Chapter 2

I curled up on a hard cot in the pack gear house all night.

Morning came. The first bell for lessons hadn't even rung. I'd just spread my textbook open when the pack instructor called me to his office.

I pushed the door open. Victoria was already sitting in the chair across from him.

Her shoulders hitched in little spasms. A handkerchief was balled up in her fist. Her eyes were swollen like walnuts.

The second she saw me, she looked up—just the right mix of hurt and fear in her eyes—and shrank behind the instructor.

"Seraphina. You're here."

The instructor's voice was cold as steel.

"Come in and tell me what you did to Victoria yesterday."

I stood in the doorway. Didn't move.

Victoria began to cry, right on schedule.

"Sir, please don't push her. Yesterday she cornered me in the corridor. She called me a cuckoo in someone else's nest—a stray pretending to be Pack. She said she'd make sure I couldn't stay at this academy. I… I was so scared."

Her voice was quiet. But every word was razor-clear, like small knives landing one by one.

The instructor's face darkened. He picked up the phone on his desk and dialed.

"I've already called the Alpha and Luna. They'll be here soon."

It didn't take long. The office door swung open.

My parents walked in. Dad's face was ashen. Mom was holding Victoria's hand, eyes full of tenderness.

Dad's voice was barely controlled.

"What happened? Did Seraphina bully Victoria again?"

The instructor adjusted his glasses. His tone was grave.

"Based on Victoria's account, Seraphina has repeatedly verbally abused and spread lies about her at the academy. She even threatened to force Victoria out of school."

"This kind of behavior is absolutely not tolerated here."

Dad whipped his head toward me. The disappointment in his eyes could have drowned me.

"How did I raise a daughter like you? Are you not going to stop until you've dragged the whole Blackwood name through the dirt?"

I opened my mouth. Only a thin wisp of air came out.

I raised my hand. My fingers barely started the sign for "no" before Dad's palm cracked across my face.

The slap rang out—sharp and clean.

My head snapped to the side. My ears buzzed. My cheek burned.

I stared at him. The tears finally fell.

"You dare cry?"

Dad's voice dripped with open disgust.

"You do something like this and you still have the nerve to cry? You're just playing the victim for sympathy!"

Victoria buried her face in Mom's arms and let out another soft sob.

"Dad, Mom, don't scold her. I don't blame her."

Mom shot me a cold glare.

"Born cursed. Wolfless and rotten to the core. All you know how to do is hurt our Victoria!"

The office door had been cracked open at some point. A few students peeked in, heads crowded together. Their whispers carried clearly.

"So she really did bully Victoria…"

"She seems so quiet. Didn't expect her to be this vicious."

"Heard even her own parents didn't want her. No wonder she's so twisted."

Those words pricked my ears like needles.

I took a deep breath. Forced myself to stay calm.

I raised my hand again. Signed the words: "I didn't."

But halfway through, the instructor cut me off.

He frowned, his voice thick with impatience.

"Seraphina, can you stop with these cheap tricks? If you have something to say, say it. Stop putting on a show."

I froze. My fingers hung in the air.

So even my silent defense—the only defense I had—was just another performance to them.

Right then, the office door was pushed open gently.

A girl stood in the doorway. Her voice was small and shaky.

"Sir… she's not putting on a show. That's sign language."

Everyone turned to look at her.

She kept her head down, fingers gripping the hem of her shirt so hard her knuckles were white. But she gathered her courage and added, quietly:

"My brother was deaf. I picked up some sign language when I volunteered there over the summer. What she just signed was 'I didn't.'

And… she's really mute. She's never spoken a single word at this school. Everyone knows that.

She doesn't have a wolf no one has ever heard her wolf. How could she have bullied anyone like this?"