Chapter 6

Isaac's POV "Watch your balance!" My father shouted at me from outside the training ground. My body leaned back to avoid the right fist that Alex was swinging at me. Before he could return to a defensive stance, I found a weakness under his ribcage and struck back hard. "Ow!" Alex fell to the ground in response. It was so easy, I hadn't lost a single handful of matches on the training ground since my awakening. They were never my match, in terms of strength or reaction time. Then I walked over to my father outside the field and he just frowned at me. "What do you have to be proud of? Just winning a little game." "No, I'm just..." I was happy not because I had won the race, but because my father had been nice enough to come and watch me train for once. "Well, get on with it." He said, turning his head and heading towards Neil's training field. Seriously, nothing I did growing up ever really pleased him. When I got my first A+ in school as a kid, my father's face didn't change when he looked at the report card, like I was holding a scrap of paper. Then he said to me, "It doesn't prove anything, come back one day when you get first place in the training ground and show off." Looking at my father's back as he left, I reassured myself that it was nothing to win A+. My father was right, a werewolf's ability was never reflected by his academic performance. Then I made up my mind and won my first race on the training ground. But... "Well done!" Father's praise came from the next training field, interrupting my memories. Neil was my younger brother and he had a very meek personality, compared to me. Although as the son of Alpha, no one would dare to bully him. Werewolves were a kind that upheld strength and wildness, but Neil grew up with a "gentlemanly" demeanor, which made many people talk about him behind his back. Then I, as the older brother, would try to "teach" these disrespectful people a lesson. That's why Neil and I were so close as kids. My only complaint was the huge difference in how my father treated me and Neil. Neil, in the next field, also won his race and my father looked over at him with a big smile on his face. I didn't even remember if my father smiled at me once, and if he did, it must have been a mocking smile, I thought. "Come on father, it's just a training exercise." "My son should be like you, humble and good." Ha, "My son," he's never called me that before. For as long as I could remember, my father had called me by my name. "Isaac, you're making too much noise!", "Isaac, mind your manners." Not to mention the intimate gestures. It seemed that even my breathing was bothering my father in front of him. I would always remember that day, the first match I won at the training ground. Neil and I defeated the rest of the pack and we had our final duel. Neil had his wolf and his strength was only slowly showing, and my father was very excited about it, even though I was the youngest person in the pack who owned a wolf. When I awakened, everyone in the pack could sense Caesar's power, and when my father found out, he just said that I should mind my own wolf. The duel didn't need to be thought out to know what the outcome would be. But Neil was very perverse that day, he probably wanted to win me once in front of everyone. So his wolf went on a rampage. Neil's eyes were red and his claws went straight for my carotid as he tried to kill me. To stop Neil, I had to bite through his shoulder. In pain, Neil finally came to his senses and covered his shoulder and conceded defeat to me. Then the whole training ground cheered for my victory and my father rushed towards me and Neil. "Slap." The slap wasn't heavy, but the whole training ground fell silent because of it. After my father slapped me, he rushed to confirm Neil's injuries. I didn't remember much of what happened next, and my mind was also full of blanks at the time. Neil was obviously stunned by the slap as well, and in his panic he made father leave the scene with him. I didn't explain the reason for biting Neil, because my father wouldn't listen. I looked at my father who was joking with Neil not far away. He had never spoken to me with that expression, and that kind tone of voice. "Apparently you're the heir, while Neil isn't. Andre expects more from you, that's why he's so strict." Caesar sensed the discontent in my heart and used a gentle tone for the rare occasion. "I can't believe it can force you to comfort me, doesn't that explain something?" In the distance, my father took Neil's shoulder affectionately. I took everything in and my heart welled up with emotions which I didn't know whether it was anger or jealousy. Enough, I didn't want to be here to watch them play father-son love. I turned around and left. Neil called my name behind me. But father said to him, "He can leave if he wants to. Why do you care about him?" Good. I even laughed at myself for just stopping in my tracks. He had better never care about me and just let me alone forever. Leaving the training ground, Kevin told me to go to school. Kevin was a friend of mine. Aside from being a jerk to girls, he was actually a nice guy. I could even guess that he must have called me because of another boring little thing like looking at some girl and asking me to be a helper when hitting on girls. But it was better than watching my father and Neil talking and laughing. Just then, however, I saw a thin figure. The moment I saw the traitor girl, the aggression and resentment in my heart swelled up to my whole chest. She didn't seem to see me, just looking down at her tattered book. My anger was instantly transferred from my father to the broken book. I snatched the book from the girl's hand and then tore it to pieces in front of her. The girl looked stunned, "What are you doing?! Don't tear it!" She pulled at my hand to get me to leave her book