Chapter 1

When we started at a university for werewolves, Sienna offered to manage our money to keep us from overspending.

My intended mate, Logan, agreed first, followed by my brother, Adrian, and Mason, the packmate I'd grown up with.

From then on, Sienna sent each of us a daily allowance.

When Adrian wanted new hockey skates, she sent him an extra three hundred dollars that day.

When Mason had dinner with his club, she even asked if he needed more.

When Logan made last-minute dinner plans with his hockey teammates, she didn't question it.

But when my card was declined at the dining hall and I asked for ten dollars early, she posted my weekly spending in our group chat.

“Chloe, you've been going through money pretty fast lately.”

Adrian told me to wait a couple of days.

Mason told me to budget better.

Logan looked over the list and said, “Sienna keeps track of all this for us every day because she cares.”

That night, the four of them went out for steak with money Sienna had advanced them.

Halfway through dinner, Logan finally texted me.

[Why aren't you here?]

I stared at the message and laughed.

They hadn't even noticed I was missing.

Fine, I'd handle my own money from now on.

And I was done with all four of them.

……

I set my phone on the table and opened my banking app.

I had just over two dollars, while Sienna still had more than half a month's worth of my money.

I pulled up our messages and sent her a text.

[Send me whatever you have left of my money, please, so I can manage it myself.]

Hours passed without an answer.

Just before bed, a message from Sienna appeared in our group chat.

[My stomach's killing me from that hot sauce.]

Adrian replied right away: [Have you taken anything?]

Mason sent a screenshot of a nearby pharmacy.

Logan called her.

Sienna told them she was fine and to get some sleep, but the three of them fussed over her for ages.

My private message still sat unanswered.

The next morning, my phone wouldn't stop buzzing.

Adrian had already bought Sienna something for her stomach.

Mason wanted to know what she felt like having for breakfast.

Logan said he was downstairs at her dorm.

I ran into him on my way out after getting ready.

He was carrying two bags filled with oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast, and a cup of warm milk.

All her favorites.

Logan stopped when he saw me.

“Heading to class, Chloe?”

I adjusted my backpack and nodded.

He glanced toward the dorm entrance and asked, “Did you ask Sienna for money last night?”

“Yeah, I asked her to give mine back.”

He frowned and shifted the bags to his other hand.

“She was up all night with a stomachache, and you're making her go through the accounts.”

“Would it kill you to wait a couple of days?”

Anger flared in my chest.

“I couldn't afford to eat yesterday.”

Logan hesitated, but then his phone rang.

He turned away as soon as Sienna asked where he was.

“I'm downstairs, so stay inside where it's warm.”

After hanging up, he glanced at me and said, “We'll talk tonight, once I've taken her breakfast up.”

A few steps later, he looked back and added, “Make sure you eat, too.”

I stood there, staring at the food in his hands.

When I had a fever senior year of high school, Logan had sneaked out of the dorm to get me soup.

He'd cradled the hot cup all the way back, his hands red from the heat.

Adrian had called him an idiot, then draped his own jacket over my legs.

Later, they started teasing me about how fast I healed, saying a tough little wolf like me could handle anything.

I'd laughed along.

The dorm door closed in front of me.

I turned away and headed to class.

At noon, Adrian posted a photo in the group chat.

Sienna had her head down on a table, his jacket around her shoulders, with breakfast and medicine beside her.

His caption read: [No spicy food for her today.]

I closed the chat.

After my afternoon class, Sienna finally replied.

[Chloe, everyone's money is in the same account, so I need time to work it out.]

[Can I send it tonight?]

She added a sad emoji.

Before I could answer, Adrian called, already angry.

“Do you really have to take your money back today?”

I stopped by the stairs.

“Since when do I need your permission to get my own money back?”

That silenced him for a second.

In the background, Sienna murmured, “Just leave it.”

His voice hardened as he asked, “After all this time managing our money, has she ever shorted you?”

“She's been going through the records because you keep pushing, and now she doesn't even want to eat.”

I tightened my grip on the phone.

“Then let me do it if she can't.”

“Chloe, why do you have to—”

I hung up before he could finish.

By the time I got back to my dorm that night, the money still hadn't arrived.

I opened my laptop and pulled up two months of transfers.

Until then, I'd just spent whatever Sienna sent me each day.

Everyone did it that way, so I'd never bothered checking.

Then I reached last week's records and stopped scrolling.

The breakdown she'd posted in our group chat said: [Chloe's weekly allowance: $75.]

I checked my incoming transfers again, but she'd only sent me forty-five.

I saved a screenshot and went back another week.

None of my weekly totals matched.