The Christmas Prank That Ended Us Chapter 01
Right before getting off work on Christmas Eve, my younger sister sent a message in our family group chat saying they had moved and shared the new address.
By the time I arrived after taking five different buses, all I found was a deserted stretch of mountains and forest. As I searched for a signal to make a phone call, I accidentally stepped into a trap. A steel clamp snapped shut around my ankle, locking it in place.
Serena’s triumphant voice came through the phone.
“Bingo! The prank worked! You really fell into the trap. Let’s see how you get out of this one!”
I stood there in shock. Meanwhile, my parents burst into laughter.
“You actually believed her? I don’t know who you got that stupidity from.”
“We’re about to have our Christmas dinner. If you make it back before nine, you might still get some dessert.”
As soon as they finished speaking, the two of them started arguing over which of them I took after.
In desperation, I used the last bar of battery to call my mate, Alpha Garrett.
The call connected.
The familiar background noise greeted me again.
Garrett laughed lightly, his voice full of amusement.
“Jasmine, your parents already told you to find your own way back. Besides, this isn’t the first time Serena has pranked you. Don’t be such a sore loser.”
Before I could even tell him that my foot was trapped in a steel clamp, he had already hung up.
The forest around me was pitch black.
Through the home security camera on my phone, I saw my family gathered around the dining table with four phones placed in the center, making bets on how many minutes it would take before I called to beg for mercy.
Serena answered without hesitation.
“I bet five dollars she won’t even last one minute.”
When I was ten, Serena poisoned the kitten I was raising on Christmas.
I cried as I admitted defeat and rushed into my parents’ room, begging them to take my kitten to the pack doctor.
Seeing me cry hysterically, they simply brushed it off.
“Serena was only joking with you. If the cat dies, we’ll just buy you another one.”
The kitten convulsed in my arms until it finally stopped breathing.
Exactly one minute had passed.
Afterward, no one ever mentioned buying me another kitten again.
Then it was my parents’ turn to bet, “Ten dollars on five minutes.”
The only time I had ever spent Christmas dinner with my family, Serena secretly replaced my cola with wolfsbane.
The pain in my stomach was so unbearable that I rolled across the floor for five full minutes before finally giving in and begging for help.
That day, I had my stomach pumped at the pack hospital.
Meanwhile, they went to the pack’s Christmas bonfire party.
After that, I never celebrated Christmas with my family again.
Garrett had always felt sorry for me.
Even while he was busy with Alpha training, he still made time every Christmas to stay with me.
But now, after remaining silent the entire time, he suddenly seemed to remember something.
Amid everyone’s laughter, he abruptly stood up, picked up his coat, and walked toward the door.
I instinctively tightened my grip on my phone.
Just as I was about to send Garrett my location, I saw him stop at the entrance.
He looked up at the clock on the wall, completely confident.
“I’ll bet twenty dollars Jasmine won’t call to beg tonight.”
“Because the signal tower in that rural area is under my pack’s jurisdiction.”
“I already had Beta Ken send out a maintenance notice.”
“After midnight, the area where Jasmine is will have no signal at all.”
My heart sank.
Serena’s eyes lit up with excitement as she rushed over and hugged Garrett.
“No wonder you insisted on changing the address to the countryside.”
“Alpha Garrett, you’re officially the greatest prank master ever!”
Garrett had never allowed me anywhere near that area before.
He always said it hadn’t been developed yet, that too many rogues wandered there, and that bears sometimes ambushed lone travelers and kidnapped them.
He said he was afraid I would get hurt.
But now, just to make Serena’s prank more entertaining, he was willing to leave me there alone for the entire night.
My whole family cheered at having such a talented new member join their prank team.
They laughed together, hugging one another.
The last bit of hope in my heart finally disappeared.
I had hesitated before because Santorini was so far away, and I still wanted to spend holidays with my family.
But this wasn’t the kind of family reunion I had wanted.
I didn’t want this family anymore.
When midnight arrived, my phone became nothing more than a useless brick without any signal.
I gathered every ounce of my wolf’s strength, forced the steel clamp open, and dragged myself out of the pit.
When I finally lay beside it, gasping for breath beneath the star-filled sky, I suddenly felt at peace.
No one wanted me. No one loved me.
But I still had myself. And I still had my wolf.
With the last minute of signal left on my phone, I opened the transfer application that would send me to work in Santorini three days later.
Then I pressed SEND.