The Pack Left Me Behind, So I Claimed My Future Chapter 01

The Pack Left Me Behind, So I Claimed My Future Chapter 01

At Blackwood Pack’s eighty-second Pack Council session, I was shut out as usual.

When the door opened, my mother, the Luna, did not even look up. She was busy helping Nerys Blackwood decide which program to apply to at the Royal Werewolf Academy.

“We’re busy. Whatever it is can wait until the meeting is over.”

My father, the Alpha, and my brother, Evander Blackwood, were huddled together discussing pack business. Neither of them spared me a glance.

“Today’s meeting is mainly about Evander and Nerys. Stay out of it.”

It had always been this way. My parents made the decisions, Evander organized everything as the future Alpha, and Nerys took the minutes.

Dad favored his eldest son, and Mom doted on her youngest daughter. No one remembered me, the middle child caught between the future Alpha and the family’s cherished youngest.

I held out the participation agreement.

“This is for the Royal Werewolf Academy’s Northern Frontier Wildlands Survey. I’ll be based in the Northern Frontier for two years. Professor Helena wanted me to discuss it with you first.”

I kept holding out the agreement until my arm ached, but not one of them responded. As always, all four of them acted as though I had not spoken.

I left the Pack Council chamber and closed the door behind me.

There were four people, four chairs, and a family of four. There was no place for me.

It was time I took the hint, stepped away, and took charge of my own life.

…

When the Pack Council session ended, the four of them emerged from the chamber, talking and laughing together.

Dad settled onto the couch to watch the news. Mom went to the kitchen to make dinner, Evander returned to his room, and Nerys went back to drawing.

No one noticed me, and no one asked what I had tried to tell them.

Mom leaned out of the kitchen.

“Nerys, what would you like for dinner? I’ll make it for you.”

Nerys thought for a moment.

“I want the flame-grilled venison we had at Moonlake Restaurant last time.”

They had all gone out together that day because Nerys had passed her coming-of-age trial, and they wanted to celebrate. I was not there—not because I had not wanted to go, but because no one had told me.

Mom asked Dad and Evander what they wanted, but she never asked me. It was not deliberate—she had genuinely forgotten I was there. Leaving me out had become a habit.

The rectangular dining table seated two people on each long side, exactly enough for their family of four. My chair at the end looked awkward and unnecessary.

There were four dishes on the table, and every one of them was someone else’s favorite.

A stack of plates and a bundle of forks sat in the center of the table. Mom handed a plate and fork to each of the other four in turn, leaving the last set sitting there by itself.

I got up, took the last plate and fork, and heaped my plate with pasta. Mom gave me a rare glance, but her eyes swept past me almost immediately.

“Maeve, why do you always eat so much? Look at Nerys. She barely eats anything. A young woman should watch her figure.”

I had learned to fill up on starches. At every meal, there were four dishes, one favorite for each of them. No matter which one I touched, I felt as though I were stealing someone else’s food.

I kept my head down and ate my pasta without saying a word. I silently reminded myself to take only half as much next time.

Evander picked up a crab.

“Doesn’t it look just like that thing?”

The other four looked at the crab and burst out laughing together.

I was the only one who sat there blankly, shut out by a joke only their family understood.

Nerys opened a bottle of cold milk, but Mom stopped her before she could drink it.

“Your period is due soon, and cold milk always upsets your stomach around then. Give it to Maeve.”

She always knew exactly when Nerys’s period was due, yet she could not remember that milk made me throw up. She could not even remember that I was already on my period.

I did not take the milk Nerys offered me. After swallowing my last bite of food, I carried my plate and fork into the kitchen to wash them.

A few seconds of silence passed before Dad reassured Nerys.

“Don’t mind her, Nerys. Maeve Blackwood has kept to herself since she was little. Who knows what goes through her head all day?”

They addressed my sister as Nerys and my brother as Evander. I was the only one they ever called by my full name.

I returned to my partitioned alcove off the common room, pulled out the Northern Frontier participation agreement, and signed my name.

My hand moved quickly and steadily, without the slightest hesitation.

My phone chimed with a message from my faculty adviser.

Professor Helena: [Have you talked it over with your parents? This opportunity is incredibly rare. The Academy had only one slot, and it went to you. Make the most of it.]

My fingers moved quickly across the screen.

Me: [I will.]

This was no ordinary Northern Frontier survey. It was the first step toward leaving that home and building a life of my own.