Chapter 3
After the sudden breakup, I couldn’t resist checking up on Brandon Nichols through all his social media accounts. I was desperately searching for any signs that he still cared for me, but found nothing. I kept scrolling until I stumbled upon a short video he posted and tagged me in. In the video, he was standing under the clear sky, his hand intertwined with Gracelynn’s. When I clicked on it, I heard Linda Bryant, Brandon’s mother and a respected Luna, say in the background: “Perfect pair! Get closer!”
The relationship seemed so public, so blessed in a way I had never experienced. The caption read: “Stop lurking in the shadows and spying on others’ happiness.” I didn’t shed a single tear. As I awkwardly tried to erase Brandon from my life, my fingers trembled so much that I missed the “unfollow” button several times.
Upon hearing of the breakup, my mom, Juniper Duncan, our pack’s healer, reignited her wish for me to move back home. “Now that you’ve severed the mate bond, what’s keeping you in that pack’s territory?” she asked, her voice tinged with concern.
My aunt, Amaia Taylor, a Delta in our pack, chimed in, “Hurry back already. I lined up a few great potential mates for you, but they all thought your age was a bit… off.”
As always, I declined. The only difference now was that Brandon Nichols was no longer part of my reasons.
I’d spent six years as a Gamma in the Silverfang Pack, rising through the ranks with dedication and skill. My experience and leadership had reached their peak value here. Yet, being unmated had always been a barrier to further promotion. After the breakup, I immersed myself in pack duties, practically living at the packhouse for quite a while. By the end of the year, our warriors’ training and defense strategies were the best they’d ever been.
But in the end, although I received compliments and hollow promises, the promotion to Beta went to Chandler Gilbert, a colleague who had recently found his mate.
In our pack’s mind link group, Chandler announced he was treating everyone to a pack hunt. The responses were filled with gratitude and a few jokes about him being our “sugar daddy.”
I stood on the packhouse balcony, looking out over the sprawling territory. The towering pines stretched endlessly, and the faint howls of our patrols echoed in the distance. The faces around me had changed over time, each one somewhat similar to mine, yet different. Perhaps it was time to switch things up in my life.
That very day, I handed in my resignation as Gamma. Years later, I still remember that moment, a decisive point in an otherwise ordinary day. Life’s big decisions often happen when everything feels unexpectedly calm. My wolf stirred faintly in the back of my mind, a quiet reminder that something new was on the horizon.
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