lphas Second Choice novel Chapter 48

Chapter 5

I didn’t understand what Cassian was thinking.

I hadn’t belonged to the Bloodmoon Pack for four years, he was the one who’d announced it to the

entire realm and personally cast me out.

So why now? Why bring up the past?

Did he really think I’d go back… just to be Skyla’s punching bag again?

And why had he followed me all the way to this tiny apartment?

After putting Hope to bed, I walked into the kitchen, pulled out a box of instant coffee, then

hesitated.

Someone like Cassian would never drink something so cheap.

After a moment’s thought, I handed him a bottle of water instead.

His gaze fell on my right hand, and something like sorrow flickered across his face.

“Your fingers… are they any better?”

I looked down.

My pinky and ring finger on my right hand still couldn’t move.

It all started after Skyla returned to the pack. One day, we were visiting one of the pack’s factories together.

Curious as always, she’d been discussing a mechanical prototype with one of the engineers. To prove her theory, she pressed the start button on the test machine.

At that moment, my hand was resting right there.

Before the accident, I had been a rising star in piano performance, famous across the entire werewolf realm.

It was the one thing I had that Skyla didn’t.

I wasn’t as talented or as beautiful as she was, but the piano… that was mine.

When Skyla had first come home, she would watch me play and sigh wistfully.

“I’ve always loved music,” she’d say. “If I hadn’t been switched at birth, maybe I’d know how to play, too.”

But after the accident, I could never play again.

Chapter 5

41.59%

I couldn’t accept it at first. I spiraled for months, crying, raging, drowning in despair.

I had always suspected she did it on purpose. Maybe that was why I couldn’t stop hating her for stealing the one thing that made me shine.

Then she attempted suicide. And suddenly, the victim became the villain.

I still remembered that day.

Cassian had just come back from the pack’s infirmary after visiting Skyla.

He grabbed me by the throat, his eyes blazing.

“You only lost the ability to play the damn piano! Two fingers! Is that it? Did you really have to take her life over that?

“Even if you’re useless, even if you’re not my real sister, didn’t I say the pack would take care of you for life? Why did you have to do this?”

And Jaxon, cold and detached as ever, added.

“If she hadn’t been switched, Skyla would have been the one playing piano anyway. You’re just returning what you stole. What is there to complain about?”

They told me my hand would never heal, that no matter how much I fought, it was hopeless.

But later, at Skyla’s celebration banquet, where she received the patent for the same mechanical design that had crushed my fingers, I overheard Cassian talking to the pack doctor.

“I told you,” The pack doctor said. “If Paige had gone abroad for treatment right away, her hand would’ve recovered at least ninety percent. But you never took her.”

Cassian’s reply was flat.

“It’s better this way. Skyla’s always wanted to play piano. Seeing Paige unable to perform will help her feel at peace Paige will still be taken care of by the pack. She doesn’t need a career anyway.”

That was the moment I realized, my dream, my future, everything I had worked for had never mattered to him.

It was only a tool to make Skyla feel balanced.

When had I started being afraid of him? Probably that day.

“I heard you’ve been teaching music somewhere,” Cassian said suddenly, pulling me back to the present.

I froze, eyes widening.

“I just teach beginner lessons to children,” I said quickly.

Chapter 5

41.59%

“The songs are simple. I can play them even without using my ring and pinky fingers.

“I have no intention of returning to the stage or doing anything that would upset Skyla. This job is just how I support my daughter.

“The healer said my hand’s permanently damaged, I’ll never play properly again. What, even like this, I’m not allowed to teach?”

He looked stunned. “Paige, I didn’t mean…”

But I wasn’t listening anymore.

The same terror that had once destroyed my life surged back.

I couldn’t lose this job, not because Skyla might be uncomfortable.”

Desperate, I held up my trembling hand.

“See? I really can’t play! The nerves are gone! Everything the pack ever gave me; I’ve already paid back!

“If you don’t believe me, go ahead, try bending them! They won’t move!”

“I was your sister for so many years, can’t you just leave me a way to live? Can’t you just leave me alone?”

He went pale, panic flashing across his face as he hurried toward me, hands gripping my shaking shoulders.

“Paige, stop! Don’t be afraid! Please don’t be afraid, this time, I’ll protect you! I swear!”

But how could I not be afraid?

Everything I had now, this quiet, fragile life, was something Zevius had traded his life to give me and Hope.

“Don’t!” I cried, shoving him hard.

But the more I struggled against him, the tighter he held me.

After a sleepless night, my body was already weak.

As we struggled, the world spun and darkness closed in.

Just before I passed out, I heard a voice I hadn’t heard in a long time:

“Mine!”

Chapter 5