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Return of the Broken Wolf Girl,The Entire Clan Begs for Forgiveness
Novelix
Completed
"People have called me slow for as long as I can remember. As the heir to the Wilder pack—the oldest werewolf clan in North America—I was attending my first business meeting at the European Wolf Council with my family. The four young alphas who'd grown up training alongside me on Wilder territory practically wanted to strap me to their belts. Every one of them spoke fluent Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian, and could even read the ancient wolf tongue. They each came from one of the four packs that had been allied with the Wilder family for generations. Even when my good friend Vera crashed a car while driving without a license, they wouldn't let me step out. They said they'd handle everything. But when the French police and the local wolf night-patrol showed up together, all four of them hopped on motorcycles with Vera and took off, leaving me alone to face the questioning. I didn't speak French. And because of childhood trauma, I couldn't hold a stable mental link with other wolves. I tried to open a translation app, only to find my phone didn't even have an international SIM card installed. In the end, I had to pawn my mother's moonstone pendant just to get a temporary release. That pendant was part of the Wilder pack's leadership token. On the back were engraved the emergency contact numbers of my four childhood companions. When I rushed back to the hotel and begged them to help me get the pendant back, I was coldly refused. ""Selena, you're exhausting. Our council passes and visas have all expired. We have to fly back to New York this afternoon."" ""It was just a car accident. You weren't even the one driving. Just explain that and you'll be fine."" I told them I couldn't speak the language, that my mental link wasn't working, but Lucian cut me off impatiently. ""Are you a pup? You've been around us for years and you can't even pick up a single sentence of French? Can't even do the most basic wolf-scent identification?"" ""Vera's right. You've been sheltered by us for too long. Take you away from the pack and you can't survive."" ""Deal with this yourself. Nobody's going to clean up your messes forever."" In the end, it was Caius Ashford—the one I was engaged to—who softened and promised he'd help. But when the plane was about to take off, I was detained by the police and the local wolf night-patrol because the accident case hadn't been cleared. What made it even more absurd was that my ticket—the one that was supposed to take me back to New York—had somehow been changed to Reykjavik. Watching the five of them walk toward the boarding gate together, I wiped my tears and called my wolf-clan legal advisor in Manhattan. ""Find me a lawyer in France. Someone who speaks French and understands cross-border Wolf Council regulations."" ""Also, that approval form I signed to give Vera a permanent position at Wilder Jewels—void it."""
Chapters (3)
第1章
People have called me slow for as long as I can remember.
As the heir to the Wilder pack—the oldest werewolf clan in North America—I was attending my first business meeting at the European Wolf Council with my family.
The four young alphas who'd grown up training alongside me on Wilder territory practically wanted to strap me to their belts.
Every one of them spoke fluent Italian, French, Spanish, and Russian, and could even read the ancient wolf tongue.
They each came from one of the four packs that had been allied with the Wilder family for generations.
Even when my good friend Vera crashed a car while driving without a license, they wouldn't let me step out.
They said they'd handle everything.
But when the French police and the local wolf night-patrol showed up together, all four of them hopped on motorcycles with Vera and took off, leaving me alone to face the questioning.
I didn't speak French.
And because of childhood trauma, I couldn't hold a stable mental link with other wolves.
I tried to open a translation app, only to find my phone didn't even have an international SIM card installed.
In the end, I had to pawn my mother's moonstone pendant just to get a temporary release.
That pendant was part of the Wilder pack's leadership token.
On the back were engraved the emergency contact numbers of my four childhood companions.
When I rushed back to the hotel and begged them to help me get the pendant back, I was coldly refused.
"Selena, you're exhausting. Our council passes and visas have all expired.
We have to fly back to New York this afternoon."
"It was just a car accident. You weren't even the one driving. Just explain that and you'll be fine."
I told them I couldn't speak the language, that my mental link wasn't working, but Lucian cut me off impatiently.
"Are you a pup? You've been around us for years and you can't even pick up a single sentence of French? Can't even do the most basic wolf-scent identification?"
"Vera's right. You've been sheltered by us for too long.
Take you away from the pack and you can't survive."
"Deal with this yourself. Nobody's going to clean up your messes forever."
In the end, it was Caius Ashford—the one I was engaged to—who softened and promised he'd help.
But when the plane was about to take off, I was detained by the police and the local wolf night-patrol because the accident case hadn't been cleared.
What made it even more absurd was that my ticket—the one that was supposed to take me back to New York—had somehow been changed to Reykjavik.
Watching the five of them walk toward the boarding gate together, I wiped my tears and called my wolf-clan legal advisor in Manhattan.
"Find me a lawyer in France. Someone who speaks French and understands cross-border Wolf Council regulations."
"Also, that approval form I signed to give Vera a permanent position at Wilder Jewels—void it."
…
The lawyer arrived fast.
Once it was confirmed the accident had nothing to do with me, I was released.
But when I asked for my moonstone pendant back, the officer looked completely confused.
