Chapter 7

Ollie’s POV

“I’m wolfless,” I say. Even though I’ve practiced all the way home for just this kind of confrontation, I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. I’m not the big liar they all seem to think of me, but this one I try to make convincing. It’s my smell more than my words that seal the deal, I think.

“Wolfless?” Sylvia repeats with disgust.

Those without wolves, or wolfless, are considered lesser than compared to any werewolf, even the lowly omegas. I’ve been anticipating this type of reaction from someone like Sylvia, who values her own power so highly, even if she hides that attitude from the brothers most of the time.

I’m used to Sylvia looking down on me. It’s the brothers’ reactions that I’m bracing myself for. There, I know, the true hurt lies.

Yet they are so distracted, they don’t even seem to notice or consider me.

Sylvia, who also, it seems, has been waiting for the brothers’ reaction, looks at them then with some impatience. Her gaze falls on Conrad. “Aren’t you going to say something?”

“Clean up your mess, Ollie,” Conrad says.

Nodding, I dart to the closet to retrieve a broom and a dustpan.

“Honestly, I’m not the least bit surprised that Ollie turned out to be wolfless,” Hugh says. “She’s already proven herself to have a failing of character. It makes sense for her to be a failure of a werewolf too.”

The words sting, but I try not to let it show as I return to the broken glass and begin sweeping it into the dustpan. I nick myself on a shard of glass, but no one seems to notice so I just keep going.

“She’s been an imposter for the past 15 years,” Declan says. “A wolfless with an unknown bloodline. How could we ever mistake her for our sister?”

“This is likely the Moon Goddess’ way of punishing her for her deceit,” Wes says. “And with the way she’s been treating Sylvia, Ollie deserves it.”

Inside of me, my wolf whimpers.

“You missed a piece,” Conrad says to me, and points at the ground near his feet. I don’t see anything from my distance but small shards could scatter far. After dumping the shards I’ve already collected in the nearby wastebasket, I walk closer to him. Searching, I kneel.

I still don’t see anything…

In a flash, Conrad grabs me roughly by the chin and forces me to look up at him. As I’m kneeling, he towers over me like a mountain.

“You are lucky our family continues to care for you at all,” Conrad says.

“She’s always been vile, but now she’s worthless too,” Hugh adds.

“Put her on the street,” Declan says.

“She’s ungrateful,” Wes says. “She doesn’t appreciate how good she has it.”

“After all you’ve done, you should grovel at my feet,” Conrad says.

Scarlet trembles in my mind. Though their callous words also hurt me, unlike Scarlet, this is not the first time I’ve experienced their harshness. For her, this is all new.

Every word slices through her, a fresh cut, deep and bleeding.

“Why would they say such cruel words to us?” she asks, voice hurt, in my mind. “Why do they betray their fated mate?”

“Back off, Conrad!” Ella says, storming into the room. Since she’s still wearing her gown from the event, she must have just gotten home. As she takes in the room, her eyes are wild with anger. She looks absolutely fearless.

Conrad doesn’t release my chin as he glares down at me coldly, not even as Ella comes to stand by my side.

“The imposter deserves way worse,” Conrad replies.

“She was found as a child,” Ella snaps. “It’s not her fault she was mistaken for someone else.”

Conrad sneers at me a moment more. “Unknown bloodline. Wolfless. You are a stain on this household,” he says, then releases me.

“Can we leave this room?” Sylvia asks in her fake trembling voice. “I don’t want to be here with her anymore.”

The brothers comply at once. Hugh touches Sylvia’s back and leads her from the room. The others go as well, none of them looking back at me with my bloody hands, sore knees, and broken heart.

My wolf has gone quiet, as if taking in my brothers’ hate for me. With them gone, she now whispers, “I understand now why you would want to hide yourself…”

Meanwhile, Ella helps me stand. “Is it true what they said? Are you wolfless?” At once she shakes her head. “We should go to the doctor. I hear they have ways now of helping a wolf manifest. You won’t have to suffer, Ollie. We’ll find a way to help you and –”

“Ella,” I say, gently stopping her. “I can’t do that.”

“Why not?” Ella asks.

Gods, I wish I could tell her, but it feels like too big a secret to utter anywhere inside of this house.

“Thank you for what you did,” I tell her. “I’m really tired. I think I’m going to go to bed.”

Her concern stays on her face, but now it also adds disbelief. As I turn toward the back stairwell, on my way down to my room, she follows me.

“You are hiding something,” she says. “But why? Why from me?”

“Please, don’t ask me,” I say and keep walking. She follows me into the back stairwell.

“Then let me help you. There’s no reason to not see a doctor, unless…” She pauses.

I stop on a stair beneath hers and glance back at her. Her brow pulls together in confusion. As she is my best friend, it shouldn’t surprise me that she’s already piecing together the truth.

“Is there anyone nearby?” I ask my wolf in my mind.

She stretches out from where she’s huddled herself into the corner of my mind. My senses expand, and I can tell we are alone in the stairwell.

Scarlet retracts herself quickly. In all, she only revealed herself for a moment, but that was long enough for Ella to have caught her scent.

“You have a wolf…” she says. “Why would you lie about being wolfless?”

“Because I also have mates,” I reply. “Four of them.”

Understanding sparkles in her eyes and they go wide. “No.”

“Yes, unfortunately.”

“The quadruplets?”

“Yes.”

Her face crumples at once. “Oh, Ollie… I’m so sorry.”

“It’s fine,” I say. “I can hide it.”

“For the rest of your life?”

“Just until I move away.”

The brothers would never follow me if I left the pack, and that distance would provide the safety I need to be myself far, far away from them, without the fear of being discovered.

Ella’s sympathetic gaze remains. “And until then?”

“Until then, I’m wolfless.”

I say goodnight to Ella in the hallway. It’s been a long night for us both, and I truly just want to get some sleep and pretend like today never existed.

My wolf needs time too. I can feel her, in my mind, whimper with the pain of what our mates said to us. I fear she will hear much worse before we are finally free of this place.

There’s only one stairwell that leads to the basement, and to get to it from where I am, I must exit on the lowest floor, pass down a hallway, and enter the servants’ stair.

My brothers each have a floor of the estate dedicated to themselves. This floor, unfortunately, has been mostly claimed by my brother Conrad. Typically, I would go up and around to avoid this floor, but I’m too tired right now after the day I’ve suffered.

What are the odds I would run into Conrad, anyway? He’s likely attending to his precious little sister.

I’m halfway down the hall, when I hear a door opening. Right in front of me, Conrad steps out into the hallway from the bathroom, a trail of steam following him.

There’s a towel wrapped low around his hips, but he’s otherwise naked. His damp hair clings to his forehead. Water droplets drip down in his chest, leaving long wet trails that I, in a moment of madness, wish I could chase with my tongue.

Heat rises within me, my treacherous body reacting.

I need to get away before he sees me. I can’t be here!

Just as I start to turn away, Conrad grabs me by the shoulder and shoves me. My back hits the wall, knocking the wind out of me.

He slaps his hands flat against the wall on either side of my head, fully boxing me in.

Voice low, he asks, “Where do you think you’re going?”