When my Alpha father declined my call for the ninety-ninth time, I walked into the Blackwood Pack Bloodline Registry with my terminal diagnosis in hand. “Hello. I’d like to have my name removed from the Hart family roster.” Ten minutes later, my parents stormed in with their adopted daughter, Bella. My father, a territory enforcement officer, slapped me the moment he saw me. “You’d drag this all the way to the Bloodline Registry just to steal Bella’s spotlight? Haven’t you humiliated this family enough?” My mother, a former forensic pathologist, snatched the diagnosis from my hand. She scanned it once before letting out a cold laugh. “Faking medical records to ruin Bella’s coming-of-age party. Nora, you’ve been a liar your entire life.” Bella grabbed their hands, her eyes red, a deliberate tremor woven into the milky vanilla of her scent. “I’m sorry, Nora. I’ll cancel my party. Please, just stop lying to Mom and Dad like this.” I raised a hand, wiped away the blood trickling from my nose, and stepped back to the window. “I don’t have any family. My cremation is in three days. Please finalize my removal from the roster.” ... Three months after I was diagnosed with late-stage stomach cancer, the doctor had strongly urged me to be hospitalized. He said the cancer was destroying my body’s ability to heal. If I delayed any longer, even my inner wolf, Echo, would die with me. But I had no money. All I could do was ask my parents for help. When they sent my call to voicemail for the ninety-ninth time, I walked into the Blackwood Pack Bloodline Registry with my diagnosis in hand. “Hello. I’m here to petition for my removal from the Hart family roster.” The clerk behind the window glanced at me, pity flickering in her eyes. “Don’t you have any family, sweetheart?” The words had barely left her mouth when my parents hurried in with Bella. Without asking a single question, my father slapped me. His Alpha pres......
