One-Way Ticket Out of the Alpha’s Pack Chapter 09

One-Way Ticket Out of the Alpha’s Pack Chapter 09

Throughout my four years of college, I return to the pack only twice.

The first time is when Grandma gets sick.

The second is when Dad is injured in an attack by rogues and needs surgery.

Both times, I stay at a friend’s place.

Mom asks me several times to come home, but eventually, she stops.

My bedroom remains untouched.

There’s never any dust on the desk, and the sheets are changed regularly.

But the room feels more like a carefully preserved memorial than a place I can return to.

It proves that they have finally learned to value me.

It just can’t make me live there again.

During my junior year, I’m selected by the college for an exchange warrior program in the Lycan Realm.

Before I leave, Dylan makes a special trip to see me off.

He carries my luggage to the airport check-in area, then stops on his own.

“I can’t go any farther with you.”

He pats my suitcase, “Text Mom and Dad when you get there, okay?”

I nod.

After a moment of hesitation, he takes a photo album from his bag.

There are no family portraits inside.

Only pictures of me from elementary school through college.

Receiving awards, competing, giving speeches.

There are even a few photos he saved from the school website.

“There’s barely anything about you in our old family albums.”

He looks down at the album in his hands, “I wanted to fix that.”

I flip through a few pages before handing it back, “You can’t fix the past.”

The smile on Dylan’s face freezes for a moment.

Then I add, “But you can take better pictures from now on.”

He looks stunned, and his eyes quickly turn red.

“Okay.”

He takes the album back and nods softly.

“Whenever you’re ready, we’ll take them.”

That year, my family stops revolving around Victoria.

Mom and Dad don’t stop caring about her, but they begin expecting her to take responsibility for her own choices.

When she fails a class, she retakes it herself.

When she has problems with her roommates, she learns to work them out on her own.

Anthony stops filling out applications for her.

Brandon has long since disappeared from her life.

Everyone used to say Victoria was too fragile and needed to be protected.

But once no one is there to solve everything for her, she slowly learns how to stand on her own.

Her Warrior rank gradually improves too.

Sometimes she messages me.

She doesn’t complain or ask me for help.

She simply tells me she passed another Warrior Assessment, found a new part-time job, or made some new friends in the pack.

We aren’t close.

But we aren’t at each other’s throats anymore either.

A few months before graduation, I receive an offer from Lycan Royal to join its Royal Warrior Division.

The position is more than two thousand kilometers from home in the Werewolf Realm.

When Mom finds out, she doesn’t sleep that night.

The next morning, she calls me.

“Eva, do you really have to go that far?”

I don’t answer.

She quickly corrects herself, “I’m not trying to stop you. I’m just going to miss you.”

“Go if that’s what you want. Don’t worry about things at home.”

I hear Dad reminding her in the background, “Don’t put pressure on her.”

She immediately answers, “I’m not. I know.”

Then she asks carefully, “When are you moving?”

“If you want us there, we’ll come help you.”

“If you don’t, that’s okay too. You can hire movers. I’ll pay for it.”

She speaks carefully.

Every sentence leaves room for me to say no.

I suddenly remember four years ago.

Back then, she never asked whether I wanted to take out a loan.

She never asked if I could manage two suitcases by myself.

Now, she has finally learned to ask what I want before making decisions for me.

But some lessons come with a price.

By the time she learns to respect my choices, I no longer need her respect to build my life.

On the day I sign the contract, Brandon comes to see me.

Four years have passed, and he has changed a lot.

He doesn’t show up with gifts or block my way.

He doesn’t ask why I still refuse to forgive him.

He simply waits outside the school gate.

“Can I walk with you for a bit?”

I don’t refuse.

We walk side by side for a while.

When we reach a fork in the road, he finally asks quietly, “Will you ever come back?”

“Yeah.”

His eyes brighten for a moment.

I continue, “To see my parents. To visit friends.”

He is silent for a moment, “What about me?”

I stop and look at him, “Alpha Brandon, you need to move forward too. Life is long. You’ll find your second-chance mate someday.”

“You’ll find the Luna who’s right for you.”

I pause, “But she won’t be me.”

He stays silent for a long time.

Finally, he gives a small nod, “Okay.”

This time, he doesn’t ask anything else.

I turn and walk toward the SUV sent by Lycan Royal.

As the door closes, I sign my name on the employment contract.

A new job. A new city.

And a path I choose entirely for myself.