I followed my brother secretly. If he had a hidden girlfriend or found his mate without telling me I wanted to be the first to know.

And maybe I could use that to my advantage so he would finally agree to switch rooms? I had much more stuff than him. It was unfair that just because he will be the next alpha he got the bigger room!

James rode his bike around aimlessly and I followed, getting more and more confused. Then he stopped and went to an old abandoned playground.

This playground hadn’t been used in ages because it is not very close and all it has is an old swing set and a slide. It’s far from the city centre, too.

Even if you go there, there were rarely other children and what is the fun and visiting playground when there are no other kids to play with?

I stop dead in my tracks when I saw someone sitting on the swings. Someone familiar. Muru, that stupid bitch. I sneered inwardly. What was she doing here? Maybe she knew that she was the laughing stock of the whole pack and that is why she was hiding out here. Who would take a wolf like her seriously? She was quiet, no matter what you did to her, she never spoke up.

She was a failure of a wolf, that much I could tell. She didn’t even participate in pack activities - like ever. My parents (the leaders of the pack) had many celebrations each year and all of the pack members would help out in at least one. All except her.

What was my brother doing with her? I knew they used to be friends, but once they went to school my brother saw her for what she was and abandoned her for more suitable friends.

I watched my brother going to her and sitting next to her on the swing. They seemed to talk for a while.

After a while Muru got up abruptly. Shit shit shit. I thought. He would be angry if he found me snooping! Hurriedly I got on my bike and drove into the forest. I missed a root, slipped and fell. Sharp pain shot threw my arm. I screamed.

“Oww.” I whimpered and tried to move my arm, but that was impossible. “Ow ow ow.” I repeated. I must have broken my arm. I carefully got up, looked at my bike, and decided to leave it. I either get it later or make my parents buy me a new one. I smiled at that thought.

I hadn’t gone far when Muru suddenly was in front of me.

“Are you alright?” She asked with her quiet, calm voice that made me feel sick to my stomach. You are a werewolf, act like that!

I didn’t know if my brother was still close by, but I decided to take a gamble, I screamed as loud as I could and backed away from her. I could see the confusion and worry on her face. Even now she was more worried about me than anything. She would be a liability for our pack, I was sure of it.

“Jane!” I heard James calling, then I heard rustling and a moment later I found myself in the warm embrace of my brother.

“What have you done to her?” He snarled at Muru. That was perfect!

“James, she pushed me very hard. I think my arm is broken. I don’t know why she did that.” I sniffed, forcing out a few fake tears. I knew that this would trigger James. As a child I had been badly beaten up by a different pack and I nearly died, ever since my whole family was babying me a little much.

“You lied to me.” James hissed at her. “Why would you do that? Is it that you do care about the jokes and you just act like you don’t care so you can secretly take revenge on my little sister?”

Muru looked at him with a blank face.

“Whatever.” She said. As expected she didn’t even care to clean up that misunderstanding. I had watched her for a while. She never did. If she got accused of something, even if she hadn’t done it, she wouldn’t care. She would just let people scream at her and when they were done she would leave, as if she didn’t give one single damn about who was screaming at her and why. As if she was better than all of us and didn’t need to justify herself. That’s why I hated her so much. I always started crying when someone would scream at me and I hated this weak side of me. But she didn’t. Just then I realised that I had never seen her cry - ever.

“Did you push my sister?” James growled. Muru just stared at him with her dead eyes, waiting.

“Did you?” He asked.

“Does it matter?” She asked quietly and for a second I thought I saw a hidden sadness in her eyes that nearly, but only nearly, made me feel bad for her.

“Yes, it fucking does matter!” James had gotten up and was right in her face. She didn’t even flinch, she just shrugged. Oh, I hated her so much!

I hated her guts, I hated how she always seemed so strong, indifferent and cool.

A loud smack brought me back to reality. James had punched her. And he kept punching her.

“You dare to hurt my sister!” He screamed enraged.

I was shocked. I had never expected that. Muru didn’t even defend herself. She was just lying there, curled up in a ball while James let out all his rage.

I thought he would stop soon but he just kept going and going. Finally I hugged him.

“James, please stop. My arm hurts, bring me to the hospital.” I begged. “If you kill her you won’t be able to live with yourself.” I thought. James slowly stopped and looked at me.

“Hospital. Yes.” He agreed, then he picked me up and carried me like a baby to the hospital.

“Let’s never talk about today.” I whispered. I had looked back on Muru when he carried me away, she was barely breathing, but she was still alive. Good. Now I had to protect my brother.