Chapter 3 3|One Request

~Serena~

Werewolves live and hunt in packs, and when a member is sentenced to exile, they become rogue, destined to live and die alone. I can consider myself a rogue now, except I am wolfless. This rogue would recognize me as a human with the scent of a wolf from Embercrest. His enemy.

As the alpha's only child, I was taught self-defense at an early age, but I never needed to use these skills outside of sparring or training.

Heart lodged in my throat, and I pressed my back against the tree as a rogue emerged from the bushes before me. Barely skin, fur, and bones, its mud-matted brown fur clung to its body like a second skin. Hunger gleamed in its eyes, seeing me as its first meal after famine. Baring its teeth, it snarled and crouched, leaping in my direction. Its movement was unsteady and slow.

I jumped out of my hiding spot, rolling away from the rogue as its body slammed into the tree with a loud thud. It hissed, shaking its head to regain its balance, locking eyes with me as I stood. Taking a defensive stance, I was ready to fight the rogue as it crouched again, anger oozing from its eyes for missing me on its first attack. Frustration grew in his eyes at hyper speed. The rogue became increasingly agitated as it salivated. It would do anything to have its meal.

It leaped into the air with a loud snarl, ready to sink its canine into my flesh, but a gray wolf appeared out of nowhere, tackling the rogue down. They grappled to the ground in a flurry of fur, snapping teeth, and snarls for a second until one of them was standing over the other's mutilated body.

Swallowing hard, I locked eyes with the gray wolf. Recognition hit me like a tidal wave.

Lia.

Willowy mist billowed from the gray wolf as it shifted to its human form. My best friend smiled, rising proudly, clothed in only her porcelain skin.

"Miss me?" she murmured, frowning when she realized there was blood dripping from her mouth. She spat the rogue's blood and grimaced, kicking the rogue's body. "Stinky piece of shit!"

"Why are you here?" My tone was anything but grateful.

"Wow. Thank you, too, for saving me, Lia!" Sarcasm dripped from her tone.

As shifters, nudity was nothing new to our kind. Lia was confident in her own skin. She skirted past me towards the tree a few feet from where I was hiding, emerging dressed in the same clothes she wore on the drive to the border.

I glowered. "Were you following me?"

She hummed. "For a reason." She looked at the rogue's body with disgust. "These woods are filled with these filthy creatures, princess."

She only calls me that when we're alone, when she's trying to piss me off or when she's mad.

Bothered by her confession, I grabbed Lia's arm as she tried to walk past me. "What are you doing here, Lia? You're not supposed to be here. You're not supposed to be helping me!"

She slanted her eyes at me, snatching her arm back. "Saving your stubborn ass, that's what I am doing. If you only begged for forgiveness, we wouldn't be here!"

These past seven days had been freaking excruciating. Oliver tried to kill me, and I killed him instead, turning me into a murderer my pack despised. My husband exiled me from my pack, and here comes Lia blabbing bullshit about what I should and shouldn't have done.

Lips pursed, I pushed her away and stomped in the direction of the river. "I don't need your saving."

"He put his life on the line for you, Serena," Lia murmured. Her accusing tone made me halt on my steps.

I heard whispers at school about Lia's liking for Declan. They were friends before they even came to our pack, so I paid no mind to those rumors. I was too blind to see how she'd always taken his side, how she'd follow him everywhere like a lost puppy, doing whatever Declan did, and how she held back her tears when I told her Declan asked me to marry him.

"Nobody asked him to do that," I said, and continued walking.

Lia grabbed my arm, her fingernails digging into my skin. "Have you no heart, Serena?" Her lack of credence shouldn't surprise me anymore. "You killed Alpha Oliver, Declan's grandfather, but he still showed you mercy. Why did you have to be so fucking proud?"

I glared at her. "I would never beg for doing something I don't regret! Why don't you ask me why I killed Oliver?"

Her silence was a bucket of ice-cold water dumped over my head. She looked away, nibbling her lower lip. "You know. You know Oliver tried to kill me..." My last sentence was barely audible. Truth sucker punched me in the face as realization dawned on me. "Declan... he knew?"

Lia pursed her lips.

The ground beneath my feet turned into marshmallows. Lightheaded, I backed up to the nearest tree, leaning back on it, plonking onto the ground.

"How?" I asked.

The morning after our wedding, Declan had to take care of a security breach on the south border. Oliver sent one of his men to fetch me from the mansion. Although I detested Oliver, I felt the need to speak with him since Declan and I were already married.

