Chapter 1

"You're severing the blood bond over something this small?"

Caleb's voice was almost a shout.

Marianne looked shocked too.

But she pulled herself together and took my hand.

"Wren, we didn't leave you at the rest stop on purpose."

"When this Pack used to travel, it was always the four of us. We just forgot for a moment. It won't happen again."

I lowered my eyes and gave a cold laugh.

I remembered the year I first came back to Sterling Manor. I woke up one morning and they were all gone. Even the two wolfhounds were gone.

I asked the housekeeper. They had gone on a trip.

Marianne had explained it to me the same way that time.

But she had clearly forgotten I'd already been back for almost three years.

And they still forgot me on instinct.

I didn't want to argue. I held out the Blood Severance Document.

"Sign it."

Marianne froze.

Then she finally lost patience and threw my hand off, angry.

"What kind of pup are you? Nothing gets through to you."

The document was suddenly yanked from my hand.

Garrett pulled out his pen and signed it furiously.

"One small thing, and you turn the whole Pack upside down."

"Take it and get out!"

He slapped the paper against my face.

I looked down at the document at my feet. My eyes stung.

When I was fifteen and they found me, I had actually had hopes for this Pack.

Then Marianne and Garrett told me Ivy's real parents were both gone. That she was pitiful on her own. That she would be staying in the Manor.

But they had all forgotten.

It was Ivy's mother who'd sold me off when she was working as an Omega housekeeper in the Sterling Manor. She had swapped me and Ivy in the cradle, and handed me over to Rogue traffickers.

I'd gone through a childhood that was unbearable. At six, I lost the family that had bought me, and ended up alone in a shelter, bullied and looked down on.

Then they wanted me to live under the same roof as the daughter of the Rogues who'd stolen me.

I knew in that moment we could never be a real family.

But I needed the money to get into the Academy, so I stayed.

I planned to keep my distance, live quietly, and leave Sterling Manor once I enrolled.

Then, not long after, a System bound itself to me. It told me I had to win the Pack over. A hundred Bond Recognition points in three years.

I had to grovel and please them.

But every single run failed, and it wiped me and reset.

After ninety-nine failed runs.

The System suddenly told me it had picked the wrong target.

I broke.

"Do you know how exhausting the Pack Ranking Trial is? I did it ninety-nine times! Ninety-nine! And every time you failed, you wiped me so I never made it to the Academy!"

"You'll rot for this! How are you going to pay me back for the Academy you owe me?"

The System's voice went small.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'll give you a hundred million. Will that do?"

Money.

Fine. I wasn't angry anymore.

I had only stayed in Sterling Manor for the money in the first place.

With a hundred million, there was no reason to stay.

I picked up the document.

One thin piece of paper. Just like the blood between us.

Nothing worth holding on to.

I walked out without looking back.

In that moment.

I was free.

I stayed at a hotel for the night.

The next day was the start of term. I went to my homeroom instructor and applied to live on Academy grounds.

It was the last semester before the Pack Ranking Trial. Living on campus would be safer and save travel time.

When I came out with the paperwork done, I met Caleb's dark face.

I walked straight past him.

He caught up and blocked me.

"Are you serious?"

I knew he meant the dorm.

I frowned, confused.

Ever since I'd been found.

Caleb had been hostile. He was afraid I'd bully Ivy. He thought I'd ruined his perfect family of four.

I was leaving. He should have been the first to cheer.

Why did he look this furious instead?

I kept my voice flat. "What else? The severance is already signed."

He stared at me. His back teeth looked like they were about to crack.

"Fine. Don't come crying later."

I watched him storm off.

I just found it funny.

I didn't know what I was supposed to regret.

The dorm was small and slept eight. But it was safe on campus, and it cut out the commute.

Even after ninety-nine Ranking Trials.

I still didn't dare slack off. I ran drills every day.

At the first mock trial, I took the top of the cohort.

Caleb came to find me while I was walking my deskmate through the last problem set.

When I ignored him, he did what he always did. He dragged me off without a word.

In the corridor, he came straight at me.

"Do you know how hurt Ivy is that you ranked first? Do you?"