Chapter 3

My eyes burned. The acid in my nose made my voice crack.

"I haven't been wasting money. It's really just not enough."

Two hundred a month. That's less than what Bobo eats in a single day. How could she possibly think it was enough?

The frustration nearly shoved those words right out of my mouth.

But my mother's sharp voice came first.

"If you haven't been wasting it, how come you can't even afford to see a doctor? Elsa, you're getting more and more spoiled!"

"I spend every ounce of energy running this company. And you're still like this? Do you have any idea what kind of responsibility you'll have to carry in the future?"

"Zero self-control. I'm so disappointed in you!"

She hung up first. Again.

I held the phone and couldn't understand.

Why?

Why do other Alpha kids live without a care in the world while I'm killing myself over a few bucks?

Why have I done everything I can, worked myself to the bone, and still end up being called wasteful and ungrateful?

What do I have to do to make her satisfied?

Half an hour later, the dorm door flew open.

Ms. Laura.

She walked in frowning, already scolding me.

"Elsa, what's wrong with you?"

"Didn't I tell you your mom's been busy? Don't bother her unless it's important?"

"And you went and called her asking for money?"

"Do you have any idea how angry she was when she called me? She was livid!"

I drew a deep breath. Barely had the strength to speak.

"Ms. Laura, I'm sick. I really couldn't afford the doctor. That's the only reason I called her..."

Ms. Laura came over, felt my forehead, and softened her tone slightly.

"Elsa, I know it's hard. But what your mom's doing is for your own good."

"You're an Alpha. If you can't handle a little pain, how are you going to handle real pressure?"

"Try to understand her, okay?"

My nose stung. Two lines of tears ran down before I could stop them.

I understood her.

But who was going to understand me?

Two hundred a month was crushing me so hard I could barely find a reason to keep going.

Ms. Laura saw I wasn't speaking. She pulled two hundred out of her pocket and held it out.

"This is a personal loan from me. Take it and go see a doctor."

"But you absolutely cannot tell your mother about this."

"She wants to toughen you up. If she finds out you spent all your money and then took charity from me on the side, she'll think all her training was for nothing. She won't just yell at you. I'll catch heat too."

I looked at the two hundred in her hand.

I didn't know what to feel.

I took it, hands shaking. "Thank you, Ms. Laura. I'll pay you back as soon as I can."

"Don't be so formal with me."

She patted my hand lightly, reminded me that I needed to learn to push through on my own, and left.

I took the two hundred and dragged my wrecked body to the school clinic.

Dr. Harper finished the exam. Her voice was grim.

"Fever of thirty-nine point five. Severe malnutrition. Your wolf spirit has already taken damage from multiple shifts without adequate fuel. How did you let yourself get this bad before coming in?"

I clutched the two hundred. Kept my head down. Said nothing.

She prescribed three days of moon elixir and a pile of medication. Total came to five hundred and eighty something.

I told her all I had was two hundred.

She sighed.

"I'll give you one day's worth of elixir and the emergency meds. Try to scrape together the rest and finish the full course. Don't put this off."

"If you wait any longer, your wolf spirit is going to be in serious trouble."

I nodded. Thanked her.

When I walked out of the clinic, it was already dark.

Passing the dining hall, the smell of hot food hit me so hard my stomach screamed.

That's when I realized I hadn't eaten anything in three full days.

I stood at the entrance of the dining hall. Only one thought left in my head.

If I don't eat something soon, I might actually die.

I looked inside. It was peak dinner hour. Wolves coming and going. Staff dumping leftover food straight into the trash bins.

Looking at what was piled inside, I hesitated for a few seconds. Then I walked over, found a piece of black bread in the corner, and started eating.

I was too hungry.

The moment everyone saw me eating scraps out of the garbage, the entire dining hall erupted.

Every head turned.

"Oh my God, who is that? Is she eating someone's leftovers?"

"That's Elsa from our class. I heard her family's dead broke. Two hundred a month for living expenses. Can't even afford decent suppressant. Pretty sad."

"Wait, people are still this poor?"

"What's wrong with her forehead? That looks nasty..."

More and more people gathered.

Some pulled out their phones to film.

Some pointed and whispered.

All those words. All that disgust. I heard every bit of it.

But I didn't have time to care.

I crouched in the corner like a starving dog, thinking about nothing except filling my stomach.

A few seconds later, the sound of an engine rumbled from outside the dining hall.

Then gasps.

"Holy crap, is that a Cullinan?"

"Whose parents just showed up?"

I was busy tearing into leftover bread. I didn't have the bandwidth for any of it.

Then a pair of high heels stopped right in front of me.

I slowly looked up.

And saw my mother's face. Shaking with rage.