Chapter 2

2.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. I had been dead for three whole days, yet no one had even realized it.

I drifted into Mother's luxurious tent, clinging to the final shred of foolish hope in my heart. Maybe she had not agreed to Father's bloody decree. Maybe she did not want me dead.

Mother kept her head lowered, tenderly pulling a warm silk blanket over my resting sister. She stroked Lorelei's pale cheek with endless warmth and affection.

Lorelei leaned into her touch with practiced, spoiled devotion.

My spirit pressed against the cold stone wall. I had never seen Mother look at anyone with such boundless love. Toward me, her expression had always been an icy mask of disgust.

A guard rushed in to deliver a report. "The Alpha King and the Shaman have issued an order. They will scour the entire coastal forest to capture Kira… and execute her immediately."

Mother slowly looked up, her voice hushed. "Shh. Keep your voice down. Do not wake Lorelei."

She spoke as if the execution of her own daughter was nothing more than a passing breeze.

No one noticed the subtle, cruel smirk forming on my sister's lips beneath the blanket.

A phantom throb pulsed from the empty hollow in my chest where my core had been ripped out. I realized I was truly not gone yet. If I were fully dead, how could my soul still ache like this?

Where was my missing soul fragment hiding?

After a moment of thought, I floated toward the desolate cave on the outskirts of the territory.

My crude shelter was miles away from the royal den because they claimed my presence brought bad luck to Lorelei.

Yet, every single scale stripped from my flesh had been ground into fine medicine to heal her wounds.

If there was still one single anchor binding my heart to this realm, it was Kaelen, my mate.

Even though he was the one who carved out my core, I desperately told myself he must have had no choice. He had to do it for the survival of the pack.

Growing up as an outcast, abandoned by my parents and hated by the clan, Kaelen had been the only one who never pushed me away.

He had once collapsed near my cave, bleeding to death after being mauled by wild celestial beasts. My first instinct was to tell him to leave, because being associated with me meant becoming a target for the pack.

Yet his wounds were so fatal that he could not even crawl.

I took him into my damp shelter, slicing my own wrists every day to let my healing blood bathe his torn flesh.

Whenever harsh coastal storms battered the cave, I shielded him with my frail body. During the day, I gathered herbs, made warm broth, and mixed it with my powdered scales and blood, feeding him spoon by spoon.

I had nothing in this world, so the only thing I could offer anyone was my own flesh and blood.

Thanks to my peculiar constitution, Kaelen made a miraculous recovery.

He told me he was just a lowborn wolf with weak aura and humble lineage.

For a long time, we depended entirely on each other, and he was the only soul willing to speak gently to me.

He would gently trace the hideous scars on my skin, shedding real tears. "Kira, you have suffered so much." No one had ever spoken such words to me before; I had truly believed I was born only to suffer.

I thought my very existence was a sin. But he told me, "No, Kira. Your name means light and fulfillment. You deserve to be surrounded by warmth and happiness."

Kira was a name I gave myself. Father and Mother had named my sister Lorelei, a blessing of celestial beauty and supreme grace.

They never bothered giving me a name, treating my breath as a pathetic handout.

I used to gaze at the silver moon and tell myself, "A crescent moon will eventually grow full. Maybe I am enduring this bitterness just to earn a taste of sweetness later. I will call myself Kira."

In our pack, a full moon was the ultimate nightmare, bringing the agony of burning blood and impending doom.

It was just like the disaster I brought to the clan, just like my cursed existence.

Only Kaelen had ever spoken my name with gentle reverence.

I hurried toward the cave, desperate to see his familiar face once more.

The cave was entirely empty. His belongings, his clothes, every trace of his existence was gone.

My mind went blank until I remembered seeing him standing right behind Father when the execution order was given.

A sharp agony pierced straight through my ethereal chest, nearly tearing my soul apart.