I grew up with four Alphas. I was Crown City's clingiest tagalong. Everyone knew I would never leave them. Today, I took off the silver wolf pendant I'd worn for eighteen years and gave it to Maren, the newest member of our group. "This is the token of our bond. The five of us. It's yours." "Congratulations. You've replaced me." Why? Because I'm cutting every tie and leaving. Those four Alphas tricked me into signing an invitation for Maren's sake. They didn't know what was on it. A classified project. A five-year lockdown. No private communication allowed. After the United Pack Trials ended, my four childhood friends pulled me into a game of Truth or Dare. When my turn came, Maren—the heiress the Ashford family had only just taken back—dared everyone to reveal their first-choice school. One by one, they pulled up screenshots of their Northreach Institute applications. I nearly cried. Northreach was my dream school. But my wolf couldn’t bear to leave them, so I’d chosen Crown City instead. Soren Blackwood grinned at me. “UPT’s top-ten academic star. Do you dare to give up Crownspire University and come to Northreach with the rest of us?” “Whoever chickens out is a coward.” That night, in front of all of them, I accepted Northreach Institute’s early admission offer. Then it was my turn to dare someone. I looked at Soren. “Do you dare to date me?” Amid the whooping and cheering, Soren said yes. My acceptance letter from NI arrived, and I went to find them—only to walk straight into a secret party. The projector in the living room was still on. On the screen was a different group chat: [Princess Maren and Her Loyal Knights]. [Did she sign?] [Signed. Four photoshopped application forms, and she’ll leave for Northreach thinking it was her own idea. Total win.] [Maren’s a genius. One game of Truth or Dare and the tagalong is gone.] [Soren sacrificed the most. He still has to pretend to date her until school starts.] I stood frozen in front of the screen. Behind me, the door swung open. Soren, Kellan, Lucian, and Ronan—and Maren. All five of them locked up in the doorway. They were carrying champagne. To celebrate all of them getting to stay in Crown City. And to celebrate that I would finally stop clinging to them. … Soren recovered first. “Since you’ve already seen it, we won’t insult you with lies.” “Maren only just got her real family back. She grew up with no one at her side, and she’s never left Crown City once. She’d never survive Northreach.” “You’ve been independent since you were a kid. You’ll do just fine on your own.” I stared at the chat name. Princess Maren and Her Loyal Knights. There was a time when they were my loyal knights. “Who faked the four application confirmations?” Soren didn’t even blink. “I printed them.” “And whose idea was Truth or Dare?” Maren shrank into herself, half stepping forward anyway. Kellan immediately moved in front of her. “It was a group decision. Don’t pin all of this on Maren.” I looked at Soren. “And saying yes when I asked you out—that was part of the plan too?” Soren’s throat bobbed. “Consider it your compensation.” He said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world, without a flicker of guilt. Maren suddenly lunged for the phone in Lucian’s hand. “It’s all my fault.” “I’ll change my application right now.” “I’ll go to Northreach with Rhea. You four can stay in Crown City.” All four of them held her back at once. Ronan pried the phone away. “The application deadline has passed. What exactly are you going to change?” “But what about Rhea?” Maren was sobbing, her shoulders trembling. “She’ll be all alone, so far from home. Her wolf will be miserable without us.” Soren pulled out a tissue and wiped her tears away. “She’s been independent her whole life. She can take care of herself anywhere.” “Your health is fragile, and you’ve never once left Crown City. Don’t gamble your future on a tantrum.” I stood a few steps away, watching them close ranks around her. My wolf lay quiet at the back of my mind. She was a little sad—she did like Soren—but watching him wipe away Maren’s tears, she didn’t hurt at all. Lucian pushed his glasses up, his voice as cool as ever. “Rhea, the method wasn’t honorable, I’ll give you that. But look at the outcome—everyone got the best possible result.” “You’re off to NI, with the research program that fits you better than anything else in the country.” “We stay in Crown City with Maren.” “No one’s future got ruined.” I smiled. “So should I be