Caspian's face, initially tinged with guilt, shifted instantly. His expression hardened as he positioned Ophelia protectively behind him, his eyes narrowing at me. "Claire, what are you doing? She is your sister!"

I glared at Ophelia, my fury barely contained. "You'd better watch your mouth."

Ophelia, her eyes wide and brimming with mock hurt, leaned closer to my mate, making my wolf uncomfortable. "Alpha, don’t let me come between you two. If my sister won't admit that Kylo is faking his illness, I'll just drop it."

My brow furrowed in disbelief. I turned to Caspian, my voice trembling. "You think Kylo is faking it too?"

His silence was all the confirmation I needed. He didn't believe me. He never did.

Then, I saw him glance around, hoping to catch a glimpse of Kylo, but he was nowhere to be seen. "Where did you hide him again?"

The accusation in his voice cut deep. If only he would come home more often, he’d see the table covered in medications and herbal medicine, the endless pile of medical records written by our wolf healers, and the truth of our son’s condition. But he never did. He preferred to listen to Ophelia’s lies, the lies that painted Kylo as a manipulative child rather than the sick boy he truly was.

I remembered the day Kylo told me he didn’t have much time left. He had one final wish: a trip to the ocean. He had always loved the sea, fascinated by its mysteries and beauty, a love nurtured by the stories his late grandmother used to tell him. But we lived far from the coast, and the only way to make his wish come true was to convince Caspian to join us.

I had begged him—no, I had humiliated myself, kneeling before him, clinging to his pants as I pleaded for Kylo's last wish. "Please," I had whispered, my voice breaking. "This will be the last time I ever ask anything of you. I promise... I’ll set you free."

Caspian had looked down at me then, a flicker of emotion in his eyes. Was it joy? Was it relief? I couldn’t tell. "You mean that?" he had asked, his voice cold and calculating.

"Yes," I had murmured, tears streaming down my face as I closed my eyes, feeling my heart shatter.

The truth was, when Caspian was young, his parents were killed in a rogue attack, leaving him a wanderer. I still remember the day I found him, a skinny, half-starved boy lying on the forest floor, barely alive. I was just a child, playing among the trees, when I stumbled upon him. He was nothing but skin and bones, too weak even to speak.

My heart ached for him. "You poor thing," I whispered, brushing a strand of hair from his dirt-streaked face. "You must be starving."

He looked up at me with those haunted eyes, and something inside me broke. I couldn't leave him there. I couldn't let him die.

I took his frail hand in mine and pulled him up with all the strength I had. "Come with me," I said, determination flooding my young voice. "I'll take care of you."

When I brought him home, my parents—Alpha Aldous and Luna Eveline Laurentia of Bloodvenom Pack—were reluctant to take him in. My father’s stern voice echoed in my ears. "Claire, he’s a stranger."

But I wouldn't back down. "Please, Father," I pleaded, my voice breaking with desperation. "He has no one else. If we don’t help him, he’ll die!"

My mother, ever the gentle soul, looked at the boy with pity. "Aldous," she whispered, "he's just a child."

My father’s resolve wavered, but he still wasn’t convinced. It was then that I made the boldest decision of my young life. I went on a hunger strike, refusing to eat until they agreed to adopt him.

Days passed, and my strength waned, but I never gave up. Eventually, my parents relented. "Alright, Claire," my father sighed, his voice tinged with resignation. "We’ll take him in."

That day, Caspian became our brother. Or so I thought.

Years later, when I turned 18, everything changed. My father, driven by a desire for more power and territory, began to look down on my mother, who was just an ordinary she-wolf before she became Luna. He sought out the daughter of a powerful Alpha from another pack, seduced by the promise of greater power. He abandoned my mother, rejected her as his mate, and instead mated with that other woman, becoming the Alpha of the Shadow Crest Pack.

That was how selfish he was.

He moved to that pack without a second thought, leaving us behind. "You and Ophelia should come with me," he had said, his voice devoid of any fatherly warmth. "There’s no future for you here."

But I couldn’t abandon my mother. "I’m staying with Mom," I had said, my voice firm. "She needs me."

Ophelia, however, was different. She craved the power and prestige our father’s new position offered. She chose to follow him, leaving me and our mother behind without a second glance.

The day she left, I stood at the edge of the pack’s territory, watching her walk away. "Ophelia," I called out, my voice trembling. "Don’t go."

She had turned to me, her eyes cold and distant. "This is our chance, Claire," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I won’t waste it."

In the years that followed, I earned Caspian's resentment. He blamed me for everything—for keeping him from joining Ophelia, for holding him back, for being the reason he was stuck in Bloodvenom Pack. Especially after I became his mate, his hatred for me only grew.

From a young age, I had always followed Caspian around like a shadow. I adore him, admire him. And when I turned 18 and discovered he was my mate, I was overjoyed. I thought it was fate, that we were meant to be together.

But Caspian didn’t see it that way. When I told him we were mates, his reaction was anything but what I had hoped for. "No," he had said, his voice cold and distant. "This isn’t right. I was supposed to be with Ophelia."

