One-Way Ticket Out of the Alpha’s Pack Chapter 04

One-Way Ticket Out of the Alpha’s Pack Chapter 04

The day before Thanksgiving break, Mom sends me a shopping list and tells me to pick up some seafood and fruit on my way home from the station.

Dylan says he’s inviting some warrior friends from a nearby pack to the Packhouse for Thanksgiving, so he wants me to clean out the storage room.

Anthony asks me to stop by the mall before heading to the train station and pick up a new dress for Victoria.

They say it all so casually, as if nothing has happened over the past month.

As if I’ll still walk through the front door and immediately start taking care of everyone, just like I always have.

That night, Brandon sends me a screenshot of my train ticket.

November 22, arriving at 9:00 a.m.

[Got your ticket. I’ll pick you up when you get in.]

[Come home, apologize to Alpha and Luna, and we’ll put all of this behind us.]

I stare at the word apologize for a long time.

They take my tuition money and my room.

Yet somehow, I’m still the one who needs to apologize.

I open the cancellation page.

Brandon buys the ticket through his own account, so the refund goes straight back to him.

The moment I confirm the cancellation, he calls me.

“Why did you cancel the ticket?”

“I’m not coming home.”

“Don’t do this, Eva.”

“It’s Thanksgiving. You’ve got several days off. Where else are you supposed to go?”

“I’m staying on campus.”

He clearly doesn’t believe me.

“You’re seriously going to spend Thanksgiving alone in a dorm?”

I look up at the busy student center in front of me.

Nicole is sorting supplies for the holiday. School staff are arranging schedules for students staying on campus, and a few other students who aren’t going home are already making plans to have Thanksgiving dinner together in the dining hall.

No one here thinks that because I’m strong, I should be the one to suffer more.

No one assumes that because I get good grades, I should automatically give up my own interests for everyone else.

When a professor gives me work, I get paid for it through my work-study job.

When a classmate asks me for help, they actually remember to say thank you.

In just one month, I’ve received more respect from strangers than I have from my own family in eighteen years.

“I have my own plans.”

Brandon’s voice turns cold.

“Don’t regret this, Eva. Alpha and Luna are giving you a chance to make things right. If you don’t come home this time, don’t expect to walk back into the Bluemoon Pack like nothing happened.”

I look at the year-round campus housing agreement on my desk. The school has already stamped the final page.

“Fine. Then I won’t be coming back.”

There is nothing but his sharp breathing on the other end.

He is probably waiting for me to take it back.

Instead, I hang up.

Then I get a new phone number.

I don’t save a single one of their contacts, and none of them knows my new number.

On the morning of November 22, I put on a volunteer vest and head to the train station with the school staff to help guide students heading home for the holiday.

Meanwhile, Brandon is standing at the arrival gate in another city.

At 9:10 a.m., he calls me for the first time.

At 9:30, he sends me a message asking if I missed my stop.

[Did you miss your stop?]

By 10:00, Brandon starts checking the train schedules along the route.

He doesn’t know that I canceled the ticket long ago.

He doesn’t know that I’ve already signed the year-round campus housing agreement.

As far as he’s concerned, I’m just still angry.

He is convinced that if he waits long enough, I’ll eventually come through the arrival gate dragging my suitcases behind me, ready to go home with him to the Bluemoon Pack.

At noon, he buys a cup of coffee and stands by the exit, checking the time again and again.

At one, the coffee goes cold.

At two, he checks the train schedule again. Then he walks toward the platform and starts scanning every passenger getting off the trains.

Three o’clock. Four. Five.

Every time the station announcement comes over the speakers, his head instinctively lifts.

But every time the crowd thins out, that familiar figure is nowhere to be seen.

By evening, the last train pulls into the station.

Brandon stands at the exit, his phone screen lighting up, then going dark, then lighting up again.

Even after the last group of passengers leaves and the cleaning crew begins clearing the platform, he still doesn’t move.

That’s when his Beta finally arrives, “Alpha, stop waiting.”

Brandon frowns, “What do you mean?”

Nick looks at him, his voice turning serious, “Your future Luna isn’t coming back.”