Ghosted My Onlinemate Chapter 07

Ghosted My Onlinemate Chapter 07

My exam scores were solid. I made it into the Elite Corps.

Before shipping out, I still heard about Yvette and Elias through the grapevine.

Yvette’s scores weren’t high enough to meet the entry threshold for healer training. Her parents were looking to find her a new mate, ideally positioning her as Luna to some pack’s Alpha.

Elias did well, didn’t embarrass his Alpha parents, and had officially started shadowing the Alpha at the pack hall, learning to handle pack affairs.

As luck would have it, the pack hall was right near the base I’d been assigned to.

Had to be fate. The cruel kind.

A high school classmate got stationed at the same base. He filled me in on the gossip.

“Did you know Elias still hasn’t dated anyone since he and Yvette split? It’s been almost a year.”

“Think he and Yvette will get back together? She’s studying Luna ceremonies now. When Elias takes over as Alpha, you think she’ll end up being our Luna?”

I smiled.

“No idea.”

Training at the base was brutal, but I loved every second of it. I was improving fast, taking first place in several competitive drills.

One day, I accompanied my commanding officer to the pack hall for a briefing with the Alpha.

Then I bumped into someone.

“Sorry, I—”

I looked up and froze.

Elias.

He was wearing a tailored black suit, broad shoulders tapering to a narrow waist, and that face, already sculpted like a work of art, had grown sharper and more striking. He was bigger than before, rougher around the edges, radiating more raw power.

He froze too.

“Sienna?”

“…Sienna?”

His voice was a full octave deeper than it had been in high school.

I forced my spine straight, snapping into the rigid posture they’d drilled into us during basic.

My commanding officer stiffened beside me.

“Mr. Vance,” I said evenly. “Excuse the interruption, sir.”

Elias didn’t acknowledge my CO.

Those ice-green eyes swept me from head to toe.

“Sienna,” he said again, completely ignoring my formal tone. A crease formed between his brows. “You’re stationed here?”

“Yes, sir,” I answered, clipped. “Fourth Recon Unit.”

He took a step closer. The air seemed to solidify, thick with his presence.

I could feel my captain’s displeasure, but Elias couldn’t have cared less.

“I heard you’re top ten percent of the new recruits in the elite unit,” he said, almost to himself.

I shouldn’t have been surprised. But hearing him acknowledge it sent an involuntary jolt through my chest.

“Just doing my job, sir.”

“Sir,” he repeated. A smile touched the corner of his mouth, but it didn’t reach his eyes. “You never used to call me that.”

Because you never used to feel this far away, I thought.

Because you used to call me your best girl.

Before I could stop myself, my hand drifted to my neck.

Elias watched the movement, his nostrils flaring almost imperceptibly.

Did he remember the necklace? Was he connecting it to the one he’d given his “online friend”?

“Mr. Vance,” my CO cut in carefully, stepping forward. “We have a briefing to attend. If you’ll excuse us.”

Elias’s jaw tightened. He stepped back and let me pass.

I turned and walked a few paces, but at the corner, I couldn’t help it. I looked back.

Elias was still standing there.

Sunlight fell across him, stretching his shadow long across the floor.

I pulled my gaze away.

That night, back at the barracks, my bunkmates were all asleep.

I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, unable to sleep.

On some impulse I couldn’t explain, I opened the app store.

In the search bar, I downloaded the anonymous app.

I still remembered the username and password.

My finger hovered over the screen for a few seconds.

Then I tapped in.

Recovered Sia’s account.

The inbox was full. Dozens of unread messages.

All from Elias.

[Sia, are you okay?]

[Since you can’t see what I’m sending anyway, I’ll just use you as a journal. Ha.]

[After school today, I saw a stand near the gates selling those frozen fruit cups you like. I tried one. Way too sweet for me.]

[Got first in the class again. Wanted to tell you. Then I remembered you weren’t there.]

[Sometimes I think loving someone is really complicated.]

[Sia, there’s something I never told you. The reason I liked her was because she saved me back in middle school. But now I keep feeling like she’s not the same person who saved me back then.]

[What am I supposed to do? Did I get the wrong girl?]

…

[We broke up. She really wasn’t the one who saved me.]