I was devastated. "Caspian, please," I had begged, tears streaming down my face. "We’re meant to be together. You can’t just leave me."

But he had been determined to reject me, to leave with Ophelia and follow her to the Shadow Crest Pack.

And then, my mother fell ill. On her deathbed, she made Caspian promise to take care of me, to stay by my side, because I was his fated mate. He agreed, out of respect for the woman who had raised him up, but I knew in his heart he resented her for forcing him to stay.

And back when my Alpha father left, he left the pack for me to lead. Back then, I knew Caspian had always craved power, so I willingly made him the Alpha, content to remain in the background as the Luna. However, even after we mated, he never announced me as his Luna.

One day, I confronted him about it. "Caspian," I had said, trying to keep my voice steady. "Why haven’t you announced me as your Luna?"

His response was like a slap in the face. "Your mother forced me to mate with you. And now you want to be Luna too? Dream on, Claire. The position of Luna will always be reserved for your sister."

His words stung more than any physical blow ever could. I had nothing left to say. I couldn’t fight him, couldn’t make him love me. The most important place in his heart was reserved for the most precious person—Ophelia.

But I had one last request, one final act of desperation: Kylo’s trip to the ocean. I was ready to let him go, to set him free. Yet he still refused to spend one last moment with our son. It was one thing for him not to love me, but how could he be so heartless toward Kylo? His own flesh and blood?

I stared at Caspian with a mix of disappointment and fury. The man who once appeared as flawless as a painting now only inspired revulsion in me. His eyes, which had once softened when he looked at me, were now cold and unyielding. I had always found solace in those eyes, but now, they felt like a reminder of how far we had drifted.

Before I could voice my thoughts, Ophelia’s voice cut through the tension. “Alpha, my foot hurts, and so does my face. Can you check if it’s swollen? I wonder if it will affect tomorrow’s Alpha gathering that we will attend.”

Caspian’s attention snapped to Ophelia, his concern for her evident in the way he gently cradled her in his arms. She had taken full advantage of his sudden shift in focus, leaning into him as if she were a fragile porcelain doll. The slap I had landed with all my might had left a red handprint on her fair cheek, and her eyes were now brimming with crocodile tears.

Seeing Caspian tenderly wiping her tears away was a painful reminder of what we once shared. I could still remember how he used to be kind to me when we were younger—how he would help me up if I fell and wipe away my tears with the same tenderness he now reserved for Ophelia. The realization that those moments were long gone, replaced by this cruel charade, was almost unbearable.

“Claire,” Caspian said, his voice cold and devoid of the warmth it used to hold. “Apologize to your sister.”

I lifted my chin defiantly, straightening my spine. “No!” I said firmly, not willing to give in. The audacity to defy him, to challenge him like this, seemed to surprise him. It was almost as if he couldn’t reconcile this version of me with the one he used to know.

The irony wasn’t lost on me. When I was falling for him, I was cautious, meticulous around him, always hoping to earn his approval. I had given him my genuine affection, fearful that he might turn away from me. But nothing I did was ever enough. I could never measure up to Ophelia in his eyes.

Caspian looked taken aback for a moment, but his surprise quickly hardened into resolve. He settled back on the couch with Ophelia nestled in his arms, his gaze fixed on me with an almost casual air. “Claire, don’t make me angry,” he warned.

His wolf guards, who had been silent witnesses to the scene, stepped forward, blocking my path. With a steely glare, they escorted me back in front of Caspian and Ophelia.

Caspian’s posture was relaxed, but the pressure in the room was suffocating. He sat there with his legs crossed, his eyes locked onto me with an unnerving calm. “Apologize to Ophelia,” he said again, his tone brooking no argument.

Ophelia flashed me a challenging smile, then turned to Caspian with a feigned sweetness. “It’s okay, Alpha. Claire didn’t mean it.”

Caspian’s gaze softened slightly as he looked at her with a mixture of pity and affection. “Ophelia, you’re too soft-hearted. You treat her like a sister, but she’s never seen you that way.”

Then, turning his attention back to me, his eyes turned steely and harsh. “Anyone who hurts Ophelia will pay double.”

A memory flashed before my eyes—of being cornered by young wolves from a rival pack when I was just a child. Caspian had appeared like a guardian angel, fiercely defending me against my attackers. The person who had once stood as my protector was now standing by someone else, his loyalty and affection given away to another.

The realization hit me like a blow to the chest. The very man who had fought for me, who had once meant the world to me, was now determined to teach me a lesson in humiliation. His gaze was filled with anger, and his resolve was unwavering.

He signaled to the guards, who roughly forced me to kneel before him and Ophelia. As I bowed my head, my wolf howled in my mind, her pain and fury echoing my own. I could feel her struggling to break free, but I kept her restrained.

One of the guards stepped forward, his hand raised to strike me. Just as he was about to land the blow, Ophelia intervened, her voice filled with an affected concern. “Alpha, she’s still my sister. Men can be too harsh, and I’m afraid they might hurt her.”

Caspian looked at her with a hint of approval. “If she really needs to learn a lesson, I should do it,” Ophelia said, her tone dripping with false sweetness.