My Four Childhood Friends Abandoned Me for My Best Friend Chapter 03

My Four Childhood Friends Abandoned Me for My Best Friend Chapter 03

The next morning, I caked concealer over the wreckage under my eyes and drove to the pack hall.

My phone wouldn’t stop buzzing the whole ride. PackNet notifications, all from Elena.

I opened them. Photos from last night. They’d taken over the whole pack tavern, then taken Elena up Moonshadow Ridge to watch the sunrise.

Elena’s caption read: [The five of us will be together forever!]

The comments were already piling up.

[I’m so jealous. I want four hot guys protecting me too.]

[She really replaced the childhood bestie huh. Queen energy.]

I laughed under my breath and liked every single photo.

Then the old group chat lit up, the one with the six of us that had been dead for weeks.

[Elena was just posting whatever she felt like. You’re the one who didn’t show up.]

[Don’t be mad. We didn’t leave you out on purpose.]

[Elena just needs people around her. Don’t take it out on her, okay?]

I muted the chat.

Elder Holloway and the council were already waiting. I signed everything.

A flash of sadness crossed Elder Holloway’s eyes, but his voice stayed steady.

“You’ll always be one of ours. If the human world ever turns on you, Obsidian Pack’s doors are open. But… we always thought you’d be Kael’s Luna.”

I managed a smile. “So did I.”

I was the first of the five of us to leave.

The pack meeting started that evening. Kael and the others walked in with Elena in the center, flanked on all sides like she was royalty.

That’s when it hit me. Elena wasn’t just accepted. She was popular. The other girls were already swarming her.

“You know our pack has a pick-me girl, right?” One of the women laughed, sharp and mean.

The rest of them snickered like they’d been waiting for this. “Who else? Lillian. She’s always hanging around the future Alpha, the Beta, the Gamma, all of them. Everyone says she’s been shopping for a mate from that group since day one.”

Someone let out a dramatic sigh. “No wonder she thinks she’s above the rest of us. She’s the precious white wolf, after all.”

I stared them down.

I had never acted like I was better than anyone. My friends had always told me I didn’t need anyone else, that having them was enough.

After Elena came along, she’d pout every time I talked to the other girls. “You’ve got me as your best friend. Ignore them!”

I had mistaken their possessiveness for loyalty.

Elena gave them a syrupy smile. “That’s just how Lillian is. Try to be patient with her.”

“That’s hilarious. Why should we?”

“She’s got some nerve.”

They all laughed.

“She grew up glued to a bunch of guys and thinks she’s some kind of princess, but she doesn’t exactly have the life to match. Now she’s a rogue out in the human world. She won’t even get the chance to throw herself at them anymore.”

My four childhood friends were right there.

Kael, Ronan, Julian Thorne, Mason Calder. Not one of them said a word. They acted like they couldn’t hear any of it.

They just stood off to the side, glasses in hand, and let it happen.

I hurled my champagne glass at the stone floor. It shattered, and champagne sprayed the girls nearest to me.

Someone shrieked. “Who did that?!”

I folded my arms. “I did.”

I didn’t raise my voice. I didn’t have to. The whole hall went quiet.

Every girl who’d been running her mouth a second ago shut up fast. Their faces went pale when they looked at me.

I looked at Elena first. Then at the four of them, standing right there, doing nothing.

“A princess complex? Throwing myself at you? Name one time. One time I ever did any of that.”