After our werewolf father passed away, my mother couldn’t afford to raise my sister and me alone. She made us choose. “Human or wolf?” In my last life, my younger sister, Chloe, chose to be a wolf. She later died miserably, bullied and brutalized by the pack in a wildlife park. I, on the other hand, stayed with our mother, blending into human society. I briefly tasted luxury, only to die later from rabies, a cruel fate dealt by her own bite during one of my visits. Reborn. Now, Chloe glared at me, her eyes spitting venom, and snatched the first slip. “I want to be human!” I watched her, my gaze dropping, my entire body trembling with a strange relief. My dear sister, the cost of being human is far, far greater than anything a wolf faces. My mother held two slips of paper in her hand, one long, one short. She said whoever drew the long one would be human, and the short one, a wolf. In my last life, I was the older sister; I reached out first. The moment I clutched that slip, a mix of desperate hope and gnawing guilt seeped through my fingertips. —I drew the long one. I became human. This time, Chloe shoved me aside, rushing forward, her voice thick with unconcealed eagerness. “Mom, I’m first!” My mother hesitated, glancing at me. “Maybe… let your sister go first?” My eyelashes fluttered, and that dull ache in my heart resurfaced. She always played favorites with Chloe, knowing what it truly meant to be human. Besides, the cruel truth was, both slips were identical – both long. It was always about who chose first, who would be “human.” Before I could even respond, Chloe had already lunged, her fingers clamping tightly around one slip. She yanked it out with a triumphant cry! The next moment, she burst into my room, overturning all the dresses and jewelry my mother had prepared for me, scattering them everywhere. Amidst the crashing sounds, she proudly declared, “These are all mine now!” I watched her in silence. My ears felt hot, and I composed myself, making the subtle throb in my ear cartilage subside. The closer we got to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, the more my beastly nature, my wolf form, stirred within me. Either completely excise that wildness and live as human. Or surrender to instinct and become a wolf. This was a tradition of our wolf clan. Chloe glided past me, a sneer twisting her lips. “Sister, you look just like a stray dog right now.” “Don’t look at me like that. You’ll have to rely on me to support you from now on. Without me – even if you roll over and beg in the pack, you’ll never eat your fill. Those animals, they have no feelings, tsk.” It was also a wolf clan tradition: the one who chose to be human would enjoy life, but also bear the responsibility of supporting the entire family.
Chloe’s hatred for me had taken root in our previous lives. Back then, when she was sent to the wildlife park, she couldn’t adapt to life there at all. There was no sweet chocolate, no cold ice cream. In that isolated place, food had to be hunted personally. Though we paid caretakers to look after her regularly, it was still a world away from her former life of ease and luxury. I felt so bad for Chloe back then. Every time Mom allowed me to visit, I tried my best to bring her the finest food. But she wouldn’t even look at it. Her ears would flatten, her nose wrinkle, and she’d glare fiercely at my dresses, my long gloves. Her eyes screamed disgust at my pretense. But she didn’t know that those long gloves and dresses concealed injuries. Every time I’d been there for barely ten minutes, Mom’s call would inevitably come through. “Time’s up, darling. The smell in there will ruin your perfume. Our new clients won’t appreciate that scent. Come out.” Each time Chloe saw me about to leave, she’d bare her teeth, whimpering and snarling. I could only softly comfort her, “Just a little longer, bear with me. After some time, I’ll take you with me.” My only reply was her wolf howl and a rigidly drooping tail. Until I visited her after a surgery. She saw the injuries on my hand and my weakened state. Suddenly, she became remarkably docile. She slowly brought her head closer, resting it in my palm. My heart softened, aching with both tenderness and sorrow. “Being human is truly agonizing.” She lowered her head, licking the bruised wounds on my arm. Then she abruptly looked up and bit me, hard. Immediately after, another scrawny wolf rushed out from the shadows. I was torn, dragged, and injured by them. Later, I contracted rabies. The fear of people grew, along with a new terror of light and water. I died a month later, in the spring. The look in Chloe’s eyes now was exactly the same as when she bit me then. I was absolutely certain: she had been reborn too. Now, she wanted my life. But my dear sister, I knew everything about your past. Are you truly sure you want to step into my life this time?