"Wasn't it already picked up by your fiancé? He showed me a photo of you two together and said it was your wolf comfort object—that it was very important to you."
The officer pulled out the collection record. The signature on it was unmistakably Caius Ashford's.
I called him. He hung up on me immediately.
I called again. Phone was off.
Refusing to give up, I dialed Lucian, Darian, and Cedric. Same result.
Three people, three phones—as if they'd agreed beforehand—all switched off.
The lawyer walked over to me, concern on his face.
"Would you like me to file a lawsuit on your behalf? Handing over a wolf-clan token to a third party without authorization—that's a problem on both the police station's end and the person who collected it."
"Though I'm afraid your fiancé would also be implicated. He could even be expelled from the Council."
I didn't think it was that serious.
Maybe Caius had just taken the pendant and forgotten to return it.
The next second, Vera Carlisle's social media updated.
Got a gift before even landing back in New York. Thanks to my four best friends.
In the photo, she was holding a white-gold moonstone pendant in her palm.
The grain of the moonstone, the wolf pattern on the white-gold setting, the position of the engraving barely visible on the back—all of it was identical to the one my mother had left me.
My head buzzed. Without thinking, I dialed Vera's number and demanded answers.
"How could you take the pendant my mother left me? You know it's the only thing she left behind—and it's a Wilder pack token!"
Vera jumped in with an explanation right away.
"Sena, you've got it wrong. The four of them pooled their money and got this for me as a graduation gift…"
I cut her off.
"A gift? Then why does it look exactly like my mother's pendant?"
"It was bad enough that you had them abandon me in a country where I don't know anyone, just so I'd take the fall for you. But you couldn't even leave my mother's keepsake alone?"
The other end of the line went quiet.
I thought they'd finally realized they were wrong.
Then Caius's voice came through.
"It's not a gift for Vera. We're just having her hold onto it for now."
"You're in France alone and your emotions are all over the place. We were worried you'd keep clinging to the past if you had it, so we asked Vera to keep it safe for you."
"When you come back, we'll give it back. Obviously."
"I know you're upset about being stuck in France, but we're doing this to help you learn to be independent."
"The fact that you can still call us right now proves Vera's approach is working. You should be grateful to her, not throwing around accusations."
第2章
Caius's words were backed up by the other three.
They all jumped in to call me dramatic and ungrateful.
"You've always been hopeless at taking care of yourself. You need other people for everything."
"You were eight and still couldn't sleep alone. Fifteen and still too scared to walk through the Brooklyn East Shore wolf-gathering docks by yourself.
Even for Vera's graduation trip to Europe—the one she'd been looking forward to forever—you demanded the four of us be on call for you around the clock."
"Come on, Selena, you're twenty-three, not three. Do you really need to act like some pup that can't leave the pack, needing everyone to revolve around you every second of the day?"
Their accusations left me completely lost.
I wanted to explain, but I couldn't even figure out where to start.
After all, I'd always been "slow."
I couldn't accurately read a stranger's scent. I couldn't hold a stable wolf mental link. And I couldn't half-shift in a crisis the way a normal wolf-born could.
But I hadn't always been like this.
When I was eight, the North American Allied Packs held their Spring Covenant on Wilder territory.
Caius, Lucian, Darian, and Cedric—who were staying in the main Wilder house as tradition required—were kidnapped by rogue wolves from Sicily.
My parents found the trail but couldn't wait for the Federal Wolf Council. They led a rescue party immediately.
The four boys were saved. But my parents were brutally killed in front of me by those crazed rogues.
After that, I developed severe psychological damage.
I was afraid to be alone. Afraid to talk to strangers.
The moment I entered unfamiliar territory, I'd pick up strange wolf-scents and start shaking and losing control of my bladder.
Worse, I lost the ability to shift reliably. Other wolf-born could sense danger on instinct after coming of age, but my wolf felt locked somewhere deep inside my body.
It was the four of them who walked me through recovery, who helped me piece my way back into a normal life, bit by bit.
When someone made a joke about me being a "broken wolf girl," they used their families' connections to get that person expelled from school.
The thing they said most often was:
"Sena's parents died saving us. We owe her this."
"As long as we're here, even if Sena can never shift again, it doesn't matter."
Everyone envied me for being so lucky.
They said even a wolf princess only gets one guardian knight. I had four.
I believed it too.
Until senior year of high school, when Vera Carlisle—also an orphan—transferred into my class.
She said she was descended from a wandering wolf bloodline, abandoned by her pack, with no territory since birth.
The loneliness we shared made me feel for her. I found myself looking after her without even thinking about it.
The four boys told me they couldn't trace Vera's bloodline and warned me to keep my distance.
But at what point did they go from being suspicious of Vera to siding with her?
Was it when they secretly changed my college application to fulfill Vera's dream of studying design?
Was it after graduation, when they threatened to pull all wolf security from me unless I signed the papers to give Vera a permanent position at the jewelry company my parents had left me?
