The moment my mother called, I had just signed a seven-figure licensing agreement for one of my proprietary rituals. Her voice was as distant as ever. “Serena is holding her Bonding Ceremony this weekend.You have to come home.” She hung up. I opened the family group chat I’d kept muted for months. As a wolfless, I’d never been included in my family’s Mind-link. This group chat was the only channel they were willing to use with me. My brother Elliot chimed in, which was rare for him. 【Wear something decent. Don’t embarrass Serena. Everyone coming from Ashford Pack is a high-ranking Alpha.】 Ethan Cole, who had grown up alongside me, jumped in right after. 【Your First Shift was ten years ago. If you’d just gotten your act together back then, made it into Whitemoon Academy like Serena, you wouldn’t be living off scraps in New York.】 I scrolled through the messages, one after another. I stopped on the one Melanie Reed had sent. Melanie, who used to be my closest friend. 【Hazel, Serena is marrying into Ashford Pack. If things aren’t working out for you in New York, just come home. Let Serena find you something to do around here. Anything’s got to beat working two jobs.】 Elliot added, 【Even that would be doing her a favor. She spent three months studying and still couldn’t tell one basic herb from another. She can’t even smell like a wolf.】 Ethan followed. 【She’s defective. First Shift failed. Hazel, you’re just a defective piece of work.】 I lowered my eyes. Ashford Pack? Their Wolf King, Sterling Ashford, had sent three formal invitations through the Dean of Silvermoon Academy, hoping to get thirty minutes of my time. He had been asking for three months. The messages kept scrolling. I couldn’t be bothered to read any more. I sent a single line: 【OK. I’ll be there on time.】 Serena immediately hit me with a Venmo transfer. $0.01. The note read: 【For your flight home ❤️ Can’t wait to see you, Hazel!!】 Elliot’s voice message hit within seconds. 【Serena’s Bonding Ceremony is costing a fortune. How could you actually accept? Send it back. Now.】 Ethan followed. 【Even if Serena is about to become Luna of Ashford Pack, that doesn’t give you a free pass to guilt-trip her.】 I was about to type back. Melanie sent a sighing sticker. 【Enough. Can you two lay off Hazel for once?】 【She’s the only one in our group whose First Shift failed. She’s been avoiding us for a decade. She’s finally willing to come back. Don’t scare her off.】 I lowered my eyes. Eighteen years old. Yes. I had been avoiding them. Senior year of high school, Serena came back from studying at some remote Pack, and slipped into my little circle with Ethan and Melanie like she’d always belonged. Just like at home, I became the invisible one again. We’d be walking down the hallway together, and suddenly the three of them would stop mid-step at the same moment. Ethan would tilt his chin up slightly. Melanie’s eyes would follow his gaze. Serena would lower her head with a small smile. I stood there beside them. At first, I’d ask them, confused, what they were laughing about. Every time I asked, they said it was nothing. Later I figured it out. They were talking through the Mind-link. As a “wolfless,” I was locked out of that conversation by nature. But after my First Shift at eighteen, every hour of my life went into the labs at Silvermoon Academy. I didn’t have the time to hide anymore. A private message from Serena pulled me back. 【Hazel, don’t take the Venmo the wrong way.】 Her voice was soft. 【I know New York is stressful, and rent keeps climbing. I just wanted to help out, cover your flight. There’s really no other meaning behind it.】 She tacked on a teary-eyed emoji. Predictably, the group chat filled up again with praise for how “thoughtful” she was. I took a screenshot of the payment and sent back $0.01. The chat went quiet for a few seconds. Elliot was the first to jump in. 【Hazel, what’s your problem? Not enough? You’re a wolfless. Being allowed to attend Serena’s Bonding Ceremony should have you thanking God. She isn’t even embarrassed to have you there, and you have the nerve to complain about her Venmo?】 Ethan added, 【A penny is still a gesture.】 Melanie chimed in. 【Serena actually cares about you. You screenshot her transfer to humiliate her. Did you even think about how she feels?】 I leaned back in my chair and took a sip of coffee. At eighteen, this would’ve kept me awake all night. At twenty-eight, I felt nothing. Serena sent a voice message. Her tone was cautious. 【Hazel, I was just so excited when I heard you were coming home. I accidentally sent the wrong amount. Don’t be upset, okay?】 【I really do worry about you, out there in New York on your own. I already told Julian to keep an eye out for a job for you.】 【But the standards at Ashford Pack are pretty high. Your situation… honestly doesn’t even meet the minimum. Maybe I can get you a spot at the pack house as a receptionist. Or kitchen help. Don’t take it personally.】 Elliot sneered. 【What right does she have to take it personally? She has no one to blame but herself. When my coworkers ask about her failed First Shift, I can barely bring myself to say it out loud.】 