Chapter 4

The sound of rustling had Serena jolt out of her slumber, making her stay upright and on high alert. Her heart was thumping on an irregular rate and probable thoughts of an ambush crossed her mind. 

"Who's there?" Serena asked as she scanned the woods with keen eyes for anything threatening. She took notice that it was morning and the rain had finally stopped. She could still smell that lingering scent of the recent downpour as it flooded her nose. 

"Anyone out there?" she asked again, and when she heard a twig snap, her sensitive hearing zoned in on it, detecting its position. 

'To the right,' she thought, and with that, she darted to that direction like a predator would hunt their prey and while she was at it, she took a quick sniff. The scent was a mix of leather and cinnamon, which she thought was not a bad smell, but she had to be sure. She had to know if it was a werewolf that made the sound or not, so she sniffed again. 

There was no distinct scent of a wolf underneath it. 

It was human. 

But humans are dangerous nowadays. To be more precise, hunters that belonged to the Order of Immortalis. 

They were as deadly as rogues and they had this twisted fantasy of taking control of the supernatural. 

As Serena heard another twig snap and a muffled curse, she changed course and headed to the source of all that disturbance. When she made a turn, she bumped into something hard as a wall, and that had her fall on her ass with a loud thud, slightly disoriented from the collision. 

"Ow," she said as she rubbed her bum. "That freaking hurts." 

"Oh damn, I'm sorry," a deep yet throaty voice apologized sincerely. 

Philip was frantic as he didn't know what to do with this situation. He just didn't want to frighten the girl when he saw her leaning on the tree, sleeping soundly like an angel, while he was hunting. However, her appearance made her look like she had stepped out of a mud fight, but despite all that, his first thought was to go over there and ask if she was hurt, and why on earth was she sleeping in the deepest part of the woods. He couldn't come up with an idea how to approach her with great delicacy, but when he saw her jolt out from the tree, he panicked and hid himself from her. 

But he didn't expect to at least bump into her. 

"I'm really sorry," Philip apologized again. 

When Serena looked up to give the douche who had knocked her to the ground a piece of her mind, all that came out was a squeak, utterly speechless at the moment. 

For a damn human, he sure did look fine. Woo, momma! 

He was tall, around six-foot-one with broad shoulders, fit and tan. He had thick wavy chocolate locks which looked so adorable on him, but what had Serena speechless was his eyes. It was a magnificent color of oceanic blue, and from her stand point, they were swirling with worry. 

Well, he looked harmless despite his good-looks, but it could be deceiving. 

"Are you alright?" he said and he was seriously considering that the fall had impaired the girl's sense of sanity. "Are you hurt?" 

"Uh," Serena replied dumbly as she cursed inwardly for sounding like a retard. 

Philip looked perturbed at the girl's dumbstruck look, but he had to admit, he found her incredibly beautiful. He wasn't really a picky guy, but when he saw something drool worthy, this girl in front of him was off the charts. 

She was one hot babe. 

"Here," he said, offering his hand to help her up, "let me help you." 

Serena shook herself out of her daze and reached out to grip the Philip's hand. "Thanks," she said and used the strength of her legs to propel herself upward while he pulled her hand towards him. When she was able to regain her footing, she let go of his hand. 

"So," Philip started, "do you have a name?" 

Philip couldn't help but want to know her name. He was awestruck by her simplistic yet striking beauty. She looked harmless, despite her disheveled appearance and if she did, she would have attacked him, but so far, none didn't happen. 

He sure was lucky to have crossed paths with her while he was hunting. 

If the woods are crawling with babes like her, then he should hunt more often. 

Serena narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "Why should I give it to you?" 

He shrugged. "I just want to know." 

Serena eyed the guy in front of her for good measure. Though he may look harmless, you never know if he might stab her in the back the moment she turned around, but not all humans were that dangerous like those hunters. 

What happened to the benefit of a doubt anyway? 

"My name's Serena," she finally said after her moment of hesitation. 

"Serena..." Philip said, testing it at how it rolled off his tongue. "Gorgeous name." 

Serena couldn't help but blush. Sure, she knew she wasn't bad in the eyes, but she wasn't used to compliments. 

"Are you blushing?" Philip asked her with amusement, and he had to admit, she looked cute when she was flustered. 

"S-shut up!" Serena stuttered, clearly embarrassed. "I am not blushing." 

"Okay, okay," he said, chuckling low and deep and holding his hand up in a universal form of surrender. "If you say so." 

"Uh, what's your name?"Serena asked. 

Philip smiled brightly. "The name's Philip, but you can call me Phil," he said, bending his head and tipped his imaginary hat. "It's a pleasure to meet you." 

"It's very nice to meet you too, Phil," she said, smiling a little. 

And then, they lapsed into silence - an uncomfortable one. Philip wanted to know how she ended like a muddy mess here in the woods, but didn't know how to word it out. He wasn't a busy body, but what the hell, he'd just go straight to the point then. 

"So, why were you sleeping here in the woods?" Philip asked and made flourishing hand gestures to her body. "And what happened to you? Did you have a mud bath or something?" 