Or was it this European trip, when they staged a car accident so Vera could get solo photos, then left me standing on a French street alone to face the police and night-patrol?
I didn't know.
I took a deep breath and asked Caius.
"Fine. Let's say the pendant is just being kept with her temporarily."
"But you went to the police station. Why didn't you explain to the officers that I wasn't the one driving? That it was Vera?"
He answered without a second's thought.
"Under French law, driving without a license and fleeing the scene of an accident carries years in prison. Vera just graduated. If she got dragged into something like that, her life would be over."
My heart went completely cold.
I'd been telling myself that maybe Caius didn't understand French law, or that he genuinely just wanted to toughen me up and made a bad call.
Turns out he knew everything.
My voice came out hoarse.
"What about me? Did you ever think about what would happen to me?"
The other three jumped in.
"Stop being so dramatic. We told you—you're not the one who caused the accident. You'll be fine."
"And even if something happens, you're already a broken wolf girl. What difference would a few years in prison make for you?"
I listened to their mockery, fighting back the hurt, and asked Caius.
"Is that what you think too?"
He didn't answer that. He just said:
"Stop making a fuss. You're fine now, aren't you?"
"The graduation party is tonight. We need to help Vera pick a dress. We don't have time to coddle you."
I was about to say it was my graduation party too, but Caius hung up.
The French lawyer beside me looked at me with sympathy.
"Miss Wilder, would you like me to book you a flight back to New York?"
But France was so far from New York. The fastest flight would take over ten hours.
By the time I landed, the graduation ceremony would be long over.
I sniffled and turned him down.
"No, that's alright. Help me draft a lawsuit instead."
第3章
When the finished lawsuit was placed in my hands, I was still torn.
I'd grown up with the four of them. We'd always been close.
And Caius had taken care of me far more than the other three.
Right after my parents died, I wouldn't let anyone near me.
The four allied families discussed it with the Wilder Elder Council and decided to send me to a trauma recovery facility in Switzerland.
Eight-year-old Caius stood in front of the medical staff who came to take me away and begged them to give me one more chance.
He ate with me, slept beside me. Even when I lashed out during episodes and left him covered in bruises, he never gave up.
Finally, I let my guard down and agreed to treatment.
During rehab, the other three were constantly driven crazy by how slow I was.
Only Caius remembered what the therapist had said—"the company of someone truly close and loved is the best medicine for a wounded wolf soul"—and patiently walked me through the same boring exercises over and over again.
Gradually, I found my way back into normal life. If you didn't know my history, you'd never guess I'd once nearly lost the ability to function on my own.
If this lawsuit went to the courts and the Wolf Council, it wouldn't just destroy over twenty years of our relationship. It would destroy his future—even the Ashford pack's reputation.
I told the lawyer I needed more time to think it over.
But in the middle of the night, I got a call from my academic advisor, Professor Oberon.
His voice was urgent.
"Selena, I know you and Vera are close, but how could you just hand over your graduation project to her?"
"And give up your spot at the Iceland Royal Design Academy?"
My mind went blank. I denied it on instinct.
"Professor, I didn't give it up—"
But my advisor sent me a video from the graduation party. It showed Vera taking the stage as the outstanding graduate.
In the video, Vera was wearing the evening gown I'd reserved three months in advance, holding up the "Moonmark" jewelry collection I'd spent six months creating, showing it off to everyone.
The audience roared with applause. The dean gripped the microphone and announced excitedly:
"Miss Carlisle's work has not only won first place at the International Jewelry Design Awards, but this collection has also earned her admission to the Iceland Royal Design Academy!"
"Let's congratulate Miss Carlisle!"
I rushed to the campus website. On the outstanding graduate work exhibition page, my project had been listed under Vera's name.
I opened my email. The acceptance letter from the Iceland school was addressed to Vera Carlisle.
Then I remembered the looks on their faces before the Europe trip—those awkward expressions when I'd excitedly told the four of them that my graduation project had been recognized and I was going to study in Iceland.
I didn't know where things had gone wrong.
Until I found the encrypted group chat with them. In the messages, Caius had casually asked me for my campus portal and email login passwords.
He said he wanted to double-check for his "little scatterbrain" that the graduation project and study-abroad application had been properly submitted.
In that moment, my heart turned to ash.
My hands were shaking as I dialed Caius's number.
He picked up instantly.
I could hear the noise on the other end—all four of them celebrating with Vera.
The place was clearly packed with people, but I felt like I was standing in the dead of winter.
It took me a long time to steady my voice enough to ask.
"Did you change the name on my graduation project to Vera's? Did you use my work to apply for her study-abroad spot?"
"Caius, you know how much I gave up for this opportunity! My parents' company—Wilder Jewels—is counting on this to break into the European market. Do you have no heart at all?"
Caius just laughed and said to everyone around him:
"Spam call."
Then he hung up.
I called back. Blocked.
