Chapter 2

Elara POV: When the car pulled into the grand Kowalski estate, I stepped into the brightly lit living room and met three pairs of cold, disgusted eyes. Before we reached the living room archway, voices drifted out into the hall. "Are you sure about this, Jared? What if the police—" a woman said. A man cut her off, his voice sharp. "We can't send Genevieve to a place like that." "I know, I know! That's the only reason we brought her back—" Mr. Thomas cleared his throat, loud and deliberate. "Alpha. Luna. I brought her." The voices died. My stomach dropped. A woman in the silk robe looked me up and down. "So you're Elara." The word "Mom" died on my tongue. "Yes, ma'am," I whispered. "I'm your mother, Wilhelmina," she said, not standing up. "This is your father, Jared. Your brother Arthur.And your sister, Sienna." Nobody smiled. Nobody reached for me. "Mom, stop wasting your breath on a defective wolfless who doesn't even have an Inner Wolf. She's just a filthy country rat at heart." My older brother, Arthur, sneered from the leather sofa. In werewolf society, genetics determined rank at birth and could never be changed, making a wolfless like me the lowest of the low. My father, Jared, slammed his porcelain coffee cup onto the table, his dark eyes glaring at me. "Get to your room and wash that filth off before you ruin the rug!" I took a deep breath, curling my fingers around the ring hidden in my pocket, and turned toward the dark basement stairs. Just then, my adoptive sister, Genevieve, walked down the grand staircase in a silk nightgown, her sharp gaze locking onto my clenched right hand. Genevieve strolled right up to me and lowered her voice so only the two of us could hear. "What little treasure are you hiding in your hand, you bastard?" I took a half step back, glaring at her on guard. "None of your business." Genevieve smirked, then suddenly threw herself backward and shrieked in a pathetic, tearful voice, "Sister, why did you push me? I was only trying to care about you!" Jared shot up from his chair, unleashing his heavy Alpha Dominion straight at me until my knees buckled and I nearly hit the floor. "Apologize to your sister! Right now!" Jared's roar carried the Alpha's Command, a genetic compulsion that forced lower-ranking wolves in the pack to obey. I clenched my jaw and dug my fingernails into my palms, lifting my chin to look straight at them. "I didn't push her!" Wilhelmina lunged forward and swung her hand across my face. The sharp slap echoed through the hall. My head snapped to the side as blood filled my mouth, and the sudden jolt made the silver ring slip halfway out of my pocket. Genevieve's eyes locked onto the exposed wolf totem on the band, a greedy glint flashing across her face. I pressed a hand to my burning cheek, and before I could shove the silver ring back into my pocket, Genevieve snatched it right out of my grasp. "What is this? The totem of the Kensington Pack?" Genevieve stared at the engraving with wild excitement before twisting her face into a look of righteous anger. "Where did you steal this from?" I lunged forward to grab it back, but Jared seized my collar and hurled me onto the cold marble floor. "Give it back! That's mine—" Before I could finish, Jared's Alpha Dominion slammed down on me like a mountain, choking the words right back into my throat. "Shut your mouth, you useless troublemaker!" Jared threw a thick stack of papers straight into my face. "Genevieve accidentally hit and killed a Beta from the neighboring pack with her car last night. You are going to take the blame for her!"