They Sent Me Away, I Never Came Back

“On graduation night, the four boys I'd grown up with talked me into playing Truth or Dare. When it was Lyra Ashford's turn-the girl our pack had only recently found and brought home-she suggested that everyone reveal their first-choice academy. One by one, all four of them showed the same answer. Frostland Academy, three thousand miles away in the Northern Pack. Damian slid an application across the table to me with a smile. "Dare to come with us? Once we get to the North, I'll give you my mate mark." So I signed Frostland Academy's early-entry contract for its wolf-core research program. It wasn't until the acceptance letters arrived that I accidentally saw another group chat. Stay in Blood Moon for Lyra. [Did Aria sign?][Yeah. Four fake applications were all it took to send her three thousand miles north.][Once she's gone, Lyra can take her place.][Damian's making the biggest sacrifice. He has to pretend he likes her until school starts.] The truth was, all four of them had actually applied to Moonvale Academy, right here in Blood Moon territory. Lyra had only just returned to the pack. The four of them couldn't bear the thought of her suffering even a little more. But me? I'd been independent since I was a child. In their eyes, they could send me anywhere, and I'd survive. They thought I'd cry, throw a fit for a few days, and eventually accept what they'd done. What they didn't know was that I hadn't signed an ordinary academy application. I'd also signed a five-year pack transfer contract. Forty-eight hours from now, Frostland Academy's transfer vehicle would carry me beyond Blood Moon territory. The moment my transfer took effect, my name, my scent, and even my location would disappear from my former pack's mental network. They had gone to so much trouble to erase me from eighteen years of shared memories. Soon, they would get exactly what they wanted. A future with no Aria in it.”