I Risked My Life to Awaken My White Wolf for Them, Then Learned It Was a Prank Chapter 09

Ivy didn’t make it through that winter.

With no steady income and no one to pay for her treatment and long-term medication, her body grew weake

and weaker.

Before she died, she grabbed my mother’s hand, her thin face full of terror.

“Mom, I see Nora.”

“There’s a white wolf standing next to her.”

“Is she coming to take me?”

My mother yanked her hand away in horror and backed into the corner.

Ivy slipped away, lost in fear and hallucinations.

Mason soon took what was left of the family’s money and fled Silverpine territory overnight.

Before leaving, he left only one sentence.

“If those rogues come back for the debt, tell them I’ve cut ties with you.”

“I’m still young. I’m not letting you drag me down with you.”

After that, my mother went insane.

She pushed a cart through the streets every day, collecting scraps. Whenever she saw a young woman pass by, she’d rush over and grab her.

“Nora, you’re back?”

“There’s grilled fish at home. The tenderest belly is all for you. No fish tail.”

“Don’t work so many jobs anymore. Don’t buy us medicine anymore.”

Strangers would shove her away in fear.

Adrian lived like a gutter rat.

After losing his Alpha status, no pack would take him in.

He could only wash dishes at a human restaurant late at night. Years of drinking left his hands shaking badly.

One night, he dropped a whole rack of plates and was thrown out by the owner.

Adrian collapsed in a filthy back alley, and as he lay there dazed, his mind drifted back seven years.

Back then, he’d just survived a pack dispute, lost his supporters, and nearly lost his Alpha position. I ran to him and gave him what little savings I had left, along with the power of my white wolf.

“Don’t be afraid.”

“We’ll rebuild the pack. As long as we’re still breathing, there’s still hope.”

Adrian covered his face and let out an animal sound of grief.

“Nora, I was wrong.”

“Come back, please.”

But there was no answer except the cold winter wind. The woman who’d once protected his pack and lit his way home had been pushed to her death by his own hands..

His regret was pathetic-and far too late.

As he staggered to leave, several debt-collecting rogues blocked the alley.

Those weren’t Mason’s debts. Adrian had borrowed through underground channels to keep up appearances in front of other Alphas.

I’d always been the one paying the interest. After I died, the debt finally crushed him.

He was beaten to the ground, curling up to protect his head.

In that moment, he suddenly remembered-seven years ago, when I’d blocked an attack for him, I’d been in the same position.

“Nora…”

No one stood in front of him anymore.

A year later, it was Thanksgiving again.

I sat on a moonlit hillside. My father, the warrior who’d been “dead” for years, sat beside me and handed me a slice of berry pie.

“Here. Eat up.”

“This was your favorite when you were little.”

I took a bite. It was sweet. No more bitter aftertaste of the awakening drug.

A year ago, at the most dangerous moment, my father had arrived.

He’d gone missing after following the Alpha King on a campaign. Everyone thought he’d died for the King. But he’d only been injured and lost his memory.

My near-death signal had awakened his sleeping wolf and his memories. He’d followed my scent and come to me, desperate-sealing my aura so everyone would think I was dead. Then he took me away.

He’d spent a whole year healing me. My wolf had gone back to sleep, and my body was incredibly weak. But he said he’d take care of me for the rest of my life.

So I wasn’t scared. Not even a little.

Under a highway overpass in the human city, a homeless man missing a leg was digging through a trash can for half a moldy bread.

A gray-haired madwoman rushed over.

“That’s for Nora! You can’t eat it!”

The man shoved her away, and the two of them brawled over the sour food.

That was Adrian and my mother. They no longer recognized each other.

Mason’s missing-person poster was still up at the pack border.

Some said he’d been caught by rogues while stealing, badly wounded, and thrown into the northern wastelands. No one knew if he was still alive.

They’d taken my sacrifices for granted-and with their own hands, they tore down the only shelter they had. Now that the storm had truly come, there was no white wolf left to stand in front of them.