Your ‘Bro’ in Our Ritual? I Reject You. Chapter 03

Your ‘Bro’ in Our Ritual? I Reject You. Chapter 03

“Wipe your tears. You’ll be on stage soon—didn’t you say you wanted to take pretty pictures?”

After a long moment, the line finally went quiet.

Archie’s voice came back clear, dripping with impatience.

“Alright, hurry up and apologize in the group. Why are you throwing a tantrum at a time like this? I don’t have the patience to coax you now.”

Thinking back to what I just said, he let out a scoff. “Besides, could you really bring yourself to call it off?”

Ten years together. He didn’t believe that I would actually leave.

I hung up, shifted to the side, and rolled down the window.

I let the wind rush into the car, wildly ruining the hair and makeup that had taken hours to finish.

The driver, who had been afraid of angering Alpha by helping me leave, finally spoke up.

“Luna Olivia, I think you’re making the right choice. Alpha clearly doesn’t cherish you.”

“I’m just an ordinary werewolf from the lower ranks, but when I had my mating ceremony, I carried my mate on my back the entire time because I couldn’t bear to let her feet touch the dirt.”

Carried her?

My inner wolf clawed at my heart, a bitter ache swelling in my chest.

Archie used to carry me, too.

During that blizzard years ago, I suffered a sudden outbreak of wolfsbane fever after overtraining the day before, and an avalanche blocked the ambulances.

It was Archie who carried me on his back through twenty miles of snow to the pack hospital.

To this day, I still remembered the scorching heat of his back and how frantic his breathing was from worrying about me.

Now, he was so much of a stranger that I couldn’t even recognize him.

Maybe he changed the moment Caroline came back.

The first time he’d shattered our hand-painted couple mugs in a rage over her.

The first time he’d abandoned me on a rain-slicked highway past midnight to pick her up.

The first time he’d skipped my surgery to ride roller coasters with her at an amusement park.

Ever since Caroline announced she was against bond, Archie seemed to have found the perfect excuse to shower her with blatant favor.

Countless firsts, countless times I swallowed my pain, adding up until it became this.

When I left the group chat, Archie sent a question mark.

Nothing followed after that.

In his eyes, this was just me throwing another little tantrum.

He thought it wouldn’t take long before I came crawling back to apologize.

But this time, I was truly exhausted.

Under the hotel receptionist’s barely concealed stare, I dragged my heavy gown back to the room.

I wiped off the makeup and peeled off the Luna gown.

Collapsing onto the bed, I stared at the stark white ceiling, feeling dazed.

How did it end up like this all of a sudden?

Just last night, in this exact bed, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep.

When I unlocked my phone, a post from Caroline popped up.

[Just putting this out there so no one gets the wrong idea. It’s strictly a mating ceremony experience! It’s completely Platonic between Archie and me, okay?]

Attached was a video of the entrance for the mating ceremony.

Like a sadist, I clicked it open.

I watched Caroline wearing the Luna gown, walking gracefully toward Archie to the applause of high-ranking pack members.

In front of the officiant, they swore never to part until death did them part.

They exchanged rings and intertwined their fingers.

As I watched, a bitter laugh escaped my lips.

They did everything except kiss.

And yet they expected me to believe nothing happened between them.