Seventy-Two Hours to Leave Them Forever

The night of my coming-of-age ceremony, Elodie asked us to sit around the bonfire and talk.

Elodie was my adoptive parents' real daughter. They had brought her home three months ago.

She smiled at me across the fire. "Wren, which academy are you choosing?"

Before I could answer, the four boys I grew up with spoke first.

One by one, they held up acceptance receipts. All four said Silverhaven.

Silverhaven studied silver resistance, three thousand two hundred miles from our pack. I had refused it twice because I couldn't leave them.

Then Ronan Vale, our future Alpha, slid my enrollment form toward me.

"The elders said yes. Come with us, Wren. After graduation, you'll be my Luna."

I had loved him half my life. I signed.

Two days later, I went to find them with my enrollment letter in my hand. Their door wasn't fully shut.

"She signed?"

"Four fake receipts, and she's off our territory."

"Elodie finally gets her place."

"Ronan's got it worst. He has to play boyfriend until she leaves."

All four were staying. Only I was being sent away.

When Elodie came home, I'd thought about moving out. They swore nothing between us would change.

I let myself believe it.

What they didn't know was that I'd been offered early intake. The moment I crossed into Silverhaven territory, my bond to this pack would dissolve, and no one here could reach me again.

They had worked so hard to clear a space for Elodie.

They had no idea how empty it was about to become.

...

I pushed the door open.

The laughter stopped.

Four boys and Elodie froze, glasses in their hands. They were celebrating Greywater, the academy they had really chosen, right here at home.

Ronan recovered first.

He set his glass down. "You heard it. Fine. I won't lie to you."

"Elodie's wolf still can't hold her shape for more than an hour. Silverhaven runs silver labs on every floor. She'd be sick in a week."

He looked at me. "You've been wearing moonsilver since you were six. You'll be fine anywhere."

Elodie grabbed his sleeve, her eyes already red.

I didn't cry. I looked at the four of them.

"The Silverhaven application receipts you showed me at the fire. Whose idea?"

"Mine," Everett said. He pushed up his glasses. "Their forms are public. Easy to copy."

"And the elders' permission?"

Ronan didn't look away. "I never asked them. A future Alpha can't leave his pack for four years. You knew that."

I did know that.

I had believed him anyway, because I wanted to.

"And the bonfire talk?"

Elodie's eyes flickered.

Knox stepped in front of her at once. "We planned it together. Don't take it out on her."

I turned back to Ronan.

"The luna promise. Was that part of the plan too?"

His jaw moved. "You never wanted long distance."

"If I didn't say it, you wouldn't have signed."

There was no guilt in his voice.

Elodie suddenly reached for the phone in Felix's hand.

"This is all my fault. I'll withdraw from Greywater Academy right now. I'll go to Silverhaven with Wren, and you four can stay."

All four of them closed in around her.

Felix lifted the phone out of her reach. "Your acceptance came this morning. Don't throw it away."

"But what about Wren?" Her shoulders shook. "She'll be all alone, so far away. She'll be so sad."

Ronan pulled a tissue from the table and wiped her face.

"She's always been fine on her own. Your wolf isn't stable yet. Don't gamble your health over guilt."

I watched them comfort her.

Everett spoke calmly.

"Wren, the method wasn't pretty. But look at the outcome. You get the program you've wanted since you were twelve. We stay here with Elodie. Nobody loses anything."

I smiled. "So I should thank you?"

Knox heard the edge in my voice. His face darkened.

"You wanted to go. Professor Hart called you, what, five times? You never really said no. We just helped you decide."

He was right. I did want to go.

It started the day Ronan's father came home from overseas and put five moonsilver pendants into our hands. I was six. I held mine for an hour and kept asking why this silver didn't burn.

I had been asking ever since.

Professor Hart offered me a seat twice. I turned her down twice.

I had even planned to give up the research for good, just so the five of us wouldn't split.

Now he was the one sending me those three thousand two hundred miles.

None of that was worth saying now.

I folded my enrollment letter and turned to go.

Ronan caught my wrist. "Where are you going?"

"Home."

"And us?"

I looked at him. "What us?"

His face went stiff. "Wren. Don't say things you'll regret."

"The luna thing was to get you to sign. But it wasn't all fake. I'll be with you until you leave. I'll come visit when I can."

"You wanted me. I gave you that, didn't I?"

So in his eyes, two months of pretending was a gift.

Elodie said softly, "Wren, he really does care. Last night, when you fell asleep by the fire, he put his jacket over you."

I almost laughed.

He tricked me into a contract I could never take back. Then he gave me his jacket.

By that math, I came out ahead.

"Then you'd better stay together forever."

I unhooked the pendant from my neck. A thin moonsilver crescent. One of only five.

The day we got them, the five of us knelt in front of the Moon Goddess shrine and swore to stay friends for life. We were children. We meant every word.

I put it in Elodie's palm.

"You always wanted our childhood. Take this too."

Ronan's frown deepened. "What's wrong with you today?"

"You always said the five of us would never split up."

"That was before."

I walked out. Nobody followed me.

Through the window, I saw Ronan take the pendant from Elodie's hand and fasten it around her neck himself.

She touched it and smiled.

My phone buzzed. It was Professor Hart.

[Transport departs in seventy-two hours. Do you confirm early intake?]

The moment I crossed into Silverhaven territory, my bond to this pack would dissolve. No one here could ever reach me again.

I tapped Confirm.

Then I opened the group chat the five of us had kept since we were eleven, and muted it.

They thought this was just another fight. That I'd sulk for a few days, cry once, and come back to them like I always did.

Every time before, I had.

This time, I wasn't coming back.