The Fifth Wolf They Erased

Audrey’s POV

The door opened behind me.

Logan, Blake, Owen, and Cole stopped in the doorway with Chloe. They were carrying champagne to celebrate their acceptance to Mooncrest.

I took out my phone and photographed every message on the screen.

Logan recovered first.

As the current Alpha’s son and Blood Moon’s designated heir, he was used to deciding things for everyone.

“You’ve seen it. There’s no point lying now.”

He looked at me without a trace of guilt.

“Chloe only just came back to Blood Moon. After everything she went through out there, her health still isn’t good. She wouldn’t last in the northern climate.”

“You’re different. You’ve always been able to take care of yourself.”

Chloe clutched his sleeve, her eyes filling with tears.

I ignored her and pointed to the projection.

“Who made the four fake Northwatch applications?”

“I did,” Logan said without hesitation.

“And whose idea was Truth or Dare?”

Chloe’s eyes reddened. Blake, our future Beta, immediately stepped in front of her.

“We all agreed to it. Don’t look at Chloe like that.”

I nodded, then turned back to Logan.

“Last night, when you promised to mark me once we got north—was that part of the plan, too?”

He swallowed and looked away.

“You said you wouldn’t choose a mate who left you alone in another territory.”

“If I hadn’t promised to go to Northwatch with you, you wouldn’t have signed.”

He knew how I felt about him.

And he knew exactly how to use it to get what they wanted.

Chloe suddenly reached for Owen’s phone.

“This is all my fault. I’ll call the academy right now.”

“I’ll go to Northwatch with Audrey. The rest of you can stay here.”

All four immediately gathered around her.

Cole, who was training to become the pack’s Delta and lead its tracking and combat operations, snatched the phone away.

“Mooncrest has already sent the acceptance letters. What good would calling do now?”

“But what about Audrey?”

Chloe’s shoulders shook as she cried.

“She’ll be all alone, so far away. She’ll be miserable.”

Logan took a tissue and wiped her tears.

“She can take care of herself.”

“You’ve barely settled back into the pack. Don’t throw away your future because you’re upset.”

I stood a few feet away, watching them comfort her.

I had my answer.

They couldn’t bear to send Chloe north.

But they had no problem lying to send me there.

Owen, our future Gamma, adjusted his glasses. He sounded as though he were reviewing a strategy report.

“Audrey, we should have been more honest about how we handled it. But the outcome benefits everyone.”

“Northwatch is a top academy, too. With your grades, you’ll do well in any field. You’ll be there for school. You can still come back to Blood Moon during the holidays.”

“We stay here with Chloe. Nobody’s future suffers.”

“Except I didn’t get a choice.”

The room fell silent.

Blake’s expression darkened.

“You wanted Northwatch anyway. Their faculty contacted you twice. Every time you turned them down, you couldn’t quite let it go.”

“We just helped you make the decision.”

“Wanting to go isn’t the same as being tricked into signing an agreement by the people I trust most.”

“You weren’t helping me choose. You were making sure my choice worked best for Chloe.”

Blake opened his mouth, then closed it.

I had wanted Northwatch.

My father was Blood Moon’s chief wolf core researcher. I’d grown up in his laboratory, and the work being done at Northwatch was what I’d dreamed of pursuing for most of my life.

But I hadn’t wanted to leave them.

So I’d turned Northwatch down twice.

I had even considered giving up the research program I wanted most so I could stay here and attend Mooncrest with them.

I had almost given up my own future for four people who didn’t care what I wanted.

I turned to leave.

Logan moved to block my path.

“Where are you going?”

“Home.”

“What about us?”

I looked at him.

“What about us?”

His expression stiffened.

“Audrey, don’t say things just because you’re angry.”

“I admit I promised to mark you up north so you’d sign. That doesn’t mean my feelings for you are fake.”

He frowned, as though he were offering me more than enough to make up for what he’d done.

“We can keep dating until classes start. After that, I’ll visit Northwatch when I have time.”

“You’ve always wanted to be with me. Now I’ve agreed. What else do you want?”

Apparently, two months of pretending to love me was supposed to make up for the entire deception.

Chloe spoke softly.

“Audrey, Logan really does care about you.”

“Last night, after you fell asleep on the couch, he put a blanket over you.”

I almost laughed.

He’d tricked me into signing an agreement, then covered me with a blanket.

Put that way, I supposed I should feel lucky.

“Then I hope you all stay together forever.”

I took off my moonstone pendant and set it in front of Chloe.

Five wolf pups were carved into it, running side by side. We’d had it made after our first shift together when we were ten.

“You’ve always said you wished you’d been part of our childhood.”

“You can have this, too.”

Chloe hesitated before picking it up.

Logan’s frown deepened.

“What is wrong with you today?”

“You’re always saying the five of us will never be apart.”

“I used to.”

I stepped around him and headed for the door.

My phone vibrated in my pocket.

[Northwatch transport will arrive in Blood Moon territory in forty-eight hours.]

[Confirming early entry into the five-year classified research program will also initiate your pack transfer. Upon completion, all mind-links connecting you to your former pack will be severed.]

[Confirm?]

Northwatch was more than an academy for werewolves.

Its Department of Wolf Core Research operated a classified research base. Ordinary students attended classes and went home for the holidays.

Program members had to transfer to the Northwatch Pack. For five years, they could neither change programs nor withdraw.

Logan and the others had forged ordinary academy applications.

The agreement I’d signed bore the same academy crest, but it was for the research program.

They had never bothered to ask about the difference.

They simply assumed I’d come home for the holidays.

They had used a lie to make one choice for me.

This time, I would make my own.

I tapped Confirm.

They thought I’d come back once I was done being upset, just as I always had.

This time, I wouldn’t.