Chapter 1

Every word Rhett had written cut into my heart like a dull knife.

Asterfall Academy had the best territorial planning program on the continent.

Rhett and I had trained together for twelve years. We had prepared our applications side by side, planning to leave Northwood for three years of study.

Now he had changed his choice without telling me.

Someone in the channel asked: [What if Avery doesn't log into your account? The final selection locks tomorrow at midnight.] Rhett answered almost immediately.

[Impossible. Since applications opened, she's checked everything several times a day. She's more serious about it than the academy instructors.] The others began teasing him, saying that no one understood his future mate better than he did.

After a while, someone else ventured a question. [But Asterfall's territorial planning program is the best fit for Avery. She's worked toward that admission for years. Shouldn't you at least discuss it with her?]

The channel fell silent for a moment. Rhett sounded displeased when he replied. [What's there to discuss? She'll stay in Northwood and become my Luna one day. Where she studies isn't that important.] [Besides, her wolf can't stand being separated from me. Once, we spent a single day apart and she dropped everything to find me. Students outside the territory can only return once every three months. She wouldn't last.]

He spoke as though it were obvious, as if all my work, my ambitions, and my future mattered less than remaining beside him.

Someone tried once more. [You changed your plans without warning. You should at least tell her why.]

Rhett's reply was impatient. [Blaire's old pack has dissolved. She'll be alone in Northwood without any family to rely on. Avery is different. She has everything, and she's always understood me better than anyone.] [If she finds out I stayed because of Blaire, she'll start overthinking again. I'd rather let her discover it herself than waste time calming her down. She'll choose me in the end anyway.]

The channel came alive again. Some agreed that Blaire needed Rhett's help more than I did. Others joked that attractive she-wolves had never been in short supply around him.

I stopped reading.

He hadn't asked what I wanted. He had simply assumed my answer.

I closed the senior channel and lay on my bed, staring at the ceiling.

On the nights when we thought we could not continue, we would spread a map of the continent across the floor and draw a line from Northwood to Asterfall. We promised that one day we would cross the territorial border together and see a larger world. When our preliminary admissions arrived, Rhett had lifted me off the ground and spun me around. That night, before the statue of the Moon Goddess, he had held my hand and promised that after we finished our studies, we would complete our mating ceremony.

That future had been close enough to touch. Yet for another woman, he had quietly erased me from it.

The tears came despite my efforts to hold them back. I did not call Rhett, and I did not enter the channel to demand an explanation. I simply wrapped my arms around myself and let the delayed pain move through me in silence.

Rhett had been wrong about one thing.

His wolf was the one that struggled when we were apart. He used to call after lights-out and ask me to stay on the line until he fell asleep.

I never teased him about it. I rearranged my training sessions so we could spend more time together.

Somewhere along the way, he had mistaken my kindness for an inability to live without him.

I wiped away my tears and opened my application.

Asterfall Academy was still my saved choice.

[External Territory Travel Application: Awaiting Final Admission]

I left it unchanged and closed the portal.