Chapter 2

When the party ended, Mom threw a rag at me and told me to clean, then piled all the cash and checks the Pack members had brought straight in front of Nina.

"Starter funds. If it's not enough, tell your dad and me."

Dad, smiling, added a card of his own to the pile.

Nina hugged Mom, all sugar. "Mom, Dad — you're the best. I'm so lucky to be your daughter."

She glanced my way. "Ava's going to school soon too. Should I split it with her, half and half?"

Mom patted her indulgently. "You earned that yourself. Why would you give it to her?"

Only then did she turn to me, sighing.

"Ava, don't be jealous. You've been a disgrace these past few years. With your Final Trial score, throwing you a party would only get us laughed at."

"Once we've arranged Community Werewolf Academy for you, you'll work while you study. Feed yourself. Stop expecting the family to carry you."

Casual tone. Casual disdain. It cut anyway.

The pressure in my chest went tighter.

I was tired. Tired of hiding, tired of playing the fool.

At sixteen, I'd wanted to test them. During the training camp evaluations, I used only half my strength — just enough to place one rank above Nina.

Nina came home and cried for a whole day.

"I'm so stupid. I stayed up all night training and barely scraped into the top twenty. Ava does it once and she's better than me."

Mom and Dad spent hours soothing her. In the end, Mom looked at me with tired disappointment.

"Ava. We want you to do better. But you can't cheat just to steal attention."

In that moment, all I felt was exhaustion.

Do well — they said I was hurting Nina. Do badly — they called me useless. Try to test the waters — they called it cheating. There was no right answer.

Ethan hauled out an entire set of gifts for Nina: brand-new laptop, tablet, phone.

Nina squealed and threw her arms around him.

"Ethan! You got me all this? I love you so much!"

I looked at the pile, and something in my blood went slowly cold.

The night before, Ethan had given me a "gift" too — his three-month-old laptop.

"Still practically new. Something too fancy would just be wasted on you. Make do for a few years."

That was always how it went.

The best for Nina. Whatever's left over for me.

He seemed to have forgotten I was the one who was actually his sister.

I turned to leave for my room. Nina followed.

"Ava, everyone gave me presents. Where's yours?"

I hated Nina.

And now, since I was about to leave, I didn't feel like swallowing it anymore.

I said flatly, "I don't have one."

Nina blinked, then smiled again.

"I know you can't afford anything expensive. Just give me any little thing. It's fine."

She walked in as she spoke, her eyes locking onto the rocket model on my desk.

"Dad made that for me. You can't have it."

I reached out to stop her, but she was faster. The model was already in her hand.

My heart shot straight up into my throat.