After Oscar was suspended, the role of class monitor fell to me. Most of my classmates probably didn't like me, but Mrs. Willette always trusted me.
"Oscar was really surprising. On the outside he looked like the perfect guy," Nadia commented while packing her things.
It was Saturday morning, and she planned to go home. Most students went home on weekends, I just wasn't one of them.
I only went back during long holidays anyway. Besides, I didn't have a home in Brown Pack.
Nadia finished with her bag, grabbed her jacket, and prepared to leave.
"Oh, right. I heard Sand Pack's quota for new students next year is getting reduced," she said.
"It's that bad?" I asked, genuinely surprised.
"Think about it— the troublemakers were the Alpha's son and the Beta's daughter. If kids from leader families behave like that, of course people assume the whole pack is problematic."
I nodded at her logic.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
We both turned our heads toward the door at the same time.
"Oh? My dad's early today." Nadia walked to open it.
"Ah!" But what I heard was a yelp.
I quickly moved to her side to see who scared her that much.
Standing in front of her was Edwin, wearing his signature mischievous grin. "Hello. Let's go home."
Nadia looked back and forth between the two of us, completely stunned. Honestly, so was I.
Even Larry or Shannon never came to the dorm building to fetch me, but Edwin… he had actually appeared right at my door.
"Where are you two going home to?" Nadia asked.
"To our house, of course," Edwin answered. He walked past her, grabbed my hand, and pulled me along.
"W-wait! I haven't—" I tried to pull my hand back—
but an awakened werewolf's strength was incomparable to mine.
"You can shower or whatever at home. I never bring anything when I go home," he said casually.
Did he really not realize we were different?
"Where are Larry and Shannon?" I asked. They could definitely explain things to Edwin.
"They went home last night," he replied. "When I saw you weren't with them, I decided not to go either. I want to go home with you."
My heart thumped. Go home… together?
Those words had never applied to me. I had no home, and no one to go home with.
I lifted my head and saw Edwin smiling at me with that big, horse-like grin.
My face froze. I couldn't return the smile. But I let him pull me along anyway.
Maybe… maybe I really would have a family.
A few students we passed looked openly curious, but Edwin didn't seem to care.
He was clearly used to being the center of attention. So was I, though for very different reasons.
We headed to Green Pack in the Greens' luxury car. The Green Pack emblem was printed on the door.
Green Pack was one of the prosperous packs in the West Region.
The Wolefang Continent was a vast temperate forest inhabited by werewolves.
Long ago, each pack lived separately, in isolation, surviving with primitive methods.
Until one day, vampires from the mountain regions descended and attacked a human village on another continent.
Some werewolf packs noticed this. They cooperated with each others and prepared defenses in case the vampires targeted Wolefang next.
And of course, the vampires did come. Packs fell one by one.
Packs that originally refused cooperation now had no choice. They were forced to unite.
The First Lycan King, leader of all werewolves, emerged during that bloody era. He managed to suppress the vampire attacks.
Eventually, the Wolefine Empire was formed under the Lycan King, with the capital city right at the Empire's center.
The Empire was divided into four major regions: East, West, North, and South. Each region had multiple packs — big, small, wealthy, or poor.
But each region had one pack that became its core.
In the West Region, Black Pack held the central role.
But Green Pack was not far behind.
Compared to Sand Pack and Brown Pack, which weren't central packs either, Green Pack was still far, far more prosperous.
Which meant the Green siblings weren't just any Alpha's children. They weren't ordinary wolves.
And now, I might become part of that.
…
Throughout the car ride, Edwin didn't stop talking. He radiated pure youngest-child energy— completely different from Larry and Shannon, who at least knew how to hold back.
Still, that didn't mean I disliked Edwin's behavior. Especially since most of his rambling was about aether devices , my favorite topic.
For an orphan, the only way to secure a comfortable life was to become an Ae-engineer.
I didn't need powerful parents, elite connections, or natural werewolf strength. Only skill and knowledge in orb extraction and aether application.
My thoughts drifted far until we finally arrived at Green Pack.
The roads were clean. The houses were lined neatly. People dressed well. The prosperity here was obvious.
The car stopped in front of a large gate bearing the Green Pack crest. Through it, I could see a massive white mansion inside.
The Brown Pack Alpha's two-story mansion couldn't compare to this.
The car drove deeper until it stopped right at the mansion's front steps, where Luna Eileen stood waiting with several maids.
I suddenly felt nervous seeing others welcome me so earnestly.
Before a maid could open the door, I opened it myself. I really wasn't comfortable with excessive treatment like this.
"Welcome, Clarissa. I thought you wouldn't come, so I didn't prepare much," Luna Eileen greeted and pulled me into a hug.
I wanted to tell her this was already more than enough.
"Mom, she hasn't showered or eaten yet. I dragged her home straight from the dorm," Edwin blurted out, making me want to disappear.
If there were a mouse hole nearby, I might have shoved my head into it.
"Your room is almost finished, but it's already usable. Come, let me show you," Luna Eileen said, guiding me.
But Edwin suddenly shrieked, "Her room isn't finished? Then where has she been sleeping?"
He looked at me, then at Luna Eileen, then at the servants.
His expression resembled someone who had just seen a vampire. "Don't tell me she hasn't moved in yet?!"
I wanted to smack his head. So that's why he acted the way he did — he thought my things were already in this house?
…