thanking you?” Kellan caught the edge in my voice, and his face darkened. “You wanted to go to Northreach anyway.” “Why else would you never flat-out refuse, no matter how many times the advisors from the Royal Frontier Research Institute reached out?” “We just helped you make up your mind.” I did want to go. The research they did there had been my dream since I was a little girl. But I couldn’t bear to leave them. We’d grown up together. Our bond was supposed to be thicker than blood. So I’d turned down two invitations already, just to stay in Crown City with them. But they weren’t worth it anymore. I picked my acceptance letter up off the table. “Well, then. Goodbye.” Soren stepped into my path without thinking. “Where are you going?” “Home.” “And us? What about us?” I looked at him. “What ‘us’? Was there ever an us to begin with?” His face stiffened. “Rhea, don’t say things you don’t mean.” “Yes, going out with you was to get you to sign. But it wasn’t all fake.” “I’ll stay with you until school starts.” “After that, I’ll come see you at Northreach whenever I’m free.” “Isn’t that what you wanted? Haven’t I already given it to you?” So that was how he saw it. Two months of dating me already counted as the grandest gift he could bestow. But hadn’t he been the one to flirt with me first? The one who’d stolen kisses while he thought I was asleep? If he hadn’t sent me all those signals, why would I ever have confessed? Maren tried to soothe me, her voice soft. “Rhea, Soren really does care about you.” “After you fell asleep last night, he even covered you with a blanket.” I almost laughed out loud. Trick me into a binding acceptance I couldn’t back out of—then tuck a blanket over me at night. I popped open one of their champagne bottles. “A toast. I hope the five of you stay together forever.” Then I unclasped the silver wolf pendant I’d worn since childhood—the token that belonged to the five of us. I set it down in front of Maren. “Haven’t you always said you regretted missing our childhood?” “This is yours now, too.” “Congratulations. You’ve officially replaced me.” Maren didn’t reach for it. Soren’s frown deepened by the second. “What is wrong with you today?” “Weren’t you always the one saying the five of us would never split up?” I turned to leave. “That was then.” “This is now.” The hurt they handed me had already hardened into the courage to walk away. My phone buzzed in my pocket. A message from my advisor at the Royal Frontier Research Institute—RFRI. [The transport will arrive in Crown City in forty-eight hours.] [Rhea Wren, please confirm early enrollment.] I tapped confirm. Projects run directly under the Alpha King carried the highest possible clearance. Once I was inside the Northern Frontier Research Base, my personal number and devices would be confiscated and sealed. Until the project ended, no one would be able to find me. No one. On my way out, I muted the group chat that had been part of my life for eighteen years. Behind me, their laughter and roughhousing carried through the door. They thought I’d be just like always. Mad. Hurt. Then crawling right back like a good girl. But not this time. This time, they’d crossed a line. Before I left, I wanted to return everything that belonged to them. Every bond had to be cut clean—only then could I walk into my own future. I caught Kellan’s scent at the mall. When I found him, he was out shopping with Maren. He was loaded down with bags—hangers, a desk lamp, storage bins. All of it for Maren. When he saw me, all he said was, “What are you doing here?” I held out the medal. “Returning this.” The year he turned twelve, he won Crown City’s biggest hunting tournament and presented the prize to me. He said he was afraid he’d lose it, so I should keep it safe for him. They were just objects. But they were also hidden bonds. Kellan blinked. “Just keep it at your place. Why bring it back all of a sudden?” “I was afraid I wouldn’t get another chance.” He clearly didn’t catch my meaning. He just shoved the medal at Maren. “Then you hold onto it for me.” He looked back at me. “Perfect timing, actually. I’m buying Maren a mattress.” “You’re strong. Come help me carry it.” I didn’t move. Maren jumped in quickly. “That’s okay.” “Isn’t Rhea leaving for Northreach? She must be busy packing.” Kellan glanced at me. “You think everyone’s a pampered little princess like you?” “She’s a tomboy. She could pack her whole life in ten minutes. What’s there to be busy about?” I turned and