When His Favorite Joke Walked Away

Once Lily had laughed enough, she picked up a lock of my severed hair and held it against her chin.

“Mom, do I look like a caveman?”

My mother laughed so hard she nearly spilled the soup. “Go wash your hands and sit down. Stop playing with it.”

Lily casually tossed the hair aside, then pulled out her phone and snapped several pictures of me. I raised a hand to cover my face and told her to stop, but she was already looking through the photos.

“Thanksgiving special—one snip turns my sister into a stray wolf.”

I reached for her phone, but Rowan pulled her behind him.

“What are you doing? She hasn’t even posted the embarrassing ones.”

As my officially registered future mate, he was supposed to protect me when someone hurt me. This time, however, the person he stepped forward to protect was Lily.

A notification soon sounded from my phone. Lily had already posted a picture of me in the family group chat, my eyes red and the two sides of my hair hanging at uneven lengths.

My aunt replied with a laughing-behind-her-hand emoji, while my cousin asked if this was the latest hairstyle. My mother joined in too.

[Lily got carried away and made her sister look like a wolf with a botched shed.]

I stared at the row of laughing emojis beneath the message.

“Delete it.”

“It’s only the family group chat. I didn’t post it on the pack forum.” Lily clicked her tongue impatiently. “We’re all family. What does it matter if they see it?”

My father set down his fork with a loud clatter.

“Are we going to eat or not? This is supposed to be Thanksgiving dinner, yet you insist on turning the whole family against each other over a few strands of hair.”

I was the one whose hair had been cut off, but somehow I had still become the person ruining the family celebration.

I stopped arguing and silently took my seat at the table. My mother placed a slice of turkey on my plate as if nothing had happened.

“Your grandmother is video-calling later, so don’t sit there looking miserable. She’s getting old. If she sees you like this, she’ll think we’ve been mistreating you.”

She was not worried that I had been hurt. She simply did not want anyone else to see that this family had never protected me.

Lily immediately laughed.

“Then you should wear a hat. If Grandma sees your hair, she might laugh so hard her blood pressure spikes.”

Rowan reached out and ran his hand over the side Lily had cut short.

“It is a little prickly.”

I jerked away from him, and his expression instantly cooled.

“Is that really necessary? It was just a joke. Your hair will grow back.”

After saying that, Rowan placed another slice of turkey on Lily’s plate.

“Ease up. If you actually make your sister angry, I’ll have to spend all night coaxing her out of it.”

“It’s not my fault she’s getting worse at taking a joke.”

Lily stuck her tongue out at him. Rowan did not disagree. He only gave her a helpless smile.

Just then, I received a message from the director of the Icefield Wolf Core Research Center.

A month earlier, the center had invited me to join a new project in the Northern Territory. The position paid ten times my current salary and came with a ten-year contract. Since the research center was located within another pack’s territory, accepting the transfer meant applying to the Pack Council to change my pack affiliation.

I had already turned down the offer twice.

The first time, my mother said the Northern Territory was too far from home and that I had no reason to leave my own pack for a job.

The second time, Rowan reminded me that we were supposed to mark each other that winter. As the future Beta’s mate, I was expected to remain with Blood Moon Pack.

The director asked me one final time:

[Are you certain you won’t reconsider? If you confirm before midnight, the position will still be yours.]

I did not reply immediately.

Across the table, Lily was imitating the expression I had made when I realized she had cut off my hair. My mother said my eyes had nearly popped out of my head, while my father laughed and said I had always startled too easily.

Rowan laughed with them.

“You’re still exactly the same. All these years, and you haven’t made any progress.”

They were still using my tears to entertain themselves.

I lowered my head and finally replied to the director.

[I accept the transfer.]

Then I opened the Pack Council’s transfer portal and entered my identification information.

Before I could submit the application, a warning appeared on the screen:

[Once your transfer is approved, your pack link to Blood Moon Pack will be forcibly severed. This action cannot be reversed. Do you wish to continue?]

I pressed the confirmation button.

[Continue.]