After the choice was made, my mother barely paid any attention to me. Now, her eyes were solely on Chloe. She poured all her remaining money and resources into Chloe. The ten servants and the butler in the villa were all replaced according to Chloe’s preferences. Her diet, décor, clothes, entertainment, and even her education were custom-designed by the most exclusive professionals, ensuring everything pleased her. To ensure her skin was perfect during shedding, she wasn’t allowed to hold anything heavier than a single towel. I looked at her seemingly familiar class schedule and couldn’t help but suggest, “Actually, you could add more physical training or self-defense classes.” Chloe scoffed, her eyes full of disdain. “Me? Need those? You’re the one who needs them, aren’t you?” She glanced at the simple vegetables on my plate, a mocking smile playing on her lips. “In such a hurry to eat that?” She dragged out her words. “You’ll have plenty of time to eat these later. If I were you, I’d be thinking about how to deal with those disgusting animals in the wolf pack.” She was talking about the one-eyed Alpha wolf and those several wolf pups. I knew, of course, but I wasn’t worried. In my last life, I had told Chloe about the weaknesses of each of those wolves, urging her to pull herself together, to be brave, to carve out her own place in the wolf clan. But she just thought I was making fun of her. In the end, she refused to grow strong on her own. She only chose a low-ranking wolf that was utterly subservient to her. Then, for harming a young cub in the pack, she was driven out.
Right now, Chloe had her feet propped up, lounging in the sofa, leisurely flipping through a magazine. The male models and pretty boys on the glossy pages were all as exquisite as display figures in a shop window. She smirked casually, her finger tracing across page after page. “This one, this one, and this one… they all look pretty good, no worse than that popular guy, or your class president, whatever… too bad—” She looked up at me, her voice dripping with smug satisfaction. “My dear sister, you won’t have that chance, will you?” I said nothing. My agonizing experiences from the previous life had already instilled in me a bottomless fear of most people. A beautiful exterior didn’t necessarily hide a human. And beneath those rough, heavy exteriors, lay something even more terrifying. My fingertips unconsciously curled, and I even instinctively touched my neck – it should have had a collar there, but now it was empty. Chloe scoffed again. “Make sure you clean up your room properly. I’m a germaphobe, I hate shedding things.” “What about shedding men?” Chloe rolled her eyes. “Heh. Mom said she’d choose the most excellent partner for me. In the future, I’ll live the life of luxury that should rightfully be mine.” She didn’t even look up, opening her mouth, and an attentive deaf servant promptly delivered a small piece of fruit to her lips. A single such aide, with an average monthly salary of eight thousand, and there were ten of them, plus the butler. Monthly property management, pool and garden maintenance, utilities, meal expenses. Car fuel, maintenance, and facility upkeep. This money was a huge expense, and none of it would just fall from the sky. This money had to be earned by the one who chose to be human.
Meanwhile, I suddenly noticed that a small structure was still being built at the very back of the villa’s garden. From the foundation, it looked sealed off and narrow, and the spare materials were steel pipes for a cage. I cautiously asked my mother. “Mom, the Coming-of-Age Ceremony is soon, should we go see the Safari Park ahead of time?” This was a tradition of our wolf clan. My mother quickly closed the book in her hand, placing it behind her back, and looked up with a radiant smile. “Why go there? The adoption fees are so expensive. You’ll stay home, free and safe. We can look after you anytime.” My heart turned cold. In the last life, for Chloe, she had gone to great lengths to choose the best ecological wildlife park, ensuring Chloe lived without a care. This time, she intended to trap me in that narrow, dark room. Just then, Chloe urged from behind that she would be late for school. Mom immediately rose to greet her. A business card fluttered from the book. She quickly snatched it up. But I, with my heightened senses, sharply caught a glimpse of the title on it.
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