She wasn't anything.

So why?

Why did people keep talking about her?

The answer came to me before I wanted it to.

Because Maria has always had something I never could.

She doesn't try.

She never fights for attention.

She never begs people to like her.

Yet somehow...

The people who truly matter eventually see her.

Even as children...

Animals followed her around.

Injured birds would land near her.

Stray puppies trusted her instantly.

The old gardener always smiled when she visited.

Teachers used to praise how kind she was.

Kind.

I hated that word.

Kindness never made anyone powerful.

Popularity did.

Strength did.

Status did.

Kindness was useless.

Wasn't it?

Then why did Damien look at her yesterday instead of everyone else?

Why did he defend her instead of ignoring her like everyone normally did?

My stomach twisted.

For the first time in years...

I felt afraid.

Not of Maria.

Of what she might become.

If Damien continued paying attention to her...

Other people would too.

If the future Alpha accepted her...

Then everyone who laughed at her would suddenly pretend they'd always been on her side.

People are like that.

They follow power.

Not truth.

Not justice.

Power.

Which meant...

Maria wasn't the only one with something to lose.

I was too.

Everything I've built at the academy depends on people seeing me as perfect.

As important.

As the daughter worth respecting.

If Maria suddenly became someone people admired...

Where would that leave me?

No.

I can't let that happen.

She has to stay exactly where she is.

Invisible.

Broken.

Powerless.

It's better for everyone that way.

At least...

That's what I keep telling myself.

Even if a small voice in the back of my mind keeps whispering a different question.

What if...

One day...

Maria discovers the truth?

What if she remembers that afternoon in the kitchen?

What if she learns that I was the one who switched the bottles?

I squeeze my eyes shut.

She won't.

She can't.

No one saw me.

No one knows.

That secret will die with me.

It has to.

Because if it doesn't...

I won't just lose my popularity.

I'll lose the only family I've ever known.

And worst of all...

I'll have to face the sister whose life I destroyed.

I'm not ready for that.

I don't think I ever will be.

No, I can't let that happened.

I'll just have to teach her a lesson.

That night, sleep refused to come.

I lay on my back, staring at the ceiling while the moonlight spilled across my room.

The house was silent.

Andrew had gone to bed hours ago.

Mom and Dad's bedroom door had long since closed.

Even Maria's crying had finally stopped.

Good.

I rolled onto my side and reached for my phone, opening the academy's social page again.

New posts had already appeared.

"I heard Damien defended the omega."

"Maybe he's just being nice."

"Or maybe there's something going on."

I clenched my jaw.

People were already turning a single moment into gossip.

If they kept talking...

Rumors would grow.

And rumors had a way of becoming stories people believed.

I couldn't let that happen.

Not to Damien.

Not to Draven.

And definitely not to Maria.

She had spent years at the bottom of the academy's social ladder. She wasn't going to climb it because one Alpha decided to stop a few students from bothering her.

She didn't deserve that.

I tossed my phone onto the pillow beside me and folded my arms across my chest.

Think.

There had to be a way to remind everyone exactly who Maria was.

Someone they laughed at.

Someone they pitied.

Someone who didn't belong anywhere near the Alpha brothers.

The more I thought about it, the clearer my plan became.

People loved entertainment.

They loved scandals.

If I gave them something new to laugh about, they'd forget Damien's small act of kindness.

Maybe I could convince my friends to start another rumor.

Not about Damien this time.

About Maria.

Something harmless enough that no one could trace it back to me, but embarrassing enough that everyone would keep their distance.

Maybe they could "accidentally" discover another page from her diary.

Or perhaps they could spread the story that she was imagining conversations that never happened.

If people believed she was living in fantasies, then anything she said afterward would sound unbelievable.

I smiled to myself.

Yes.

That would work.

And as for Damien...

I didn't need him to hate Maria.

I just needed him to think she was trouble.

Someone who attracted drama wherever she went.

Future Alphas were taught to protect the stability of the pack.

Why would Damien keep involving himself with a girl surrounded by constant rumors and conflict?

Eventually, he'd decide she wasn't worth the attention.

Then everything would go back to normal.

Maria would return to being invisible.

The Alpha brothers would move on with their lives.

And everyone would stop saying her name.

I closed my eyes, finally feeling the weight in my chest ease.

Tomorrow would be the beginning.

Maria wouldn't even realize someone had started pulling the strings again.

And by the time she noticed...

The entire academy would already believe the story.