He Thought I’d Never Leave, Until I Became the Northern Pack’s Herbalist Wolf

At the Full Moon Festival, Edward asked me in front of everyone if he could have the opening dance with Sophia. I didn’t argue. I simply stepped aside and gave them the space. Edward froze for a moment, surprise flashing across his face as he looked at me. But in the end, he still took Sophia’s hand. Under the moon, the two of them danced gracefully . I turned and walked away. Not long after, my phone rang. “I told you Sophia gets shy easily. She just learned the dance, and she was too nervous to dance with another male werewolf.” “Can’t you stop getting jealous over nothing?” “Otherwise, I won’t dare tell anyone that you’re my future mate.” I smiled. He had no idea that just moments ago, I had accepted an invitation from the Northern Pack to become their herbalist Wolf. Later, we would never see each other again. Chapter 1 Edward looked handsome and dashing in a well-tailored suit. When he walked into the festival with his arm linked with mine, envious gazes surrounded us. A few female werewolves even shot me jealous looks. But I couldn’t feel happy at all. Ever since the Full Moon Festival began, Edward’s attention had not been on me. He kept his head down, staring at his phone, opening and closing it every now and then. I handed him a glass of wine. He took it but didn’t drink. He casually set it on the table beside him, his eyes still fixed on the screen. I knew he was waiting for someone. Sophia. The female werewolf who had come to our pack a year ago. She had poor natural talent. Even after reaching adulthood, she still hadn’t awakened her wolf, and she had no parents. For some reason, Edward had taken the initiative to apply for our pack’s assistance program and become Sophia’s designated contact. At first, he only helped deliver supplies to her. Later, it turned into having meals together and taking walks beneath the moonlight. Some werewolves had warned me that Edward was treating Sophia a little too well. At the time, I told them it was nothing. He was simply kind. But gradually, even his kindness began to take on a different meaning. Ten minutes before the Full Moon Festival began, Sophia finally arrived. She was wearing a white dress, and her hair had been carefully styled. She looked completely different from her usual self. The moment Edward saw her, a smile immediately appeared on his face. “I thought you weren’t coming.” He walked toward her, his tone carrying a hint of teasing. “I’m sorry. I got held up on the way.” Sophia smiled and took a small box from her pocket before handing it to him. “This is for you.” Edward opened it. Inside was a tie clip. It was made of cheap metal with a simple piece of fabric, probably worth no more than a few dollars. But he loved it. “It’s beautiful!” He lowered his head and began removing the tie clip from his own clothes. It was the one I had given him. A gold chain adorned with a deep blue gemstone, the same color as his eyes. When he awakened his wolf, I had put it on him with my own hands. That day, he had said something I remembered to this day. “Monica, I’ll treasure it. I’ll never forget how good you’ve been to me.” Now, he replaced it with Sophia’s. So naturally. So casually. He lowered his head and admired the cheap handmade tie clip beneath the moonlight, the corners of his lips curling upward. Chapter 2 I stared at the tie clip he had taken off, and something struck painfully deep inside my heart. I turned my face away, not wanting to look at it anymore. “Monica.” Edward’s voice was light, as if he were asking about something completely insignificant. “I want to have the opening dance with Sophia. Is that okay?” Before I could say anything, Sophia spoke first. “Edward, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” She frowned slightly, her voice carrying just the right amount of hesitation. “Monica is your girlfriend. You should be dancing the opening dance with her.” As she said this, her eyes swept over me before returning to Edward. There was a thin layer of smugness hidden in her gaze. She thought she had hidden it well, but everyone could see it. Edward didn’t look at Sophia. He only looked at me, waiting for my reaction. He probably thought I would frown and question him. That I would lose my temper with him, just like I had the last time he went to the movies alone with Sophia. “She just learned dancing, and she’s too nervous to dance with anyone else.” Edward added another sentence, as if he were giving me a way out. “You know her situation. We can’t exactly make her stand there by herself and watch, can we?” I didn’t argue. I didn’t make a scene. I simply looked at him for three seconds. In those three seconds, I remembered so many things. I remembered the first time I met him, when I was three years old. I remembered the light in his eyes on the day he awakened his wolf, when I helped fasten the tie clip onto him. I remembered all the plans he had told me about for after he became a warrior. He had said that we would hold our mate ceremony under the witness of the Moon Goddess and love each other forever. Whenever he said those things, he always wore such a beautiful smile. I had always believed he meant every word. Three seconds passed. I took a step back and silently moved aside. Edward froze for a moment. He hadn’t expected me to agree so readily. Surprise appeared in his eyes, along with a hint of confusion, as if I had completely disrupted the lines he had prepared in advance. But that surprise lasted less than two seconds before his attention returned to Sophia. He took her hand and led her toward the dance floor. The music began. It was a slow waltz. The two of