After Eight Beast Clans Claimed I Was Moon Goddess-Blooded, I Gave Up

After the eighth beast clan dragged me home as a descendant of the Moon Goddess, I finally snapped. So did my wolf. At the bloodline recognition ceremony, my family's adopted daughter, Vera, accused me of throwing the crescent pendant her mother had left her into the sacred pool. Everyone started yelling at me at once. And suddenly, I was just tired. Why was being alive so much work? So I turned around and dove straight into the freezing sacred pool. I forced down my wolf's instinct to protect me and let myself sink. Mom lost her mind. She jumped in after me without even taking off her ceremonial robes. Dad shifted into a gray wolf, grabbed the back of my dress in his teeth, and the two of them somehow hauled me onto the stone steps. My stomach was full of water. I lay there coughing, barely alive. Vera burst into tears. She curled against my brother Kane, her wolf ears drooping pitifully like she was the one who'd almost drowned. Kane wrapped an arm around her and glared down at me. "Try threatening Vera with suicide again, and I'll throw you out of Gray Ridge myself." I pushed myself up. Then I headed straight for the wild bear forest outside our territory. "Sounds good, bro. I'm leaving right now. The bears can have me for dinner." Kane froze. By the time he shifted into a black wolf and caught up, I already had one foot inside a bear's den. He clamped his teeth onto the back of my coat and dragged me away. I flattened myself against the snow, all ten fingers digging desperately into the frozen ground. "Let go! The bear's awake!" He dragged me another thirty feet before shifting back and pinning me down. His black hair was a mess, his wolf ears flattened against his head. He stared at me like I was completely insane. That night, Vera climbed to the top of the castle bell tower and announced she was going to jump. "I took my sister's place. If I die, she won't have to keep acting like this anymore... right?" Mom was crying so hard below that she could barely breathe. Dad kept using his Alpha command, ordering Vera to come down. Kane was climbing the outside wall, his claws gouging chunks out of the stone. I watched for a while. Vera had one foot over the railing. Her other leg was hooked firmly around an iron post. And she'd wrapped her white dress around the railing three times. Was she jumping or not? This was taking forever. I got annoyed. I ran upstairs, grabbed her, and yanked her off the railing. "You've been standing here forever. Are you jumping or not?" Vera landed on the floor. Tears were still hanging from her lashes, but now she just stared at me. I climbed onto the railing and waved to everyone below. "Forget it. I'll do it." Kane had just reached one of the narrow tower windows. The second he saw me, his ears flattened. "LAYLA! GET DOWN!" I smiled at him. Then I let go. The wind roared past my ears. The castle, the snow, Mom and Dad's horrified faces—all of it blurred together. Then everything went black. When I woke up again, Vera was sniffling beside my bed. "I swear I didn't say anything. Layla pushed me back and then jumped herself." "I don't know why she hates me so much..." Kane stepped forward and blocked her from view. "Dad. Mom. Layla staged the whole thing." "If she really wanted to die, who’d she jump from the east side of the tower? The hunting nets for the Spring Hunt were hanging right below it. You think she didn't know that?" "She knew the fall wouldn't kill her. She just wanted everyone to think Vera drove her to suicide." The more he talked, the more convinced he became. Then he turned and saw that my eyes were open. His face lit up like he'd just found proof. Before I could even process what was happening, Kane dragged me out of bed and shoved me toward the window. "Look. We're on the nineteenth floor of the healing tower." "There are no hunting nets outside. Just sharpened stakes to keep enemy clans from scaling the walls." "If she really wants to die, why isn't she jumping now?" I'd just woken up. Three of my ribs were strapped tight, and my head was still ringing. But when he pushed me toward the window, I got a perfect view of all those beautiful sharpened stakes below. I immediately cheered up. Kane was still talking. I was already unlatching the window. By the time everyone noticed, half my body was hanging outside. The room went dead silent. Then all hell broke loose. Mom screamed and grabbed my waist. Dad caught one leg. Kane locked both hands around the other. I kept trying to crawl out, my fingertips already touching the freezing stone ledge. "LET GO! HE TOLD ME TO JUMP!" "I DIDN'T MEAN IT!" Kane's voice cracked. "Layla, get back inside first!" It took all three of them, plus a lot of yelling and begging, to drag me back into bed. Kane opened his mouth again. Dad slapped him across the face. Hard. Kane crashed into the medicine cabinet, sending bottles and jars everywhere. "Enough! Shut your damn mouth!" Dad bent the window latch with his claws and ordered the guards to nail the entire window shut. His gray wolf tail was still sticking out behind him, trembling uncontrollably. "Who risks their lives for attention?" "Layla is your biological sister! Look at what you've pushed her into!" Mom came to my bedside, eyes red, and reached for my face. Before she could touch me, Vera suddenly clutched her chest and collapsed. "This is all because of me." "Maybe... maybe I should leave Gray Ridge." Mom immediately turned and caught her. "Don't say that. You grew up with us. You will always be our daughter. No one is sending you anywhere." Kane didn't even care about the handprint on his face anymore. He stepped in front of Vera. "I only have one sister." "Anyone else can leave this family. Not you." Maybe those words would've hurt the first time. Unfortunately, I'd already watched this exact performance seven times. Even the angle of the drooping ears was practically identical. It made me want to puke. Seven years ago, I'd lost my memory. I had no money. I was so hungry I'd been chewing tree bark in the wasteland. Then a talking moonstone found me. It told me I was the long-lost descendant of the Moon Goddess. All I had to do was return to my real beast-clan family and complete a bloodline recognition ceremony. Then I'd get a huge pile of gold. I would've agreed to anything for a hot meal. Turns out the moonstone had identified the wrong family. Again. And again. And again. Seven different beast clans took me in. Seven times, I played the same stupid role: a long-lost daughter returns home, the adopted child frames her, family turns against her. The bear clan made me give my hibernation den to their adopted daughter. The leopard clan wanted to dig out my beast core to save their adopted son. The siren clan was even worse. They tied rocks to my ankles and forced me into the deep ocean to collect pearls for their precious little princess. After mission number seven, I officially considered myself injured on the job. The moonstone compensated me with an entire gold mine. I'd already bought an island in another world. All I had to do was die here, fake my death, and retire. Then the eighth family showed up. The moonstone practically begged me inside my head. "Host, I swear this time I didn't screw up. Gray Ridge really is where you were born. These people are actually your blood relatives." "Are you sure you want to give up?" "The rules haven't changed. If you abandon the mission, you can leave this world as soon as you die." I was asking them which death would be fastest when Kane's voice cut in again. "Layla! Look what you've done!" I looked up into his furious golden wolf eyes.