alone, but her strength was too small to stop me. I needed her book to vent the resentment I had received at my father's, and it didn't take long for the girl's book to be torn to shreds. The girl looked up at me, her green crystal-like eyes slowly overflowing with tears. The girl knelt down and picked up the torn pages of the book on the floor with trembling hands. Then she hugged herself and buried her head in her knees and stifled her sobs. I was struck by the green eyes that fell into tears, and the annoyance in my heart transformed into guilt as I looked at the torn pieces of paper all over the floor and the girl crouched on the ground crying. The girl had buried her head so low that it was not quite possible to hear her sobs. But her shoulders kept shaking and I could tell how sad she was. Feelings of pity suddenly took over and for a moment I wanted to pull her into my arms and comfort her. "Look how pathetic this girl is, hurry up and apologize to her." Caesar sensed my inner self and he hurriedly urged me. "No, I'm not going to apologize to a slave." Looking at the girl on the ground, I was surprised that I didn't know what to do. Apologizing to a slave? If the rumor went out among the pack, I wouldn't be able to be the next Alpha. So I could only leave the crying girl where she was and leave by myself. Claudia's POV It's still overcast and cold, but that gave me a chance to read properly, and no one wanted to come out in the cold and bully me. Usually, they wouldn't let me stay in the classroom to read, so I had to find a bench in the corner of the school. I studied hard in my free time outside of work so that I could continue my life in society after I left the wolf pack. But apparently, Isaac didn't give me that opportunity. I was engrossed in my book when a long and strong hand snatched it right out of my hand. Isaac looked angry, and I didn't know what I had done to piss him off again. It wasn't until he started tearing my book that I reacted and begged him to let go. But Isaac was like crazy and I tried to grab my book back from him, but he was too strong. It was like he didn't even hear my pleas, he just tore my book into pieces and scattered them all over the floor. Why must he do this to me? I had clearly avoided everyone. The aggression which I held back for a long time made my nose start to sour and tears slowly filled my eyes. I knelt down to pick up the torn books, but my eyes became a blur from the tears. It was all I could do to keep my head down as much as possible so Isaac wouldn't hear me crying, lest he get angry again. But Isaac still stopped moving because of my crying, he didn't say anything, he just stood still, probably watching me as a joke. The thought of Isaac aggravated me even more, he had pulled me into a warm embrace when I was about to get hurt, right in front of Fiona. At the time, I thought that he had more than just the same feelings for me as he did for a common slave, that he had special feelings for me. But with the way he was acting now, what was the difference between him and Fiona? I had no dignity in their eyes, and they all treated me like a toy ready to be taken for fun. Isaac left without saying a word. What was I expecting? He was still the mighty Alpha's son, while I was just a slave. Straightening up, I gathered up all the shredded paper and took it back to the basement. I tried to glue the pages together with paste, but it was so torn up that I couldn't make it work. Until late at night, I kept trying to fix my book. If I even had no book, my teacher would be more reluctant to let me study in the classroom. Just as I was worrying about my book, there was a knock on the basement door. I was taken aback. Usually, the only people who knocked on this door were the maids, who usually only came to me when they asked me to do some menial work in their place. Besides, I couldn't think of anyone else who could come to me. I was still torn between opening the door or not when there was no more ringing outside. I had to open the door carefully and look out towards it. There was no one outside the door, just a lone box on the floor. I took the box back into my room, and inside was a brand new book and a pair of black-rimmed glasses. I probably knew who had sent the stuff, and who else but Isaac knew that my book had been torn. Obviously, he wouldn't let go of the book when it was torn, no matter how much I pleaded. And now he's sending me new books. What the hell was he thinking? I really didn't want to accept anything from him and threw the book on my bed casually. But then I thought of my teacher's scolding in class tomorrow and had to resign myself to putting the book away properly. I proceeded to pick up the black-framed glasses from the box, and as I put them on I felt nothing but intense discomfort and a blur in front of my eyes. Why did he give me glasses? I would probably never guess what Isaac was thinking. Isaac's POV After leaving the traitor girl alone where she was, I had been in a weird state of guilt. So I went and bought a new book and waited until no one was around to leave it on her doorstep. I hid in the corner after knocking on the door and watched the girl take the box inside before I put my heart at rest. It was so funny the way she sneaked the box back in, like a squirrel storing grain. "How smart! You give her a new book, then she'll forget that the old one was ripped out by you." Caesar said in a very sincere tone, interrupting my fantasy of squirrel. "Come on, I'm not apologizing. She's dumb enough as it is. If she doesn't study properly, she'll just get people into more trouble." "What's with the glasses?" "Her eyes are so strange and green, and that's so unpleasant. I'm just letting her cover them up." "Huh, I believe you." I didn't think anyone's wolf was as sarcastic as Caesar, who always put sarcasm on his master.