Ten years ago, the day the academy acceptance letters landed at home. Serena got into Whitemoon Academy’s elite Alpha program. I got one rejection, and a waitlist notice from a satellite school at a fringe Pack. My parents booked a two-week Europe trip for Serena and Elliot. They gave me $50. Said it was for two weeks of groceries. They said it without a hint of shame. “Kids who failed shouldn’t get to travel too. That would be unfair to the ones who worked hard for success.” I wanted to tell them that family shouldn’t be ranked by a single First Shift. But then I remembered. The mug that had smashed against my forehead. I said nothing. And I never told them what I actually became, that night in the forest during my First Shift. I am a White wolf. I never told them the truth. There was a knock at the door. Emma, my assistant, stood in the doorway, her voice respectful. “Dr. Whitmore, Ashford Pack sent another email. This time through Dr. Langley. He called personally. He’s asking if you could spare thirty minutes.” The “Rogue Purification” joint research initiative Ashford Pack was leading, backed by East Coast Packs, had already burned through five hundred million dollars. They’d been stuck for two years on the core ritual for reversing corrupted wolf souls. And one of the rituals I’d mastered happened to be the key that opened that lock. Emma paused. “Should I turn them down again?” I let out a soft laugh. “No. Tell the Wolf King. This weekend, I’ll be in Newport.”
Friday. I landed in Newport. No one came to pick me up. I called an Uber Black and rode straight to my parents’ front door. Melanie was the one who opened it. She froze for a moment. Something subtle flickered across her eyes. “Hazel… I almost didn’t recognize you. New York has been kind to you, hasn’t it? Who would’ve thought a wolfless could survive that well outside a Pack.” I didn’t answer. I walked past her. Serena’s eyes swept over the watch on my wrist, then the trench coat I was wearing. She pressed her lips together. “Hazel, we’re all family here. There’s no need to overdo it for appearances. How many credit cards did you max out for this?” Ethan laughed. “Impressive, Hazel. Been out there long enough to pick up on knockoffs.” I looked at the faces in front of me. Ten years, and they hadn’t changed much. Elliot had put on weight. Melanie had picked up fine lines at the corners of her eyes. Ethan’s hairline had noticeably receded. Serena, on the other hand, was carefully polished. Like a porcelain doll someone had spent a lot of time packaging. What they all had in common was the same faint condescension in their eyes when they looked at me. I raised an eyebrow. “From the day I left home until now, I’ve never once mentioned my income to any of you. I’ve never sent any of you a private message complaining. Where exactly are you getting your assessment of me?” No one had an answer. My mother came out of the kitchen and set a dish on the table. She glanced at me. “You don’t have a wolf, and you don’t have any real skills. What kind of decent job could she land? Three thousand a month at most.” My father clapped me on the shoulder. “That’s enough. We’re all family here, no strangers. No one’s going to laugh at you for struggling. Let’s just eat.” Eight dishes on the table. Ethan and Melanie both let out an admiring “wow.” “Mrs. Whitmore still remembers I love roasted ribs.” “That lemon cream salmon I raved about last time. Mrs. Whitmore made it again.” I glanced across the table. Everyone had their favorite dish in front of them. Even the golden retriever curled up by the couch had a small bowl of beef, portioned out just for him. Only I had a plate of green salad. At the table, my mother personally sliced off the most tender piece of rib and slid it onto Serena’s plate. “These past few years, we’ve invested in a few properties along the Newport coast. One for Elliot. One for Serena. We’re living in one, and there’s a smaller one out for rent.” She looked up at me. “Hazel, Elliot is the Alpha heir of this family. Serena is an Alpha female, marrying into Ashford Pack. It’s only right they get properties. You don’t even have your own wolf. Why should they have to share what’s rightfully theirs with you?” I set down my fork and let out a laugh. “So property distribution in this family is based on shifting rank now? Not on the number of biological children?” The table went silent. My mother’s face flushed dark red. Her hand came down hard on the table. “Hazel! Ten years you don’t come home, and the second you do, you’re giving me attitude?!” “If I’d known your First Shift would fail, I should’ve sent you off to the Omega servant quarters the day you were born! Would’ve saved us the humiliation!” Exactly the same as ten years ago. The night after my First Shift. The mug came flying at my forehead. Warm blood dripped onto the hardwood floor, drop after drop. She had that same expression then. Ten years. I had long since given up on that thin sliver of maternal love. At this moment, I felt nothing. My father stepped in to smooth things over. “Your mom talks tough, but she’s soft underneath. Don’t take it to heart.” He laughed and changed the subject. “Serena, a friend of mine got hold of a bottle of Soulmoon Wine. Wine that used to only touch noble lips. I’ll give it to Mr. Ashford tomorrow. He’ll love it.” Serena pressed her lips into a smile. But her eyes flickered away. “Dad… Mr. Ashford. He might not be able to make it.”
