The Alpha’s Forgotten Daughter Chapter 01
Before heading off to academy registration, my Luna mother finally opened my suitcase–after cramming five of my sister’s trunks to the brim.
But the first thing she did was toss my clothes onto the floor like garbage.
Then she started stuffing it with face masks and precious potions meant for Maya.
I looked down at the heap, then back up at her.
She stiffened, then forced a laugh. “Claire, you barely have anything–just use a backpack.”
The backpack was Maya’s old one. The straps were
so frayed they were practically split in two.
My Alpha father stayed silent, hammering at his phone. A second later, Maya’s phone chimed.
[Venmo: Julian Reed sent you $1,000.]
“Don’t skimp. If you need more, tell me,” he said.
When it was my turn, he handed me a crumpled wad–a hundred dollars.
“Make it last. Money’s tight for the pack right now.”
I didn’t argue. I took the cash and slid it inside the worn canvas pocket of my bag.
Inside that same pocket sat my acceptance letter.
The major listed on it wasn’t Omega Studies–the
one they had forced me to choose.
I’d tried to tell them three times.
Three times, I was cut off.
The first time, Mom was too busy buying Maya new clothes.
The second time, my brother Ethan was too
absorbed planning Maya’s graduation trip.
The third time, Dad was too preoccupied booking a
banquet hall for Maya’s graduation party.
Now, I had nothing left to say.
“Maya, these jars of Manuka honey–you have to remember to take a spoonful every single day.”
“The dorm mattresses are gonna be stiff. Don’t worry–the latex topper I custom–ordered for you?
Delivered this afternoon.”
Mom rambled while she furiously stuffed five
twenty–eight–inch suitcases.
Maya lounged on the sofa, popping cherries into
her mouth and whining between bites.
“Mom, it’s too much! I can’t haul all this!”
“What are you worried about? Your father and Ethan will help. We’re driving you there anyway.”
Dad chimed in with a laugh.
Ethan reached over and pinched Maya’s cheek, his eyes dripping with adoration.
The living room was bursting with warmth–as if this household didn’t have a fifth person.
I crouched in a corner by the entrance, silently rolling my basic, old clothes and shoving them into the faded backpack.
Nobody remembered that I was heading off to college tomorrow too.
Nobody remembered that I’d been dumped into a full military–style combat academy since junior high -every injury I’d ever suffered, I’d patched up on my own.
Once my bag was packed, I stood and lifted it. A dull snap cut through the noise.
The strap I had stitched back together three times finally gave out under the weight.
The bag dropped hard and crashed against an open suitcase beside me–the one packed with precious potions Mom had personally commissioned from a dark witch in the Black Forest.
The impact wrenched the zipper open. A rigid sheet of paper with gilded letters slid out, its edges exposed.
It was my acceptance letter to the United Wolf
Packs Alpha Academy.
I lunged for it, desperate to hide the name– desperate to keep them from realizing Maya and I hadn’t applied to the same local Alpha Academy after all.
“My potions!”
Before I could grab it, Mom shrieked and shoved me aside.
I slammed against the werewolf statue with its raised blade by the entryway–pain flared across my lower back.
She snatched my broken backpack and hurled it out the door.
“Did you do that on purpose?! Do you have any idea what those cost me?”
“If they’d broken and Maya got sick during orientation–then what?!”
She inspected every bottle with frantic hands.
Outside in the hallway, my bag tumbled across the floor.
The United Wolf Packs Alpha Academy letter lay
The United Wolf Packs Alpha Academy letter lay
scattered among my few belongings, face–down against the cold tile.
I scrambled, snatching the paper that decided my
fate and shoving it against my chest before any of them could glance my way.
The chaos inside died down.
Maybe she realized the potions were intact, or maybe the ugliness of that moment finally sank in- the atmosphere in the living room froze for a beat.
Dad frowned and offered a half–hearted brush–off.
“Alright, the medicine is fine. Claire didn’t mean it.”
Ethan glanced at the mess in the hallway and cleared his throat to kill the awkward silence. “Claire’s backpack was honestly too beat–up—the strap snapped.”
“We’re hitting the mall later for Maya’s semester
stuff. Might as well get you a new backpack while we’re there.”
In the past, I would have blushed, stammered
apologies, sworn it wasn’t intentional, and tearfully thanked them for that scrap of kindness.
But watching them fuss around Maya right now, I
just found everything that had happened absurdly laughable.
Even if they had seen the letter, so what? Nobody cared about me.
I bent down calmly, picked up my scattered clothes, and brushed off the dust.
“Fine.”
Then I hauled up the broken backpack, walked to the trash chute down the hall, and let go.
A heavy thud–the bag hit the bottom.
Along with it, I tossed eighteen years of longing and hope for this family.
Ethan’s mouth opened, maybe to say something.
But Maya suddenly shouted from the sofa.
“Ethan! Come look–doesn’t this restaurant look amazing? Let’s go there tonight!”
Ethan’s attention snapped away instantly. He turned and strode back inside, a grin plastered on his face.
I stood outside, pressing my hand against the stiff acceptance letter through the fabric of my pocket.
My eyes were flat. Empty. Not a flicker of pain.