them danced gracefully . Sophia’s movements were a little stiff, and she occasionally missed the beat. It was obvious she was a beginner. But Edward didn’t care. He looked down at her, his eyes filled with nothing but amusement. The werewolves around us all watched them. Some whispered among themselves, some pulled out their phones to take pictures, and others looked around for me. I could feel those gazes sweeping over me, filled with confusion and sympathy. I didn’t look back. I turned and walked away. The night wind rushed in, cold against my skin. As I walked out of the Full Moon Festival, I instinctively touched the moonstone necklace Edward had given me. The chain had already faded a little, and the gemstone was no longer as brilliant as it once had been. I lowered my head and looked at it. Then I took it off. There was no reason to keep it anymore. My phone screen lit up. It was a message from Edward. I opened it, but I didn’t rush to read the content. Instead, I glanced at the time first. A dance lasted about three minutes, and after dancing with Sophia, he would need another minute or two to exchange a few words with her. This was exactly when he would have a free hand to message me. “I told you Sophia gets shy easily. She just learned the dance, and she was too nervous to dance with another male werewolf.” Chapter 3 “Can’t you stop getting jealous over nothing?” “Otherwise, I won’t dare tell anyone that you’re my future mate.” Every one carried that familiar, slightly condescending tone of reprimand. As if I had done something wrong again. As if I were making a fuss over nothing again. As if I were supposed to lower my head and apologize again. I read them twice. Then I smiled. He had no idea that just moment, I had already decided that I would no longer stay behind to become a warrior with him. Instead, I would go to the Northern Pack and become a herbalist Wolf. It was the most decisive decision I had ever made in my life. When I returned home, I began clearing out everything that reminded me of him. A large stack of movie ticket stubs, a jar filled with folded paper stars, and more than a dozen birthday cards. His handwriting on the cards had been crooked and childish. The way he addressed me had changed from “Monica” to “Sweetheart.” I put everything into a large cardboard box. On the bedside table was a little ceramic figurine he had made himself—a badly shaped little wolf. At the time, he had said it looked like me. I held the little wolf in my hand for two seconds. Then I threw it into the box, too. The cardboard box was almost full. I didn’t seal it right away. I could tell a story about every single thing inside. That jar of handmade stars was because of a legend in our pack. It was said that couples who collected a thousand handmade stars would receive the Moon Goddess’s blessing and never be separated. So he had stayed up for several nights, proudly presenting the jar of stars to me. And that moonstone necklace had been his prize for winning the Spring Hunt Festival. In front of the entire pack, he had put it around my neck himself. The box was filled to the brim with traces of him. Fifteen years of traces, from the age of three to eighteen. It was also my entire youth. My phone suddenly rang. It wasn’t a call. It was a notification from a social media platform. I opened it and saw that Sophia had just posted something. There were two pictures. The first showed a hotel room, with dim lighting and white sheets. The second was a close-up of a wristwatch. I recognized the watch at a glance. I had saved three months of living expenses to buy it for Edward’s birthday last year. He had loved it when he tried it on. He had hugged me tightly and said, “This is my favorite birthday present this year.” Sophia captioned the post: “He said he was drunk and insisted that I take him to the hotel. I’m exhausted.” A flood of comments followed. “May the Moon Goddess bless you two! You make such a perfect match!” I stared at the photos for a few seconds. Then I walked back to the cardboard box and wrapped the sealing tape around it three times. I carried it downstairs and threw it into the trash bin outside the villa. When it landed inside, it made a dull thud. Then everything went silent. For the next few days, Edward didn’t call me once. He didn’t send me a single message either. And I was more than happy to enjoy the peace and quiet. A week later, Ron messaged me privately, inviting me to attend his birthday party. He was Edward’s best friend. The two of them had been inseparable since childhood. I could roughly guess what he wanted. I told him I was busy and didn’t have time. Chapter 4 “Monica, you have to come. Otherwise, it means you don’t consider me a friend.” I really couldn’t refuse any longer, so at five that afternoon, I arrived outside the private room. I was about to knock when I raised my hand, then lowered it again. It was because I heard my name. “…You danced the opening dance with Sophia that night. Weren’t you afraid Monica would get jealous?” someone asked. Edward’s voice carried a hint of amusement, completely unconcerned. “With that temper of Monica, she needs to be taught a lesson once in a while.” “She’s way too controlling and overbearing. She doesn’t give me any freedom at all.” “What’s the big deal with me dancing with someone else? ” Someone followed up with a question. “But what if Monica really gets angry? Aren’t you afraid she’ll break up with you?” Edward laughed again. “I’ve grown up with Monica for more than ten years. I know what kind of person she is better than anyone.” “Don’t worry. She’ll just throw a little tantrum. She’ll be fine in a few days.” “Just like last time, when I insisted