Wrong Way, Wrong Mate Chapter 04

The next evening is Lunaris Academy’s anniversary gala, and I’m packing my things in my dorm room.

Suddenly, Lacey calls me, her voice frantic.

“Willow, you need to come to the old academic building right now!”

“Paxton collapsed from low blood sugar, and I can’t support him on my own!”

I hesitate, wondering if this is another one of their stupid pranks.

But the moment I hear the words Paxton collapsed, my feet move before my brain can catch up.

I run all the way to the abandoned academic building.

The hallway is pitch-black, with no lights working.

I’ve barely stepped onto the second-floor staircase when the metal door behind me slams shut with a deafening bang.

Someone has locked it from the outside.

A second later, the signal bars on my phone disappear.

Then Lacey’s cheerful laughter crackles through the old, broken speakers overhead.

“Ta-da! Willow’s sense-of-direction challenge officially begins!”

“If you can find the exit within thirty minutes, we’ll apologize to you!”

At the same time, an abandoned security monitor at the end of the hallway flickers to life, displaying a livestream.

The title reads: [Straight-A Student with Zero Sense of Direction Tries to Escape Abandoned Building.]

Thousands of students have already flooded into the livestream to watch the show.

I stand in the darkness as the blood slowly drains from my face, a chill spreading through my entire body.

When I was little, I once got lost and ended up locked inside a fire escape at our pack hall. It left me with a deep-seated fear that still makes me tremble whenever I think about it.

Paxton, Zane, and Nathan all know what happened.

Paxton’s amused voice comes through the speakers.

“She’s not that much of a coward. She survived spending half the night crouched beside a trash can when she was little.”

Zane laughs along with him at first.

But when he sees me on the security monitor, pressed against the wall and breathing faster by the second, his laughter gradually dies away.

Nathan frowns, too. “Isn’t this going a little too far? She actually looks scared.”

Lacey immediately puts on a wounded, pleading tone.

“I just want Willow to hang out with us again. She’s been ignoring me lately.”

“Besides, we’re all watching her from outside. What could possibly happen?”

Paxton softens a little.

“Fine. Let’s wait another five minutes, then open the door.”

I can’t hear anything happening outside. All I know is that the darkness is closing in around me like a rising tide.

Feeling my way along the wall, I start down the stairs. Suddenly, my foot misses a step, and I tumble down the remaining flight.

My knee slams against the concrete steps. When I catch myself with my hands, my palm lands on broken glass, slicing it open in a long, deep gash.

Blood gushes from the wound. The pain is sharp and immediate.

My wolf still hasn’t fully recovered from the fever I had last time, and the wound refuses to heal.

But I don’t cry. I don’t call out their names.

Instead, I raise my phone and search for a signal. When I finally find one weak bar, I call campus security.

By the time the guards force the door open with their tools, the livestream is still running.

Everyone watching sees me emerge from the darkness, my hands covered in blood and my face deathly pale.

The mocking comments in the chat instantly turn to shock.

Paxton panics and rushes toward me, reaching out to support me.

“Willow, I didn’t mean for this to happen…”

Zane freezes in place, the smile completely gone from his face.

Nathan looks just as pale, his voice trembling.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t know you’d be this scared…”

I step away from their outstretched hands and look at them calmly.

“Is this how you show me you care?”

I don’t scream. I don’t lash out or accuse them of anything.

I simply turn around and walk toward the campus health center, limping with blood dripping from my hand.

The wolf doctor gives me three stitches and asks sympathetically, “Would you like us to contact your family to come pick you up?”

I shake my head.

They’d only think I was ruining everyone’s fun.

That night, when I return to my dorm, I open my drawer and take out my passport, with my student visa tucked inside.

Maybe some part of me has always been preparing for a way out.

I open my laptop, pull up the email, and click Confirm Enrollment without hesitation.

Then I book a flight to the Lycan Realm departing in three hours.

I also draft a formal withdrawal application and statement explaining the circumstances, scheduling it to be emailed to my academic advisor at eight the next morning.

Before leaving, I put the white dress Lacey returned to me, still stained with mud that wouldn’t wash out, into a paper bag.

I write the delivery address on it: [Darkhowl Pack.]

Then I leave the bag outside my dorm room and schedule a courier pickup.

At dawn the next morning, without telling anyone, I drag my suitcases to the airport and board my flight overseas.

…

That afternoon, backstage at the Lunaris Academy auditorium, Paxton paces anxiously with a bouquet of flowers meant as an apology.

“Why isn’t Willow answering her phone? She needed three stitches last night. How bad is it?”

“What if she doesn’t show up for the apology ceremony?”

Nathan stares at his phone, his brows drawn tightly together.

At three in the morning, he sent me a message: [Stop making a big deal out of this. We’ll apologize to you in front of the entire school tomorrow.]

He still hasn’t received a reply.

Zane leans against the wall, looking uneasy. Even so, he mutters under his breath, “She wouldn’t actually leave over something this trivial, would she?”

Lacey touches up her makeup in front of the vanity mirror, looking utterly unconcerned.

“She’s just being dramatic and deliberately making us wait.”

“Once we apologize to her in front of the entire school, she’ll be so moved she’ll probably cry.”

Just then, Nathan’s Beta, Luke, hurries backstage, looking uncomfortable.

“Um… Alpha Nathan, we need to cancel the apology segment you prepared.”

Nathan freezes. “Why?”

“Willow has submitted a unilateral withdrawal application.”

“She left.”