Chapter 5

It was completely absurd.

Back then, she had just been brought back to our home. I had secretly learned baking from the best cook in our pack, all because she had pouted and told me that what she missed most was the raspberry cake her mother used to make.

I picked a full basket of wild raspberries by myself, my hands bloodied by prickly branches, my skin covered in blisters from the hot oven.

Yet after taking her very first bite, Clover collapsed onto the floor, gasping for air and convulsing violently.

I burst into tears of terror.

My parents carried her frantically to the Silver Spring, and afterward, they flew into a rage at me.

"Didn't we tell you she's far more fragile than ordinary pups?! Why did you feed her these filthy wild things from the forest?!"

I shook my head desperately. "Mom, Dad, I really didn't know! She said she wanted it... I washed them so carefully, they weren't filthy..."

But they didn't care to listen. Under the charge of "harming a pack member," they locked me in the underground confinement room for five full days.

I curled up alone in the dark, shivering from the cold and hunger. Meanwhile, during those same five days, my parents stayed by Clover's bedside night and day, showering her with endless gifts and the devotion of the entire pack.

That was the beginning of my fall from grace.

Recalling it now, a soft, dry laugh escaped my lips. "Did you really forget? Or were you never allergic to raspberries in the first place, and just pretended to be?"

Father barked in instant fury, "If you don't want to make it for her, fine, but how dare you slander her?!"

Clover quickly threw her arms around mine. "Okay, okay, I won't eat it. Please don't be angry, Amelia, okay?"

As she spoke, her hand hidden beneath her sleeve shifted into wolf claws, her sharp nails sinking brutally into my flesh.

I gasped at the sudden, sharp pain. "Let go of me!"

In the next breath, she abruptly let go and stumbled backward, crashing into the low cabinet beside us. Several glass cups fell off the surface and shattered on the ground, sending shards flying in every direction.

"Clover!" Mother was the first to rush over. She scooped Clover into her arms to check her wounds. Clover clutched her wrist, tears falling like rain. "Mom... my hand hurts so much..."

My brother, Dylan, also rushed over and knelt down. Seeing a few droplets of blood oozing from a small glass scratch on her wrist, his expression darkened severely.

"Amelia. How much longer are you going to keep up this senseless drama?!"

I parted my lips. "She did it herself—"

"Enough!"

Father's voice cut through the air like thunder. A wave of overwhelming pressure crashed down on me. My already damaged wolf felt as though it had been violently struck. I staggered backward, coughing up a mouthful of blood.

For a brief second, Mother and Dylan looked at my pale face and blood-stained lips, a flicker of fleeting reluctance passing through their eyes.

Yet the moment Clover's faint whimpers reached their ears, their attention snapped right back to her.

Father roared at me in rage.

"What did Clover ever do wrong to you?!"

"Ever since she entered this home, you've targeted her at every turn!"

"You deliberately pushed her when she was little, causing her to get hurt. She has walked on eggshells around you for years, yet you have never truly accepted her!"

"Now she just wanted to talk to you, and you pushed her down again!"