The events that Serena tried to forget came rushing in full force. She promised herself not to dwell on them anymore since she decided to leave and never come back, but who was she kidding? Travis was the love of her life, but it would take more than just a miracle to hide those painful memories to the very depths of her mind. 

There was no way that she was sharing her tales of woe, so she chose to ignore his question and counteracted his speculation. 

"What are you doing here in the woods?" she asked as she raised her eyebrows challengingly . 

Philip was taken aback with her evasion. "W-what?" 

Serena held her chin high, looking defiant. "You heard me," she said. 

He narrowed his eyes and eyed her suspiciously. She was hiding something. "Evasive I see... I asked you first, so what are we doing here in the woods, alone, and looking like a big mess?" 

'Tough cookie,' Serena thought bemusedly. How would she explain herself? She couldn't possibly tell that she had run away from home because her mate denied her, and oh, let's not forget, she was a fucking werewolf! 

She sighed and gave him the vanilla version of what happened to her. "I ran away from home." 

Philip quirked his eyebrows. "Ran away from home?" he asked, clearly shocked. "Why would you do that?" 

Serena slid her tongue over her teeth behind her closed lip. He was asking too many questions and she was getting irritated. "I just ran away from home, okay? And it's just..." she dragged the last part, not sure what to say. 

Philip thought he was overstepping it. Considering Serena was giving him vague answers, it was an indication that she didn't want to share any sordid details, so he let it slide for the sake of harmony. 

"Sorry I asked," he said apologetically. "It was none of my business anyway, but seriously, something could have happened to you while you were sleeping." 

Serena sighed in relief. Thank god for that. "It's okay. I would do the same thing if I was in your shoes," she said, smiling a little. "Nothing happened to me, so it's all good. So, your turn; what are we doing here in the woods?" she asked, and when she looked down on the sly, there was an intricate looking crossbow lying on the ground. 

Serena stiffened. 

Could he be? 

"And what's with the crossbow?" she said, gesturing to the killing device on the ground. 

Philip stiffened a bit and relaxed his stance. He had forgotten about his crossbow that he dropped when he bumped into Serena. "Oh, I was hunting," he said cautiously and added, "and if you are thinking what I'm thinking, then you're mistaken. I'm not a killer." 

He wanted to laugh at the last word, but he restrained himself. How he wished he had never associated himself to that twisted Order of Immortalis. He saw many dreadful things that he had found himself having trouble sleeping at night at the cruelty and morbidity of the order. It was a good thing he quit and swore to himself that he would never be part of that sick organization again. 

He admits he was a good hunter; excellent with weapons and hand-to-hand combat, but even if they bribed him with a million dollars, there was no way he would taint himself again with the blood of the innocents. 

She narrowed her eyes. "What were you hunting?" 

He grimaced. "What is this? Twenty questions?" 

She shrugged. "It was just a question. No need to get twitchy." 

He rolled his eyes. "Fine, I was hunting for food." 

"Really?" she asked, searching his eyes if he was telling the truth. 

He nodded. "Yes, I am sure." 

As Serena peered into his oceanic blue eyes again, the honesty was dense and deep, so he was telling the truth. 

She was in the clear and definitely not in the presence of a hunter. 

"So, where you headed then?" Philip asked her curiously. 

Serena was stumped with that question. All she was thinking was to get away from the Crimson Moon territory and she didn't think of a plan on where to go. She didn't have any relatives outside the pack, and sure as hell didn't have friends either. 

What was she going to do? 

"I'm not sure... I haven't thought about that, but I'll think of something," she said in a quiet voice. 

Philip thought this over. If Serena didn't have a place to go, then she would have a hard time looking for a place to stay. By the looks of it, she had run away without bringing something with her, and he bet all his favorite Glock and Beretta guns that she didn't have money to get her by. 

He made a decision. 

"You can stay with me," he offered sincerely. "I live alone in a cabin and I could use the company." 

Serena frowned. She didn't want to impose, but the offer was quite tempting. She was homeless, hungry and broke, but beggars couldn't be choosers. Philip looked like a decent guy and he was just a regular human - much less carrying a crossbow - so it wouldn't hurt to take up on his offer, right? 

"I don't want to impose..." she trailed off, not sure what to say. 

Philip waved his hand dismissively. "Pfft! No, it's quite fine. Besides, I suck at cooking. Do you know how to cook?" he asked her hopefully. He was crossing his fingers if she would say yes, and if she did, his days of burnt toast and soggy pasta were over. 

Serena grinned. "Sure do! I can cook anything you want." 

He let out a whoop and pumped his fist in the air. Not only was she gorgeous, but knows how to cook too! 

She was a goldmine. 

Serena giggled. "It's the least I can do if I'm going to live with you, and I'll do the laundry too if you want," she said and added, "Clean the house as well." 

Philip was touched that Serena wanted to do all those things for him, but sadly, she was just only repaying his kindness, yet he didn't care. He had a beautiful woman staying at his cabin! 

"Alright, that settles it." He picked up his crossbow on the ground and slung on his broad shoulders. "Should we head home then?" 

Serena grinned. "Lead the way.”