The Overlooked Twin Is the Pack’s S-Class Warrior Novel – Chapter 1 When it was time to confirm academy placements, everyone crowded around my twin sister, Sarah. My brother Owen pointed at the top-ranked combat academy in the entire wolf domain. “Obviously, Elvorz. Come be my junior—I’ll have your back.” Wesley, my childhood friend and our pack leader’s son, queued up promo videos for an equally prestigious tech institute right in front of her. “Don’t listen to him. Come to Otos with me. Four more years—as classmates.” Mom and Dad chimed in, smiling. “The central city’s perfect. Someone’ll look after you there. We’d worry a lot less.” It took them a long while to remember I needed to confirm my placement too. “Katherine, your wolf is weak. Just pick any Omega academy in the central city.” Without looking up, Owen added, “Yeah. That way all four of us are in the same city. Easy to meet up on weekends.” Wesley scolded me, as usual. “You’ve got half an hour before the placement window closes. Don’t be so damn forgetful.” I slowly crumpled the academy guide in my hands.
When we were kids playing make-believe, Sarah was always the princess everyone fought to save. Owen was the knight sworn to protect her. Wesley was the prince who’d cut through anything. And me? I was stuck playing the wicked witch everyone hated. Turns out growing up didn’t change a thing. Since no one wanted me around, I’d pick the academy farthest from home. Long roads, high mountains—no reason to look back. *** When I still didn’t answer, Wesley snapped at me, his green eyes brimming with impatience. “Sarah and I both put down Elvorz. Hurry up and pick something in the central city.” I stared at the “S-Class Warrior” rating glowing on my screen, but I couldn’t smile. After three years of grinding with my wolf, I’d crushed the aptitude test and scored higher than I ever had in any simulation. Both academies they’d just mentioned would fight to have me. But when the test ended, no one asked how I did. And the day the ratings dropped, no one cared what mine was. Because the second Sarah walked out of that exam, her eyes were red and swollen. “I don’t think I did well.
What am I gonna do?” Mom and Dad said the test didn’t matter. She was still the sole heir to Dad’s Beta title. Owen shrugged it off. “Who cares? I’ll become the strongest warrior in the whole domain and protect you forever!” Wesley soothed her. “Sarah, even your worst day beats anything Katherine can do. Her wolf’s so weak it can’t even shift.” “If she totally bombs it, we’ll just do another year together. Coach Katherine up on the side.” In their eyes, I was only ever good for one thing: making Sarah shine. Because she wasn’t just beautiful—she’d mastered shifting between human and wolf by thirteen, won the pack’s Best Young Warrior badge at fifteen, and inherited every single gift from Dad the Beta and Mom the pack’s strongest warrior. Every person who met Sarah wanted to hug her, kiss her, praise her. Me, her older sister? Plain-looking. Didn’t shift until I was fifteen, and it only happened once. After that, my wolf just lay there lazy inside me, refusing to help no matter how much I cried and begged.
Mom and Dad forced a tight smile. Friends and relatives could barely scrape together a “She’s… sweet. Nothing wrong with being ordinary, right?” When I was little, I thought sweet was a compliment. So when Mom and Dad bought Sarah pretty princess dresses and nothing for me, I didn’t throw a fit. When Owen brought snacks home only for Sarah, I didn’t fight for any. Even in summer, when Sarah got the heart of the watermelon and I got the rind, I didn’t complain. Because in those moments, Mom and Dad would actually look at me. They’d say, “That’s our Katherine. Always looking out for her sister.” Growing up, I existed in the shadow of Sarah and Wesley. I wasn’t even allowed on the same training field. And now, after I’d finally clawed my way up, they still looked at me like I was that same useless Katherine. I couldn’t help asking, “You said Otos was your dream school. Are you seriously not going?” Wesley blinked, then let out a dismissive laugh. “What’s the difference between Elvorz and Otos? What matters is where Sarah wants to go.” He’d told me over and over that Otos was his dream.
Now Sarah says one sentence and he tosses it like garbage. Suddenly the last scrap of attachment I’d been holding onto felt pathetic. Without a word, I dragged the mouse to the top of the list and typed into the search bar: Crimson Garrison Academy. A combat academy at the southernmost tip of the wolf domain, under the Blackthorn Pack. Twelve hundred miles from our territory. Just as far from the central city. Click. Submit. Confirm. Done in one breath.