Second Chance

On my way back to the apartment, the continuous tears that were poured from my eyes left marks and traces on the ground. I may look tough back there but deep inside me was a ripping heart apart.

And I can't stop my tears from flooding my face.

No matter how hard I try to understand where I did wrong, my wolf's brain could not think of one. I believe that Lilith and I were in the middle of being intimate. We even blab about settling down because aside from that both of us are already at the right age, we have permanent jobs to support our dreams.

But why did Lilith and Mark betray me? Kissing her in front of me was completely ridiculous. Of all the male wolves she can have an affair with, why my best friend?

After a few hours of walking on foot, I helplessly drop my body to the mattress, staring at the ceiling while carrying the emptiness of my heart and brain.

The worst part is that my empty heart and brain were disconcerted about which of the three unbearable problems must I address first. I just got suspended from work, disbanded from the pack, and this secret affair between my fated mate and best friend.

Great. They all strike me in one blow. What did I do wrong for the world to be so mean to me? Of all the days of the year, all those problems must have befallen me on the same day.

To occupy my helpless heart and brain, I jump out of the bed and slide the small box I had long hidden underneath. Then I check and studied everything in it. Photos of my past with Lilith and Mark.

I remove them from the box and put them aside when they are no longer needed. Every piece of memory attached to those photos is already gone. And they are superseded by extreme anger, hatred, and dismay.

Then I throw them away into the trash bin. The next thing that I check is my bank savings. At first, I thought making myself busy might lessen the burden my wolf has on its shoulders.

Unfortunately, after seeing my bank passbook balance about to get emptied, my worries and fears for Aiden's future even ascended and are in a race to reach their peak.

"What are you going to do now, huh, Ethan?" I murmured to myself. "you may be an independent wolf but barely as a human. Humans need money to survive."

And my answer to that is my tears pouring in silence.

Three days later, I sneak into the school to keep an eye on Penelope and Aiden. Even if I already discussed with my brother about keeping an eye on her to check if she has experienced any kind of symptoms of turning into a werewolf, I could not put my trust in him because my wolf knows for a fact that he is in love with her.

It was my claws that got sunk into Penelope's skin, not Aiden's. Neither is Mark's nor Lilith's. If she turned into one of us, she becomes my sole responsibility. I can't risk more once we found out she's a werewolf.

Because I have worked for six years in the school, my wolf already knows every ins and outs of the campus. I can't use the main entrances of the school so I break into the less place they expected.

As soon as I got into the campus, I stayed in the parking lot to wait for Penelope to appear. Her luxurious car appeared after five minutes of waiting.

With the help of my baseball cap and hoodie, no one from the students recognizes me when I slide into Penelope's car and open the door for her.

"We have something to discuss, Penelope. And I'm afraid it's urgent." I was about to drag her out of the car by force but she refused and exerted a kind of inhumane force I less expected.

Even though the incident was too quick, I know beneath my wolf that there was a spark the moment she removes my hand away from her. It was the kind of spark that wants to communicate with my wolf.

Since she got back to school with a new look, I have already sensed something was off about her. And she was not telling us about it. She did not even confront me or Aiden regarding that night on the cliff.

And I find her reason for being gone for a week was that she was on a trip with her billionaire boyfriend. Well. Aside from the fact we know that she doesn't have a boyfriend, my wolf knows her reasons when we were interrogated by the Guidance Counselor were all made up.

She's hiding something from us. And now that I got suspended because of her, I have all the time in the world to unfold whatever that is.

"What are you doing here, Ethan? Aren't you supposed to be out of my sight for a hundred meters? Is the punishment you got after harassing me not enough, huh?" she furiously bombarded me with questions as soon as she hopped out of the car.

I blocked her from moving forward and glowed my eyes, reminding her what I looked like that night. "You know that I did not harass you that day, Penelope. Five minutes." I said. "Give me five minutes to explain to you what is going on in your body. And the threat you possess to your friends and family."

Penelope suddenly lifted the tip of her brows and shrewish at me. "Don't you realize you are the one who possess a threat to my friends and family, huh, Ethan?"

Because of too much annoyance, I could not hold onto my wolf so I grabbed her by force. But instead of her getting pulled to the corner, it was my body that got stumbled to the ground which surprised most of the students who witnessed the incident, including Aiden and his rugby team.

Aiden wants to impress Penelope so he strikes me with a hard punch but I managed to block it with my bare hand. Werewolf blood may run through his veins but his strength is barely enough to beat someone like me.

"Ethan?" Aiden breathed out my name as soon as he realized it was me. And that is one of the reasons he cannot beat me. He can barely recognize my wolf's scent even from afar.

Or maybe I am too soft for his wolf, not allowing him to master everything about his werewolf abilities. He is too focused on his human side and his admiration for Penelope.

"What are you doing here?" he added. This time, his yelling turned into a whisper. "You shouldn't be here, Ethan. Please, don't make this hard for me, okay?"

Is he for real? After what I sacrificed for his sake, I am only making things hard for him? What about me, huh? Does he think or even realize how hard it is for me to raise him without asking for something in return?

I even pulled out my six years of savings from my sideline jobs to buy him his dream bike. And because I got suspended, I am only making things hard for him?

"Get out of here, Ethan," Aiden uttered in a furious tone. "I don't want to make things worse, so I'm begging you. Get out of here before I call not just the Guidance Counselor but the cops as well."

"We'll talk about this later." I pointed a finger at Aiden before I dragged my gaze back to Penelope and uttered, "You better choose, Penelope. Either I will tell your female friends and classmates about what's going on with you for the past six days. Or you'll come and talk to me. You can ask Aiden for my digits if you change your mind."

The entire parking lot was already crowded so before someone calls the security guards or the cops, I disappeared from my spot like thin air and went back to my apartment.

As soon as I got back into the apartment, I sensed someone's familiar scent, no there are three of them waiting for me inside.

I don't know how they managed to open my apartment but I believe it has something to do with breaking.

"What are you two doing here?" my rage from the school's parking lot was extended upon seeing Lilith and Mark feeling at home.

"We're so sorry about this unexpected..."

"Enough of your sorry, Lilith." I cut off her words. "Is betraying me not enough for you two to keep bothering me?"

"Say all you want, Ethan," says Mark in a sarcastic tone. "Just like you, this could be the last place I want to visit. It's not us who wants to talk to you. We simply lead him to your apartment."

To my surprise, someone from the toilet flushed the bowl and head out afterward. "It was I who wants to talk to you, Ethan," says Alpha Ezekiel in a serious tone.

My wolf is no longer part of the pack so it is no longer necessary to bow before him. He may be the most ruthless and cold-hearted werewolf alpha I have ever known, but I am no longer scared of him.

"What do you want?" I asked him back.

"Second chance, Ethan." Alpha Ezekiel said. "I want to give you a second chance. You and your little brother getting back to the pack and working as a security guard in exchange for one simple request from me."

Hearing those words coming from Alpha Ezekiel's mouth, undeniably brightened my day. My wolf doesn't need to start a new life by searching for a job when I have nothing to be proud of in my resume aside from working at the school for six years.

But because I got suspended for harassing a student, those six years will go to waste as it will give my resume a huge impact. A negative impact on my application.

"But you have to kill Penelope Garcia for us," he added which stiffened not just the tip of my ears but the hands of the clock as well. "The news reaches out to me that she's alive, Ethan. Your fated mate and best friend told me that. So, I went to school to confirm that. And they were right. She's alive."