Chapter 3

Mia took it happily and took two sips through one of the straws.

"Wow, this is so good! Here, try it."

She pointed the very straw she had just used straight at Ethan.

Without a shred of hesitation or awkwardness, Ethan leaned down and took a sip.

"Not bad," he murmured.

Watching this sickening display, my fingers dug into my palms.

I had imagined how intimate they were when I wasn't around. I thought seeing it in person wouldn't hurt anymore.

Yet seeing it right in front of me still felt like a needle stabbing straight into my heart.

"Lily, Ethan and I have been like this since we were kids," Mia laughed cheerfully. "We share everything. You don't mind, do you?"

Her smile looked wide and innocent, but I caught the clear flicker of provocation in her eyes.

"Not at all," I said coolly. "You're just an Omega in the Pack who needs looking after. As the future Alpha, taking care of weaker Omegas is Ethan's duty."

The smile on Mia's face instantly froze, turning stiff and awkward.

"Yeah, exactly. If Ethan and I had anything going on, he wouldn't even be with you."

The first time I ever saw Mia was three years ago.

I was walking past the Pack training grounds and saw a group of young wolves causing a scene in the distance.

When I walked closer, I saw a frail Omega girl trapped in the center. A few Betas were shoving her around, mocking her because she couldn't even control a basic shift.

Just as I was about to step in, Ethan pushed past me.

His voice wasn't loud, but it cut through the noise, silencing the entire yard.

*As your future Alpha, it is my duty to protect every vulnerable Omega in this Pack. Picking on someone weaker than you—is that what Pack loyalty means to you?*

The Betas scattered immediately.

The Omega girl looked up, her eyes rimmed with tears as she stared at Ethan.

That was Mia.

From that day on, Mia became an inescapable shadow in Ethan's life.

She always had an excuse to seek him out:

She hurt herself during training; the pipes in her dorm burst; she was too scared to walk home in the dark alone...

And every single time, Ethan dropped everything and went.

I once asked him: *There are dozens of Omegas in this Pack. Why is it always her?*

He replied: *Mia had it rough when she first joined. I was the first person who ever stood up for her. As the future Alpha, I can't just stand by and watch an Omega get bullied. If I turn my back on her, who else does she have to lean on in this Pack?*

Back then, I thought his words made sense.

Looking back now, his "protection" had crossed the line long ago.

The second memory that was burned into my mind happened during a violent storm late one night.

The Pack's perimeter alarm went off in the howling wind. I woke up terrified, instinctively curling toward Ethan’s chest.

Instead of holding me, he was already sitting up, his phone glowing in the dark with a message from Mia: *Ethan, I'm so scared being all alone. Can you come over?*

I grabbed the hem of his shirt. *It's pouring out there. Please, just stay tonight.*

He looked down at me, his voice firm and cold. *Mia is timid, and she's a frail Omega. What if something happens to her? Lily, you're going to be the Luna one day. You, of all people, should understand my duty to this Pack.*

With that, he pulled on his jacket and vanished into the night.

I lay in bed alone, listening to the rain lashing against the glass, unable to close my eyes.

Later, I heard from others that Mia's dorm hadn't lost power at all that night, nor had there been any leaks.

She was just "scared."

And Ethan had stayed by her bedside all night long.

The third time was when Mia supposedly sprained her ankle during drills.

She claimed she couldn't walk and demanded Ethan pick her up.

When his phone rang, I had been in the middle of talking to him about our weekend getaway plans.

The moment he hung up, he grabbed his coat.

*Where are you going? We're not done talking—*

*Mia needs me. We’ll talk when I get back.*

And out the door he went.

I stood frozen in the hallway, watching the door slam shut.

That was when I noticed: he hadn't even bothered to say, *Wait for me.*

Later, I found out he hadn't just picked her up—he had quietly scratched her name off the Pack chore rotation for the entire month, claiming she needed time to heal. Yet I had seen her in the Pack mess hall, lifting heavy crates and running errands without missing a beat.

When I finally confronted him, saying, *Is Mia your real girlfriend? You care about her more than you care about me,* Ethan lost his temper.

Furious, he snapped: *What kind of nonsense is that?! Mia is Pack! I am the future Alpha! Taking care of our members is my duty! Lily, you’re supposed to be our future Luna—how could you say something so petty?*

Sitting at the restaurant table, Ethan didn't utter a word of defense against Mia's sly comments.

He merely reached over and quietly picked the spicy peppers out of her dipping sauce.

I couldn't taste a single bite of that meal.

Mia, on the other hand, ate to her heart's content under his doting care.

The cottage in the East Pack District was ready.

While Ethan was away, I packed up my belongings.

I didn't bother hiring movers. I didn't have much. After five years, all I had amounted to a few modest boxes.

I left the key on the entryway console.

I took one final look at the place where I had lived for five years.

Then, I shut the door behind me and never looked back.