walked away. He didn’t even chase after me to ask when, exactly, I was leaving. Lucian was at the library. I returned the sketchbooks he’d been storing at my place. Inside were the landscapes we’d drawn together over the years. He took them without a second glance—then his eyes landed on the vintage camera around my neck. It was a gift from the four of them, so I could record the years we spent growing up together. Nearly every memory the five of us had ever made lived inside that camera. Lucian said, “Leave the camera too.” “Maren wants to make a coming-of-age video—something to introduce the five of us when she starts college.” I froze. There wasn’t a single photo of Maren in that camera. “It’s mine.” “I’m just borrowing it. It’s not like I won’t give it back.” Maren had just finished shopping and come to find Lucian, her eyes fixed longingly on my camera. “Rhea, don’t be mad. I only wanted to pick out a few pictures of everyone as kids.” “But our childhood doesn’t have you in it.” Her face went white. Lucian looked at me with open disapproval. “Did you have to put it so harshly?” “She just wishes she’d met us sooner.” “So she gets to take my past to patch up her regret?” Lucian seemed to run out of patience. He grabbed the camera bag hanging off the back of my chair. “It’s a few days, tops.” “Stop turning everything into a tragedy.” I reached for it. He sidestepped me. “Once the video’s done, I’ll have Soren return it.” I stared at him for two seconds. Then I let go. “Fine.” There was nothing left on that camera I couldn’t afford to lose. I could lose all four of them. What were a few memories next to that? Ronan was the only one who came looking for me himself. He caught me at the entrance of the pack compound. “Finally tracked you down.” He tossed me a portable hard drive. “It’s all the footage our parents filmed of us. Took me forever to sort it out.” “You’re the best editor. Make Maren a coming-of-age documentary for her eighteenth birthday.” I nearly laughed out of sheer rage. “She doesn’t have eighteen years of footage.” What exactly was I supposed to cut? Ronan answered like it was the most reasonable thing in the world. “That’s why we use ours.” “We cut out the scenes with you in them.” “Drop in a few photos of Maren, and it’s done. Easy.” So even our memories—Maren had to take my place there, too? I looked down at the hard drive. Our first time riding bikes. Our first camping trip. Every birthday the four of them had ever spent with me. And now they wanted to cut me out. Slot Maren into my place, hand her a complete childhood that was never hers. “Fine.” I took the hard drive. Ronan blinked, caught off guard. “That was fast.” “Didn’t you all say I’d sulk for a couple of days and get over it?” He rubbed his nose. “As long as you’ve come around.” From start to finish, not one of them asked the only question that mattered. When, exactly, I was leaving for Northreach. That evening, Soren showed up to take me out. Fine. One last date. Might as well end things properly. He took me to the diner we’d been going to since we were kids. But he spent almost the entire meal with his head down, answering messages. Maren hadn’t eaten yet, apparently. He ordered her takeout on the spot. Then Maren was worried she wouldn’t get along with her college roommate. He sent voice note after voice note, soothing her. The burger in front of me had gone stone cold. He never even noticed. “Soren.” “Hm?” “Do you know what tomorrow is?” He finally looked up. “…Your birthday?” I smiled. “Close enough.” Tomorrow I’d be leaving. My new birthday—the first day of a whole new life. Thinking he’d guessed right, he visibly relaxed and slid a milkshake across the table. “Quit making that face.” “Keep your head down at Northreach and behave.” “I said I’d come see you, and I don’t break my word.” When we left, he leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead. “Be good and wait for the semester.” “Once things settle down, the five of us will head up to the Northern Frontier together to visit.” Oh. Come find me. Too bad you never will. Back home, I plugged the portable hard drive Ronan had given me into my computer. Then—file by file, I deleted everything from our shared past. Eighteen years that belonged to me. Why should a single minute of them go toward decorating Maren’s life? I unplugged the drive, boxed it up, and mailed it to our secret hideout. My last gift to them. A past without me in it.
Not enough history yet to show a trend.