The words had barely left her lips when Selene's eyes reddened. Fat tears rolled down like dewdrops from a shattered web as she stared at Lyra with wounded innocence, her voice catching. "I know you're upset. Those scry-records... I didn't want this either, but I'm about to be presented at the Alpha Council gathering. My reputation cannot have a single stain. Just help me this one last time, won't you? Think of it as your little sister needing you..."
"Needing me?" Lyra laughed—a sound hollow with grief and fury. Her nails dug into her palms hard enough to draw blood, though she didn't notice. "Selene, your reputation is precious, but mine is worthless? You're the one who cannot control your heats, tangling with rogue males and low-born wolves. When the scandal breaks, you shove me before the pack's judgment, and now you dare speak of needing me?"
She advanced step by step, her gaze cutting like a blade. "When you were doing all those shameful things, did you ever think of the consequences? Selene, you make my wolf sick."
"Lyra!" Selene's wail pitched higher, her body trembling as though she had suffered the world's greatest injustice.