on going to the movies with Sophia.” After a pause, he added, his tone even lighter, “Even if the sky came crashing down, there’s no way she’d ever break up with me.” “Of that, I can be one hundred percent certain.” I stood outside the door. There was no pain. No anger. I just felt exhausted. He was right. I had argued with him. I had thrown tantrums. But I had never once asked to break up. Every time he crossed the line, every time he treated my boundaries like something he could keep stretching, every time he said, “You won’t really be mad at me, right?” I always forgive. Not because I didn’t have a temper. But because I loved him. But now I understood. In his eyes, my patience meant my boundaries could be pushed back indefinitely. He had taken all the kindness I gave him as proof that I couldn’t live without him. I was about to turn around and leave. Then someone tapped me on the shoulder from behind. “Monica, why aren’t you going inside?” Sophia looked at me with a bright smile. Before I could answer, she had already reached out and pushed the door open. Everyone inside the private room turned toward the entrance. Edward was sitting directly opposite the door, with an empty seat beside him. When he saw me, he froze for a moment. Then his expression quickly returned to normal, and he even smiled at me. Ron was the first to react. He stood up and waved at me. “Monica’s here? Come in, come in. We’ve been waiting for you.” Sophia half-pushed, half-guided me into the private room. Ron took my arm and led me toward the empty seat beside Edward. I didn’t sit down. “I’ll just stand for a while.” Ron wouldn’t take no for an answer and forcibly pressed me down into the chair. Edward looked up at me and said softly, “You’re here?” His tone was completely natural, as if nothing had ever happened. The tie clip I gave was back on his tie. The blue gemstone matched the color of his eyes. But right beside the tie clip was a faint indentation. It was left behind by Sophia’s tie clip. I said nothing and lowered my head to eat. The table was lively. Edward was chatting with Sophia, and their laughter drifted over from time to time. I didn’t look at them. I didn’t say anything either. Chapter 5 Halfway through the meal, someone brought up their plans for the future. “What are you all planning to do?” Ron asked while cutting the cake. “As for me, I’ll take over my family’s store.” Ron turned to Edward. “What about you, Edward?” Edward was scooping strawberries from the top of his cake with a small spoon. He didn’t even look up. “Of course I’m going to become a werewolf warrior.” After saying that, he naturally glanced in my direction. “Monica and I already agreed. We’ll become warriors together. How glorious would that be?” His tone was casual, as if he were talking about something that was only natural. No one found it strange. Most of the people sitting at the table knew about our relationship. Ron then turned toward the person sitting diagonally across from him. “Sophia, what about you?” Sophia was holding a glass of water. When she heard the question, she set down the glass and smiled faintly. “I’m planning to become a warrior too.” The private room fell silent for a moment. The spoon in Edward’s hand stopped in midair. The strawberry rolled off the edge of the spoon and landed on the cake plate. He stared at Sophia, his eyes filled with surprise. “Sophia, you want to become a warrior too?” “Mm.” Sophia nodded, her smile unchanged. “Werewolf warriors can protect the pack and help everyone. Becoming a warrior has always been my dream.” She said it so naturally, as if she were talking about something that had nothing to do with her. But the expressions of everyone else at the table had already become interesting. Some lowered their heads to look at their phones. Some pretended to pick up food. Others secretly glanced at me, then at Edward. I didn’t look up. I simply continued eating. After the meal, Ron suggested going out for drinks, but I declined. Edward remained in his seat and gave me a long, deep look. He didn’t try to stop me. When I returned home, my parents were watching television in the living room. I sat down on the sofa and said calmly, “Dad, Mom, I’ve already received an offer from the Northern Pack.” “I don’t want Edward to know about it.” The living room fell silent for several seconds. “And I want to go to the Northern Pack as soon as possible. I’ll leave next Monday.” These past few days, whenever I came home, I locked myself in my room. I barely looked at my phone, and I hardly spoke during meals. I had never contacted Edward either. They had seen all of it. They should have guessed something. My mom asked quietly, “Monica, is there something going on between you and Edward…?” “There’s nothing between us,” I replied. “I just want to become an herbalist more.” I was about to say something else, but Dad raised his hand and stopped me. “Monica. As long as you’ve thought it through, that’s enough. We respect your decision.” My mom’s eyes reddened, and she didn’t ask anything else. A few days later, I dragged my suitcase to the airport, checked in, and joined the line at the boarding gate. My phone rang. It was Edward’s mother. “Monica, do you remember what day it is today?” She spoke with a smile on the other end of the phone. Of course I knew. I remembered this date better than anyone. I often started preparing his birthday gift several months in advance. “Please wish Edward a happy birthday for me.” “And one more thing.” I paused. “Tell him this is the last time.” There was silence on the other end. I didn’t wait for her to say anything. I turned off my phone. I picked up my luggage and walked forward without hesitation.