My Alpha Brother Loved the Adopted One More

The year Blackwood Pack fell, my brother was diagnosed with “Silverfreeze Failure.”

A disease that slowly kills the nerves—locks a wolf’s body up—until even the heart stops.

The pack medic said it couldn’t be cured. The only way to keep him alive was expensive Alpha serum and imported painkillers.

So I dropped out of school.

I took on crushing debt.

And I took on the rest of my brother’s life.

For five years—

Blood traders cornered me in back alleys and beat me until I vomited blood, and I still wouldn’t buy myself pain meds.

I passed out on jobs—five shifts a day—and I still wouldn’t take a day off.

Every dollar went to keeping him “alive.”

Until the night I was delivering bottles at Silver Fang Club—

I saw my brother.

The brother who was supposed to be bedridden, waiting for me at home.

He was in a tailored black coat, silver buttons cold as moonlight, a watch sharp as a blade.

He lounged on the private-room couch, laughing with his people like he owned the world.

That wasn’t what a dying man looked like.

And it sure as hell wasn’t what a man looked like when his little sister had been spoon-feeding him meds and bleeding herself dry for five years.

I stood in the hallway with a bottle tray in my hands, frozen in the shadows.

Someone in the room laughed—half teasing, half testing the waters.

“Gavin, come on. You’ve been faking this ‘Silverfreeze Failure’ for five years, right? Lyra’s basically been worked to death trying to ‘save’ you. Isn’t this punishment enough already?”

My brother let out a short, bored chuckle, like it didn’t matter.

“Yeah. It’s about enough.”

His voice stayed calm.

Cruel, effortless.

“If Lyra hadn’t been so selfish back then—if she hadn’t snapped at Sienna and ruined her mood—I wouldn’t have had to keep pretending to be broke and terminal this long. She needed to learn.”

Someone immediately backed him up, like they were reciting a script.

“Sienna’s been abroad these past five years, taking it easy. Her emotions finally stabilized. She already agreed to forgive Lyra. You kept your promise.”

Gavin smiled like everything was under control.

“When the timing’s right, I’ll have the medic stage a ‘recovery.’”

“Then Lyra gets her title back—Blackwood Pack’s ‘first heir.’ Call it her paying for her little tantrum.”

Someone lowered their voice.

“But… Silverfreeze Failure is a death sentence. People don’t recover. You really think Lyra will buy it?”

Gavin’s smile got even more confident—almost gentle, in a condescending way.

“That idiot? If it comes out of my mouth, she believes it.”

“This lesson’s enough. She’ll finally understand—Sienna was adopted. She’s always been insecure. What’s wrong with Lyra, as the older sister, giving her a little space?”

“I’m doing it for Lyra’s own good. Later, I’ll make it up to her.”

I dropped my eyes.

My tears hit the floor without a sound.

But there is no “later,” brother.

Your terminal illness is fake.

Mine isn’t.

…

Cold air blew in through the crack of the club door.

I didn’t move.

I couldn’t.

I stood there like a puppet with the strings cut, while my entire life got torn apart—slow, clean, and brutal.

Reid—one of Gavin’s friends—let out a sigh.

And somehow he even sounded like he pitied me.

“You’re really something, man. That’s your real sister.”

“She was a genius at Moonridge Academy. Dropped out the second you told her to. She’s barely in her twenties and she looks like she’s forty.”

“And a few days ago she was three hundred short for your meds. She even came to me to borrow it.”

Gavin’s face darkened immediately, his voice snapping like a knife handle on a table.

“You lent her money?”

Reid shook his head.

“Are you kidding? You gave the order. I wouldn’t dare.”

“She knelt outside my place for hours. Passed out from low blood sugar. I still didn’t send her to a clinic. She woke up and crawled off on her own.”

What Reid didn’t say—

I begged.

I humiliated myself.

I even started taking my clothes off, thinking maybe if he touched me—just a little—he’d throw me some cash.

Because Gavin had been “off his imported meds” for a week.

If he didn’t take them, his “condition” would “get worse.”

But I couldn’t find money anywhere.

Reid looked at me like I was poison and shoved me away.

So it wasn’t that he didn’t want to help me.

He couldn’t.

Gavin let out a cold little laugh, like he was issuing orders to the room.

“Listen up. Until I bring Sienna back—none of you help Lyra.”

“She can kneel. She can beg. She can die in front of you. You don’t lift a finger.”

“Sienna’s sensitive. She has depression. It took me five years to keep her calm overseas. If Lyra gets one day less punishment, Sienna might relapse.”

He paused, and his voice went ice-cold.

“Anyone who makes my precious sister unhappy… I’ll make their whole family unhappy.”

The room fell quiet.

Someone—probably feeling how insane it sounded—cleared their throat and tried to joke it off.

“Gavin… aren’t you worried Lyra will find out and leave you?”

Gavin actually laughed.

“Are you kidding?”

“We’re blood. Family. Whatever happens, it’s just family drama.”

“Lyra treats me like her life. Even if someone put a knife to her throat, she wouldn’t leave me.”

Then he lifted his gaze lazily and added a warning:

“And if anything said in this room gets back to Lyra—don’t blame me when we’re no longer brothers.”

My hands went numb.

My legs went numb.

So the five years I destroyed myself for… were a joke.

My life.

My freedom.

My health—

all of it could be thrown away, as long as Sienna said she felt hurt.

I wanted to laugh.

But all I could do was cry, tears pouring like I couldn’t stop them.

A phone rang inside the room.

Footsteps moved toward the door.

I turned too late and slammed into Mina, the club manager rushing down the hallway.

The bottle in my hands—worth more than my entire year—shattered all over the floor.

Mina’s face went black. She slapped me so hard I hit the carpet.

“Are you trying to get yourself killed?!”

The private-room door opened.

My brother walked right past us without even looking at me—

and opened his arms to catch Sienna as she ran into him like a happy little bird.

“Why’d you come back by yourself?” he asked, voice warm as spring. “Didn’t we agree I’d pick you up?”

“Are you tired? I already booked the best recovery team for you. Once we’re home, you’ll get a full-body treatment.”

Sienna laughed, sparkling and sweet.

“I missed you, brother. I wanted to surprise you!”

I wore a mask.

I stayed on my knees less than a meter away.

I didn’t move. I didn’t speak.

My eyes burned—half from the tears, half from the diamonds on her boots flashing in the light.

One diamond could’ve bought a full year of my brother’s “imported meds.”

Mina cut in, shaking with fear.

“Mr. Blackwood, I’m so sorry—your bottle was ruined by this clumsy idiot…”