My Four Childhood Friends Abandoned Me for My Best Friend Chapter 06

My Four Childhood Friends Abandoned Me for My Best Friend Chapter 06

He stood outside my parents‘ house, staring at the laurel tree in the yard.

Kael remembered that tree. Just days ago, Lillian had told him she loved him under it.

At the time, all he’d been thinking about was how to get her to leave for the human world.

Now he stopped in front of it and caught a leaf drifting down.

Something ached low and steady inside him.

He’d imagined their future a thousand times since they were kids. They’d grow up, attend the same academy, and go from childhood friends to fated mates.

When did that change? When did he start seeing Lillian as difficult, moody, and antisocial, and Elena as sweet, fragile, and loved by everyone?

Over the past year, Lillian had been buried in training and looking after Elena. She’d had less and

less time for them.

He’d told himself that if he took that weight off her shoulders, her life would be easier.

What happened instead?

Elena had wrapped herself around them like she couldn’t survive on her own.

She made them feel needed, in a way Lillian, with all her strength, had never asked them to be.

Bit by bit, they’d leaned toward her. And pushed Lillian out.

“Kael! Why are you standing there like an idiot?”

Ronan, Mason, and Julian were walking up the path.

“What are you guys doing here?”

“My parents told me to come apologize to Lillian.”

Ronan couldn’t meet his eyes.

“Lillian’s already gone. She left for the human world.”

Mason sighed.

“We went too far. I think she’s actually done with us this time.”

A heavy silence fell over them.

“I took the figurines back from Elena. I’ll get her something else. Those meant something to Lillian. I shouldn’t have given them away.”

Ronan pulled the four ceramic wolves out of his bag.

The front door swung open. Lillian’s mom stood in the doorway.

She looked furious. Arms folded, blocking the entrance.

“Well, look at this. All four boys who bullied my daughter, right here at my door. How touching.”

“Ms. Ashbourne, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to…”

“You did a lot more than hurt her!”

She stepped forward.

“Lillian told me everything. You lied to her. Told her you were all going to the human world. And you, Kael, you used the fact that she loved you. You knew she’d never do long distance, so you strung her along!”

She wasn’t finished.

“You let other people bully her. Those girls were spreading rumors that she was shopping for a mate out of your group, and everyone froze her out. You sided with her so–called best friend and stood there while the rumors got worse and worse.”

“You think showing up and saying sorry fixes this? Keep your apologies. We don’t want them.”

The door slammed shut. The doorframe rattled violently.

The four of them stood frozen.

Ronan held the ceramic wolves tightly and said nothing.

He’d taken Lillian’s things to make Elena happy. He’d pushed aside someone he’d grown up with,

for an outsider.

“Let’s go.”

Kael’s voice was hollow.

“We’re getting all of Lillian’s things back.”

“Isn’t that kind of harsh on Elena?”

Julian hesitated.

“Harsh?”

“Those things were never hers.”

Kael’s voice was ice–cold.

“Julian, Ronan, go talk to the girls who attacked Lillian. Find out what really happened with the

rumors and the isolation.”

“I think everything Elena said in front of us was meant to drive a wedge between us.”

They nodded.

Kael and Mason headed for the Silverpine City penthouse to move Elena’s things out.

They’d been so sure Lillian would cave that they’d moved Elena’s things into the bedroom before asking her.

“Lillian’s going to kill us when she finds out.”

Mason gave a hollow laugh.

“If she kills us, at least it means she still cares.”

“What scares me is that she might not even care enough to be angry.”

Kael’s fists clenched.

In the Silverpine City bedroom, they found the pendant and the letter.

Lillian’s name was still engraved on it. Without thinking, they reached for their own necks.

Then it hit them. All four of them had taken theirs off. Because Elena was too sensitive, too fragile,

to see them wearing something she didn’t have.

Now Lillian had removed hers too.

The pack bond between the five of them had once felt unbreakable. It took so little to shatter it.

No. Their loyalty had been too weak to survive even one test.

Lillian had always been honest, independent, and direct.

That was what they’d loved about her since they were kids.

And in the end, they’d traded all of it for Elena’s helpless act.