Chapter 1

After our werewolf father passed away, my mother couldn't afford to raise my sister and me alone.

She made us choose.

“Human or wolf?”

In my last life, my younger sister, Chloe, chose to be a wolf. She later died miserably, bullied and brutalized by the pack in a wildlife park.

I, on the other hand, stayed with our mother, blending into human society. I briefly tasted luxury, only to die later from rabies, a cruel fate dealt by her own bite during one of my visits.

Reborn.

Now, Chloe glared at me, her eyes spitting venom, and snatched the first slip. “I want to be human!”

I watched her, my gaze dropping, my entire body trembling with a strange relief.

My dear sister, the cost of being human is far, far greater than anything a wolf faces.

My mother held two slips of paper in her hand, one long, one short.

She said whoever drew the long one would be human, and the short one, a wolf.

In my last life, I was the older sister; I reached out first.

The moment I clutched that slip, a mix of desperate hope and gnawing guilt seeped through my fingertips.

—I drew the long one. I became human.

This time, Chloe shoved me aside, rushing forward, her voice thick with unconcealed eagerness. “Mom, I’m first!”

My mother hesitated, glancing at me. “Maybe… let your sister go first?”

My eyelashes fluttered, and that dull ache in my heart resurfaced.

She always played favorites with Chloe, knowing what it truly meant to be human.

Besides, the cruel truth was, both slips were identical – both long. It was always about who chose first, who would be “human.”

Before I could even respond, Chloe had already lunged, her fingers clamping tightly around one slip. She yanked it out with a triumphant cry!

The next moment, she burst into my room, overturning all the dresses and jewelry my mother had prepared for me, scattering them everywhere.

Amidst the crashing sounds, she proudly declared, “These are all mine now!”

I watched her in silence.

My ears felt hot, and I composed myself, making the subtle throb in my ear cartilage subside.

The closer we got to the Coming-of-Age Ceremony, the more my beastly nature, my wolf form, stirred within me.

Either completely excise that wildness and live as human.

Or surrender to instinct and become a wolf.

This was a tradition of our wolf clan.

Chloe glided past me, a sneer twisting her lips.

“Sister, you look just like a stray dog right now.”

“Don’t look at me like that. You’ll have to rely on me to support you from now on. Without me – even if you roll over and beg in the pack, you’ll never eat your fill. Those animals, they have no feelings, tsk.”

It was also a wolf clan tradition: the one who chose to be human would enjoy life, but also bear the responsibility of supporting the entire family.