Four Alphas Chose Her Over Me, Until I Disappeared and They Searched the World for Me Chapter 05

Four Alphas Chose Her Over Me, Until I Disappeared and They Searched the World for Me Chapter 05

He marched straight into my bedroom to search it.

The others started rifling through my closet and my desk.

Eighteen years.

They never once knocked before walking into my room.

I used to think it was because we were close.

Now I understood.

They’d just never doubted it.

Never doubted that everything of mine was theirs to handle however they pleased.

Kellan yanked the closet open and found only a few clothes left on the rack.

“What’s with all the packing?”

Lucian glanced at the suitcase beside it.

“She’s trying to spook us.”

Ronan scoffed.

“Rhea, you’re eighteen. Still playing the runaway?”

They laughed like it was nothing.

Not one of them imagined I might actually be walking out of their lives for good.

Soren dug out the admission agreement I’d received.

One glance at the cover, and he shoved it under the corner of the desk.

“School doesn’t start till fall. What are you going to do—vanish today?”

They turned the place upside down. No pendant.

Maren kept sniffling into her hands. “It’s okay. It was Rhea’s to begin with. If she wants it back, that’s fine too.”

A few soft words, and suddenly I was the thief.

Soren rushed to comfort her. “It’s fine. The five of us will come up with a new token—something that’s really ours.”

Out of the corner of her eye, Maren caught the video file on my laptop.

Her eyes lit up.

“Is that the video you’re editing for me?”

I walked over and shut the laptop.

“No.”

I only wanted to record my own life.

The light in Maren’s eyes snuffed right out.

“Is it because you think—”

“I’ll never deserve to be one of you?”

Soren’s face darkened.

“If that’s really how you feel—that she doesn’t belong—then fine. You’re out of every video from now on.”

He only meant to sting me.

What he didn’t know

was how fast those words would come true.

Watching Maren’s performance was grating on every last nerve I had. Half an hour ago she’d stood right here gloating to my face. Now that Soren and the others were around, she was all trembling tears.

I changed my mind on the spot. “I’ll edit the video for you.”

With that settled, they left, satisfied—already debating their new five-person token. Moonflowers? A wolf fang? Or matching rings?

A message came in from my advisor at RFRI.

[The transport will arrive in two hours.]

I closed my laptop.

Zipped my suitcase shut.

The black transport was parked outside the pack compound.

Mom and Dad were still overseas on a project, so they had to see me off over video call.

That was exactly why I’d leaned on the four of them so hard all those years.

Mom’s eyes were red and raw.

“You’re sure you don’t want us to fly back?”

“The base doesn’t allow family to come along.”

Dad fought back tears beside her.

“Take care of yourself out there.”

My nose stung.

At least.

At least someone out there truly loved me.

That alone would keep me moving forward. Always.

The advisor assigned to receive me loaded my luggage into the trunk.

“Rhea, once you’re in the car, the confidentiality protocol officially begins.”

“Your personal phone and social accounts will be sealed.”

“Anyone else you need to contact?”

“No one.”

I got in the car.

A notification popped up from our six-person group chat.

Maren had changed my nickname.

It used to be [Princess R].

Now it read [Random Girl from Northreach].

Maren: [Just changed it for fun. Rhea’s not mad, is she?]

Kellan: [Mad? She doesn’t get to be. You only said the truth. If she can’t handle it, she can always skip Northreach.]

Ronan fired off a string of hahas.

Lucian said nothing—but he liked the message.

Soren replied last.

Soren: [Suits her.]

I stared at the screen.

And strangely, it barely hurt anymore.

I left the group chat.

Deleted all four of their contacts.

When I got to Soren, his last message happened to come through.

[Enough.]

[Come to Maren’s party tonight. Bring the finished video while you’re at it.]

Still that tone—orders he never doubted I’d obey.

He still believed I’d come running the second he snapped his fingers.

The video was already in the mail. I truly hoped the five of them stayed together forever.

I deleted Soren without a second’s pause.

A staff member handed me a sealed security pouch.

“Power the phone down and place it inside.”

“For the duration of the project, you won’t be able to contact the outside world. And the outside world won’t be able to trace where you are.”

I pressed the power button.

The moment the screen went completely dark,

every thread tying me to the last eighteen years was cut clean through.

The black transport rolled slowly out of the pack compound.

My fingers brushed something in my jacket pocket.

The silver wolf pendant. The one I’d worn since childhood.

So it had been on me the entire time. Maren must have slipped it into my pocket to frame me.

Eighteen years of companionship.

And in the end, not a single real goodbye.

My advisor spoke up.

“Once we cross the Crown City boundary, there’s no turning back.”

I rolled down the window.

Morning wind tangled through my hair.

I opened my palm and let the pendant drop onto the stone ledge beside the checkpoint.

My wolf and I were leaving Crown City behind.

Running straight for the Northern Frontier, two thousand miles away.