Chapter 2

If I never showed up in the advanced healing room, no one could pin the crime on me.

My eyes swept the ground.

I zeroed in on the road in front of the trauma wing.

There was an old, abandoned wolf trap there, its metal grate missing.

The full moon watch had drained my wolf's energy. That, plus the thick smell of blood from the trauma wing, perfectly masked the dangerous scent of rusted silver from the bottom of the pit.

I pretended to be rushing toward the trauma wing.

When I reached the edge of the trap, I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes.

Then I threw myself into the dark hole.

Weightlessness consumed me.

My body tensed on instinct.

The next second, I slammed into the hard bottom of the pit.

It made a dull, heavy thud.

The impact felt like it shook my organs.

Luckily, the pit was dry. No water.

But a rusted silver spike at the bottom drove straight through my right calf.

Silver poison flooded my bloodstream. A burning sensation spread through my body, completely shutting down my Wolf's ability to heal.

I shivered, cold sweat soaking my clothes in an instant.

I knew my leg was ruined.

This was an old wolf trap on the edge of the territory, abandoned for years.

Someone had stolen the metal grate a few days ago.

It hadn't been replaced yet.

There was just a flimsy warning fence around it, easy to miss.

I was rushing to save a patient, wasn't watching my step, and fell in.

It was the perfect accident.

My phone, which had fallen next to me, rang again and again.

In the dead silence of the pit, the sound was piercing.

But I didn't move a muscle.

I let it ring, then stop, then ring again.

I kept my eyes squeezed shut.

A wolf impaled by silver and passed out couldn't possibly answer a phone.

All I had to do now was wait quietly to be found.

The longer, the better.

Fifteen minutes later, the territory patrol arrived.

Drawn by the smell of blood in the air, they spotted my bag scattered near the edge of the pit.

One of the patrol members' hearts sank. He leaned over and looked down.

The beam of his flashlight cut through the darkness, landing on my still form.

"Someone's in the wolf trap! It's a silver trap! We need a medic!"

The patrolman grabbed his walkie-talkie and called for help.

I stayed limp, eyes closed, listening as the commotion above grew louder.

I heard the frantic sound of footsteps and shouting.

More and more wolves were gathering.

I could even hear the clicks of their phones taking pictures.

Soon, the Enforcers and a rescue team arrived.

They quickly set up a rescue basket.

A rescuer carefully secured my injured, unconscious body with ropes and slowly lifted me out of the deep pit.

The moment I was out, everyone saw it clearly.

My face and head were covered in blood.

I let out a weak, pained groan.

No one wasted a second. They immediately carried me into the trauma wing next door.

While I was waiting to be rescued, the red lines had already filled me in on what was supposed to happen.

Stella wasn't just a healer from my class; she had always been jealous of my talent.

Later, we both got into the Neutral Territory's top Sanctuary.

The difference was, I earned my spot. Stella got in because of her Head Elder father.

She lived in my shadow, and over time, her heart twisted.

She wanted to beat me at everything.

This accident was her fault.

But Stella's skills were sloppy, and she was desperate to prove herself.

In the ambulance, she broke protocol and injected the Luna with an undiluted, lethal dose of stimulant. It caused the Luna's brain death on the spot.

Her first thought was to make me take the fall.

That way, she could escape a death sentence from the Ironclaw Pack and get rid of me at the same time.

Reading those words, I felt a deep chill.

For all these years, I had truly treated her like a friend.

I had never done a single thing to wrong her.

I never imagined she could be so dark and vicious.

Thank the Goddess, my gamble paid off.

I'd like to see how she tries to pin this on me now.