Chapter 3

As the dizziness dragged on, my thoughts slipped beyond my control and returned to the past.

During sophomore year, Adrian held a solo photography exhibition. I spent three days running between campus, print shops, and the gallery, checking every photograph, frame, light, and description card.

By the time we finished, I could barely speak.

But on the day of the exhibition, Evan was the one standing beside Adrian at the main display while a professor praised them.

The professor said one handled the photography while the other managed drones and wilderness routes, making them the most compatible Alpha-and-Beta partnership he had ever seen.

Adrian smiled.

“We’ve been the best team since we were pups.”

I stood in the corner of the gallery holding a stack of empty boxes I had just collected.

He never once looked at me.

The following summer, Adrian and Evan planned a documentary about pack borders. I spent two weeks researching their route, buying medical supplies, renting equipment, and applying for territorial clearance.

On the morning they left, Adrian finally told me there was no room for me in the car. He said the filming equipment took up too much space and bringing me would be inconvenient.

I stood outside my dorm with my packed bag on my shoulder for a long time after they drove away.

Later, Evan posted a photograph on Instagram.

[Best partners. Always on the road.]

He was sitting in the passenger seat. Adrian had one hand on the wheel, sunlight falling across his handsome profile.

I had known that face since childhood. Yet in that picture, he looked like a stranger.

After Sienna returned, moments like that became more frequent. Adrian and Evan took her to parties, filmed with her, and showed her the nearby pack territories.

Once, someone from the photography club asked Adrian, “Why didn’t your girlfriend come?”

He answered carelessly, “Nora doesn’t like these events. She doesn’t know how to relax. If she came, she’d just stand in a corner and remind us when it was time to leave.”

Sienna laughed beside him.

“Then it’s better not to invite her. Otherwise no one will be able to enjoy themselves.”

That night, I stood outside holding Adrian’s recovery drink and the documents he needed for Alpha training.

I did not go inside.

I only sent him a message saying something had come up at the studio.

He never asked what it was.

Taken alone, none of it seemed serious. An exhibition that erased me. A canceled trip. A careless comment. One more seat never saved for me.

But when they piled up one after another, they became a weight on my chest, heavy enough to make breathing difficult.

The 4Runner finally pulled into a rest stop.

Adrian parked and looked back at me.

“Be quick. We still have to reach Monument Valley before sunset.”

I nodded. “I’m getting medicine. I’ll be right back.”

The rest stop was crowded. The convenience store was at the far end, and the checkout line stretched past the shelves. I bought sensory-calming tablets and water.

By the time I stepped outside, the sky had begun to darken. I opened the water, swallowed the medicine, and pulled my suitcase toward the parking lot.

The place where the 4Runner had been parked was empty.

I stopped.

Thinking I had remembered the wrong spot, I searched row after row of unfamiliar cars, trucks, and RVs.

Adrian’s white 4Runner was nowhere in sight.

My wolf paced inside me. I moved back beneath the lights by the store entrance and opened the map.

I checked the nearest airport and saved the directions. Then I sent my mother my location.

I was looking at transport options when Adrian finally called.

Adrian’s voice came through the receiver.

“Nora, where are you?”

I tightened my grip on the phone.

“I’m still at the rest stop. I told you I was going to buy medicine.”

His tone immediately hardened.

“Then why didn’t you get back in the car?”

For a moment, I could not understand the question.

“Didn’t any of you notice I wasn’t there before you drove away?”

The line went quiet.

Then Evan spoke. “The equipment was blocking the third row. I thought you had gotten back in and fallen asleep.”

Sienna added, “I thought she came back ages ago. Who takes that long to buy medicine?”

Evan seemed to check the navigation.

“We’re already more than twenty miles away.”

Sienna answered immediately. “If we turn around now, we’ll miss the sunset. The clouds are about to clear. This could be the best light we get all week.”

Adrian lowered his voice.

“Nora, don’t make this more serious than it is. We’re already on the interstate, and the nearest place to turn around is miles away. See if you can get a ride to the next exit and meet us there.”

I looked through the glass at the people waiting in line. I could stay here while I arranged a ride.

“Adrian, I can find transportation,” I said. “But you drove off without me while I was buying medicine. I want you to come back.”

Sienna started to speak.

“I’m asking Adrian.”

The other end of the line was silent for a long time.

I thought he would at least hesitate. There had been a time when his wolf became restless if I walked alone after dark.

But when he finally spoke, he sounded even more impatient.

“Can you stop phrasing it like that? We didn’t leave you on purpose. You’re an adult wolf, and you’re at a public rest stop, not some deserted borderland. Are you really saying you can’t figure out how to catch up with us without me?”