Chapter 4 I Swear It

• Serena’s POV
• “How about I give you a lesson about your ancestors, then. Do you think your kind are called rogues for no reason? Do you think the alpha of the Blood Moon pack banished your kind a hundred years ago because he was bored? It is because your ancestors threatened the balance of nature. Your ancestors were corrupted and they terrorized villages with their blood thirsty rampage! Your ancestors were murderers, little wolf. They couldn’t coexist or associate properly with humans and the pack risked exposure because of their recklessness. That is why you lot are called rogues. That is your history!”
• The words that leave Lucian’s mouth leave a sour taste in my mouth. I have never heard the story about the first banishment before. My parents never told it to me and no one in the faction of rogues would ever agree to speak about it. I grew up not even knowing the reason I was hated so much. But whatever Lucian is telling me right now is bullshit. If he thinks he can break my spirit or scare me by spilling lies then he has another thing coming for him.
• “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re lying! I have lived with the rogues for seventeen years of my life and they are the kindest people I have ever met. My parents are not murderers! None of us are!” My body shakes with anger as I look up at the abomination that is supposed to be my mate. I should feel the authority of an alpha coming from him like I did with his father but ever since he acknowledged me as his mate, I have felt like his equal. The only thing that scares me about him now is that he’s an evil son of the devil.
• “A hundred years ago, the alpha of the Blood Moon pack had a trusted advisor.” Lucian ignores my words as he continues with the story. He walks away from me and heads over to the small bar in his room and pours himself a glass of whiskey. He glances at me and I watch his jaw harden and his eyes darken for a split second before he strides towards his window. He gazes outside into nothingness as he continues the story with his back turned to me.
• He clearly doesn’t see me as a threat or else he wouldn’t be turning his back towards me. He knows I won’t try to escape. He knows I have nowhere to go.
• “He helped the alpha with almost everything that concerned the pack but of course, he had his own evil agenda. He wanted power. He wanted to lead his own pack and become alpha and so he meddled with dark magic. Werewolves do not associate themselves with witches but he did.” Lucian gulps down the entire content of his glass and then turns around to face me again.
• “He got his wish. He became malevolent and evil. And soon people started to refer to him as the Shadow fell Alpha. He infiltrated the peace of the Blood Moon pack, he corrupted the minds of so many Lycan folk and formed a pack of his own. Under his influence, the wolves he had corrupted turned feral. They terrorized nearby villages, they killed other werewolves, humans. Their bloodlust was unstoppable. Their fur turned as dark as the shadows they lurked in.”
• Lucian walks towards his bar and pours himself another glass of whiskey and all I can do is listen to the story that I was never told.
• “The alpha of the blood moon pack, with the help of a witch and a sacrifice from the blood of a rogue wolf that was captured was able to draw power from the ancestral wolf lineage. He was able to defeat the shadow fell alpha and then he banished the corrupted wolves from the pack and labeled them as rogues, forever shunned. That is how the Moonlit Rite of Unity ceremony started. Every five years, the alpha would sacrifice one of the corrupted rogue wolves. It was payment for all the destruction they caused.” Lucian finishes the story and places his glass on a table with so much force it almost breaks before walking back towards me.
• “So, you see little wolf. This has always been your destiny.”
• “My people and I are being punished for something that happened a hundred years ago!? If this shadow fell alpha is dead, wouldn’t his corruption be dead with him? Why are my people still being killed for something that is out of our control? Why are we being punished for the actions of another wolf that has been dead for over a hundred years!? You really think this pathetic story that you just told me, whether or not it is true, do you really think it changes the fact that you and your father are murderers? Do you really think it justifies what you do to my people!?”
• My blood boils as I look up at him. I imagine him dying in a thousand different ways as he closes the distance between us.
• “What we do is neither right nor wrong, little wolf. It is necessary.” He states.
• “Why not just kill us all, then? Why not just get rid of all of us and be done with it? Why keep us around and make us live in fear every second of our lives?” I can feel my voice rising with every word. Everything he just said to me. None of it makes any sense. If what he is telling me is true, then I know there must be more to the story. There is something he isn’t telling me, and then it hits me.
• “You keep us alive because you constantly need us for power. That’s it, isn’t it? There is a reason only rogue wolves are sacrificed and it is not just because of what our ancestors did. It is because the power the alpha gets can only come from the sacrifice of a rogue wolf. That is why you need us. That is why you haven’t killed us all after a hundred years. Because if all the rogue wolves die, then the alpha has no way of receiving this power. That is why you won’t just kill us all no matter how much you hate us.”
• “Smart.” Lucian smirks and I feel anger as hot a furnace burning inside me. Without thinking my palm lands on his cheek with a hot slap and before I know it, his hands are around my neck, his eyes turning red in anger as he lifts me easily off my feet. My breath hitches in my throat and my eyes burn with pain, and then in a second, as if his burst of anger didn’t just happen, he lets go of me and watches me fall to the floor as I cough in a desperate attempt to catch my breath.
• Tears flow from my eyes as I realize the severity of my situation. The killing and the sacrifices were never going to end. My people and I were always going to be used in this inhumane way for the rest of our lives.
• “I can’t wait to break the mate bond with you.” I say as I raise my head to look at Lucian, my hands and knees shaking on the floor. “I can’t wait to reject you as my mate and be free of you. I hate you, Lucian Blackwood. I hate you with every fiber of my being!”
• His eyes widen at me and I see a flash of pain in his eyes. I know whatever pain he feels from my words is only because he feels the mate bond but I really don’t care. I want him to hurt. I want him to die.
• “The feeling is mutual, rogue! When the bond is finally broken, I will sink a dagger into your heart myself and watch you bleed and pay for the mistakes of your ancestor.” Lucian spits back in anger.
• “Guard!” He calls and immediately the door to his room swings open. “Get her out of here!”
• The guard drags me out and I make a silent vow to myself. If I am going to die, then I will take Lucian Blackwood to the grave with me. I swear it.