My father froze. “What? Mr. Ashford isn’t coming? This is Julian’s Bonding Ceremony. Two Packs joining. How could he not be there?” Serena sighed. “Julian said there’s a very important guest coming from New York these next few days. Mr. Ashford has to receive them personally. He genuinely can’t get away.” Elliot frowned. “Who is it? More important than his own grandson’s Bonding Ceremony?” “I don’t know either,” Serena said, shaking her head. “Julian just said the person’s from New York. Mr. Ashford went through several intermediaries. Waited nearly three months just to secure this meeting.” Melanie looked baffled. “What kind of big shot has that kind of nerve? Ashford Pack’s stature is what it is. Mr. Ashford waited three months?” Ethan scoffed. “Right? So what if they’re from New York. Bigger deal than Serena’s Bonding Ceremony?” Serena waved her hands quickly. “Don’t say it like that. Julian said this person holds a ritual that could resolve a critical problem for Ashford Pack. Mr. Ashford said if they can lock in this collaboration, Ashford Pack will be sitting on top of every other East Coast Pack for the next decade.” She paused. Her eyes drifted casually toward me. “Hazel, you’ve been in New York for a long time. Ever heard of anyone like that?” I shook my head. “Not sure.” Elliot scoffed. “She’s a wolfless who couldn’t even keep her own wolf. What would she have heard? Serena, don’t try to include her in every topic. She can’t keep up.” I kept eating and didn’t say anything. What was I going to say? That the person Mr. Ashford had been trying to meet for three months was me? They’d only burst out laughing, then decide I’d lost my mind. After dinner, I sat for a while and was about to get up when my father suddenly called after me. “Hazel, your mother cleared out your old room a few days ago. You haven’t been home in ten years. She doesn’t say it out loud, but she’s never stopped thinking about you.” He added with a smile, “Fresh sheets and pillowcases. Your mother picked them out herself.” The words had barely landed when my mother came out of the kitchen wiping her hands. Her tone was flat. “That room’s for Melanie tonight. Hazel, you can make do on the couch.” The smile on my father’s face froze. Melanie looked up from the couch, glanced at me, and the corner of her mouth twitched up. “Mrs. Whitmore, I feel terrible about this. I can just book an Airbnb.” My mother’s voice left no room for debate. “You come by so rarely. How could I let you stay somewhere else? Hazel is family. It’s only one night on the couch.” I stood by the table, silent. “Hazel?” My mother’s voice pulled me back. She was frowning. Probably annoyed that I hadn’t immediately agreed. I stood up. “No need. I’ve already booked a hotel.” Her face darkened. “What’s that supposed to mean? You have a home and you’d rather stay at a hotel? The couch isn’t good enough for you?” I picked up my coat and started toward the door. “I’m used to sleeping in my own bed.” Behind me, my mother’s voice dropped into a mutter. “This child… ten years away and her temper’s grown. Every word gets thrown back at me.” The door closed behind me. Ten years ago, the girl who woke up sweating on that couch would have gone off and cried in secret, unable to understand why her mother treated someone else’s daughter better than her own. The Hazel of ten years later doesn’t do that anymore. Deposits kept rolling into her accounts. Licensing fees for her rituals. Dividends from cross-Pack collaborations. Consulting fees from the Council. Every number came with more zeros than she could bother to count. She had long since stopped needing anyone else to be good to her. She was good to herself. Without any restraint.
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