In his office, he offered a toast to celebrate our family's union. Then he started blabbing about how great my father was. Everything was going smoothly. I almost fell for his friendly facade until he mentioned things about the accident he shouldn't know. Things only the people who were with him that night should know.

Anger clouded my judgment. I've had my suspicions that Oliver was behind my father's accident, and that conversation proved me right.

All I saw was red. He had two of his men inside the office. They outnumbered me, but I was so mad after learning how he staged my father's accident. What followed was a total blur. I didn't even know how I overpowered them.

The next thing I knew, there was blood in my hands, and Oliver's lifeless body lay before my feet.

"Declan was adamant you'd take Oliver's life without reason. He tortured Oliver's men until one of them confessed to Oliver's plan of trying to kill you and killing your father."

Tears blurred my sight as I looked up at Lia. "But he still sentenced me to exile after he learned that? I had reasons to kill that son of a bitch!"

"He was protecting you, Serena," Lia sighed. "Can't you see? This was also hard for Declan. Oliver was a well-loved Alpha. His people would've tried to kill you the moment they got a chance. This was the only way he could protect you."

"By stripping me of my rights! By exiling me from my pack!" I cried. Knowing the truth only pushed the dagger lodged in my throat deeper. "Embercrest is mine, Lia. It's my home. I am the Luna of that pack. It's not Declan's. It's mine!"

"Serena..."

I wiped my tears, rising to my feet.

"Did he send you here?" Lia nodded. "What were his instructions?"

Lia was thoughtful for a beat, choosing her words carefully. "There's someone in the City of Brille who will help you start a new life." My mind was in a muddled state. I struggle to understand what Declan had in mind that would be better than giving me back my pack. "You'll have a new name, a new identity, and Declan will come find you once things settle down in Embercrest."

I don't know if I should laugh or cry, or pull my hair from my scalp with this information overload. How the fuck did I end up in this situation? A chuckle fell from my lips, turning into laughter, ringing through the stillness under the forest canopy.

Lia stared at me as though I lost a screw in the head.

"He had it all figured out, didn't he?" I caught my breath, shaking my head. "He thought I would just bow down to his feet and thank him for giving me a new name, a new identity?

"He planned it all out for you. He had connections outside Embercrest. This was the only way he could protect you."

"Well, newsflash, Lia. I am already dead! There is no saving me. I had nothing left. They took everything from me!" Tears welled in my eyes as I glared at my best friend.

She lowered her eyes, shoving her hand in her jacket pocket. Of all people, she understood how it feels to be orphaned and be left with nothing but a gaping hole in your chest.

"You still have me, Serena..." Lia stared into my eyes, a turmoil swirling in them. "I will be there with you. I will leave everything behind so you won't feel alone."

I shook my head. "It's too late. I don't need you or Declan's help."

"Serena... don't be like this-"

"You will be a constant reminder of Declan's betrayal, Lia. I don't fucking want you!" I cut her off. She staggered back, burned by the searing gaze I pinned her with. "If you are truly my friend, I have one request from you."

Pain glazed her eyes, but she nodded at me.

Reaching around the back of my neck, I unclasped the gold chain where my wedding ring hung like a pendant. I handed it to Lia. She accepted it with furrowed brows.

"Tell Declan I'm dead. Tell him the rogues got to me before you did."

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~Lia~

I watched Serena walk away from me, committing to memory her blood-matted white shirt and dirt-covered jeans. Her hair lost its shine, tangled and caked with dirt. She was the epitome of someone who had just lost everything-a mere shell wandering this dark forest.

I loved her, truly. She was the sister I never had, but this was for the better. She would never be safe in Embercrest while Gerald was still alive.

"Are you sure you want her to walk away like this?" Hiro emerged from his hiding spot, lighting a cigarette as he stood beside me, looking over the bushes where Serena disappeared minutes ago.

"This is what's best for everyone," I murmured, feet glued to the spot. I wanted to go after Serena and make sure she made it out of the woods safely.

"For everyone, or for you," Hiro huffed, the burned tobacco permeating the air. "If Gerald finds out you didn't kill Serena, he will have your head on a stake. And when Declan finds out you lied to Serena..." he chuckled, "you'll be lucky if he burns you alive."

I swallowed hard, pushing down the bile that rose from my stomach.

"Make sure she's safe, Hiro," I murmured, gazing at the eyes of a werewolf hunter whose hands were stained by the blood of a thousand werewolves.