Ch. I Hid My Supreme Rank, Regret of the Pack 2 I Hid My Supreme Rank, Regret of the Pack 2

Chapter 2

After our college applications went in, Mom and Dad handed separate cash envelopes to Catalina and me.

Catalina opened hers and immediately looped her arm through Mom’s, glowing.

“I knew Mom loved me best.”

Then, like clockwork, she turned to me. “How much did Dad give you?”

I tapped mine open. Flat voice. “Two hundred bucks.”

Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

She still had to play the sweet, worried little sister, though.

“Mom and Dad probably didn’t trust you not to blow it, so they dumped a twenty—grand allowance into my account.”

“Anything you want later, just come to me, okay?”

Mom reached over and pinched Catalina’s nose, all melted affection.

“That money’s your reward for pulling an Elite Rank. Spend every penny on yourself.”

Then her eyes cut to me.

“As for you… scraping by with a Low Rank? Not even worth my breath.”

“You’ve always been a step behind your sister. Don’t you dare coast once you hit college.”

Catalina jumped in, tugging on Mom’s arm.

“Mom, getting into a college at all is huge for Clara. Quit picking on her!”

I should’ve hated Catalina.

She burned too bright. Bright enough that every wolf in the room orbited her.

But she was the one who kept score of every crumb of attention Mom and Dad threw my way.

And she was also the one who, right on cue, played defense the second Mom’s claws came out.

Never fully good. Never fully bad.

Declan smiled and set two gift boxes on the table.

Pink one for Catalina. Gray one for me.

I lifted the lid. An e—reader.

Before the warmth could even reach my chest, Catalina squealed and threw her arms around Declan’s neck.

“Declan, I knew you loved me most! You got me the newest laptop!”

Grayson whistled from the couch. “That’s twenty—eight hundred retail. Bro, that’s gotta be your entire three months’ enforcer bonus.”

Declan ruffled Catalina’s hair, grinning. “Doesn’t matter what it costs. She’s my sister.”

But I was his sister too.

So why did my graduation gift barely scrape the bottom of the barrel?

I’d cried that question out too many times as a pup.

Now the words wouldn’t even climb up my throat.

I shoved the e—reader back into its box, stood up, and walked toward my bedroom.

Nobody noticed. Nobody cared.

Only Catalina called after me. “Sis? You okay?”

My foot stalled on the carpet. “Tired.”

Declan’s voice hit my back, sharp with irritation.

“That’s just how she is. Looking like a funeral, twenty—four seven.”

“Cata, forget her. Come check out the laptop.”

Grayson laughed under his breath.

“Yeah, Clara’s just wired weird. Total buzzkill.”

I shut the door behind me and killed every last note of their laughter.

===

When I came out again, dinner was on the table.

Mom had gone all out.

Honey—baked ham. Maple—glazed ribs. Sweet corn pudding.

Every single dish was sweet. Every single dish was Catalina’s.

I liked spicy food.

Eighteen years of swallowing it down. I was done.

“Mom. I want the spicy Cajun potatoes.”

Mom blinked. Then her forehead creased.

“You were picky as a pup, fine. But you’re eighteen and still this fussy?”

“Would it kill you to be more like your sister? Cata eats whatever I put down.”

I almost said it. That Catalina wasn’t picky because Mom only ever bought what Catalina liked. Only ever cooked what Catalina liked. That whatever I liked had never once made it onto Mom’s radar. Or maybe it had. Maybe she just didn’t care enough to remember.

The words crawled up to my teeth. Then died there.

What was the point?

She’d just call me dramatic. Say I was keeping score again.