Woke up and felt like doing another chapter, as a thank you gift for you all. Happy reading! 💗

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| Clementine POV – 3 years ago |

As I tugged the sheets closer to my body, I realised I wasn't alone in bed and that I was in an unfamiliar room that reeked of sex.

I sighed and quickly got up, pausing to look at the stranger from the end-of-semester party last night.

Poor guy, he was looking for rebound sex after a break-up and I just so happened to want what he needed.

Am I spiraling or is this my Oliva Rodrigo era? Who knows.

I chucked on my clothes and tied my hair into a messy bun as I snuck out of his room to leave, hoping he had no housemates to witness my walk of shame.

As I drove back to my place, all I could think about was hopping in the shower and sleeping all day. Fully excited about the date with my bed and passing out from weeks of non-stop study sessions and all-nighters.

The second semester at Oxford just ended and I had nothing to do now aside from my paid internship at the law firm owned by Eric's brother. I literally had no plans during the break so I'll probably end up being the third wheel with Pen and Eric, again.

As soon as I opened the door to our shared apartment, I was welcomed with disappointed looks from my friends.

"Clementine Finch, why didn't you come home from the party last night?" Penelope scolded me as she handed a cup of tea to Eric and me.

"Penelope Osborne. Since when did you swap bodies with my fucking mother?" I retorted back, causing Eric to spit his tea back out.

Pen narrowed her eyes at Eric and then me before shaking her head in dismay.

"Very funny, Cece. Go shower, you stink like a human."

"Hey, I'm not stinky!" Both Eric and I yelled back, with him offended.

Penelope laughed at our perfect unison and gave Eric a peck on the cheek. After they moved in together, I basically got dragged along even though I wanted to give them their space. But Pen would not hear the end of it, and they enticed me with cheap rent and shared groceries. A blessing to a broke uni student's heart but it's all too good to be true, as they are loud as fuck.

Pen was my first friend at Oxford and I met her when I had to sign a pack entry form in Thatcham so I could roam the territory of Red Hollows pack. It was the closest territory to the university and also, her pack. Close in age, we instantly hit it off at a welcoming party for students hosted by their Alpha, and we became inseparable since. She reminded me of Tom with how clingy she could be sometimes, but I love that about her.

I wasn't really a huge fan at first of Pen being mated with Eric, a human, after the whole drama with he-who-shall-not-be-named. But these two were literally made for each other, even though Eric fainted when he saw Pen shift for the first time and went radio-silent for a day. Rough, but he took it quite gracefully after that and immersed himself in werewolf studies so he could be more knowledgeable in the future.

"Cece, have you thought about what I said last week?" Eric suddenly asked when I sat down next to him.

"About?" I replied back, facing him.

"My offer! You're graduating next year, and it would be good to start a law firm where we could specialise in both human and werewolf cases."

I paused and pressed my lips together as I processed his incredulous idea. There weren't a lot of firms that handled werewolf/human legalities but it would be such a feat to start one. Especially if I wanted a legal advocate spot at the council.

"Fine, I'll agree to it only if my name is on the title of the firm."

"You're on board? Omg Cece, yes of course your name would be on the title. I was thinking something like 'EC partners'?" He suggested and Pen pulled a disgusted look.

"That sounds awful babe, it doesn't have a ring to it. Hmm, how about 'Finch and Smith'?" Pen proposed another title which got Eric and me to whip our heads at her in complete idolisation.

"You branding whizz!" I exclaimed loudly and hugged her.

"My future marketing queen!" Eric piped in which made Pen and I chuckle. He's absolutely fucking whipped.

I honestly couldn't fathom that I would start a firm as soon as next year with my name on it. This was what I had been striving for, a change that would lead me to my dream. I needed to have a purpose and this was it.

Dad would have been so proud of me. I know he would be.

.

.

.

"Cece, let's go! I don't want to deal with the traffic to Thatcham!" Pen yelled outside as I took my time to zip my bag and wear my shoes.

"Bitch, I'm driving so you don't get to complain about the traffic." I replied back before shutting the door behind me.

"Yeah but I'm navigating since Eric isn't coming till later! You know how stressful that is for someone like me who has no sense of direction?"

"Fair point Pen. But why do you want to head so early before dinner?"

She held me by the shoulders with a huge grin on her face.

"So we have time to shift and run of course!" She revealed and I squealed in excitement.

I haven't shifted in a while because of how busy my schedule was at uni and Pen probably saw that I was on edge because of it. My wolf has been quite passive over the years after we left Scarlet Moon but she still enjoyed running around with the other wolves, especially Pen who enjoyed the chase.

Over an hour of traffic and jamming to Cher tunes later, we finally arrived at Red Hollows which made my wolf howl in pure elation. We parked the car right in front of the pack house and quickly bolted towards the dense forest.

We both removed our clothes hastily and hid them behind a tree before I got distracted by Pen's massive hoohas. I did the squeezing motion with both of my hands and she swiped them away laughing.

"Grab your own tits!" She teased.

"Yours is better mummy!"

"Ew Cece, don't say that ever again. That's reserved for Eric." She winked and I almost gagged.

Fucking gross.

Mates are so annoyingly gross.

We walked towards the clearing and Pen shifted first, her cracking bones echoed in the silence of the forest. She shifted into a beautiful red wolf and arched forward to bow in front of me. An invite to play chase.

I patted her head and nodded back as I prepared to shift. I inhaled deeply as I knew this one was going to hurt a bit.

First, my arms.

Then my legs.

My bones painfully snapped into place to reveal a majestic white wolf, with distinct blue eyes that shimmered mischief.

My wolf shook itself to ease the tension on our body and strutted forward before jumping Pen's wolf.

We chased each other around the forest and were quickly joined by other young wolves who wanted to welcome Pen back.

The whole run must have lasted a whole 2 hours since the darkening sky ascertained that it was close to dinner.

Pen shifted back first and I followed suit as we dressed and walked to the pack house. Our run gave me a boost of adrenaline to socialise which I clearly needed tonight as Red Hollows was hosting its Moon Blessing dinner, a ritual where they ask for blessings before the day of a Blood Moon.

Packs usually wished for good fortune, health or trivial things such as finding a mate from the Moon Bitch.

Ha. Hilarious.

Well, I guess I need to bite my tongue and not cause a slip up on how much I resent our Goddess.

A booming loud voice caught our ears as we spun around to see who it was. Pen's smile was blinding as she ran towards a man who also grinned from ear to ear.

"My child, welcome home! I'm glad you could make it this time. And hello Clementine, so good that you're joining us this year." He peered over from hugging Pen and I softly smiled back.

"Dad, Eric is running a bit late because of a last-minute errand for a client. He'll be here though!" Pen mused as she tugged my arm to follow her.

"Hm, humans and their lateness. Well, there will be plenty of food to feast on since we'll be joined by a couple of people from other packs. You two should get ready and I'll meet you girls at the meeting hall."

We both nodded as he left before Pen smirked at me, clear lunacy in her hazel eyes.

"Cece omg! What if one of the guests tonight is your mate?"

I blinked slowly at her face and laughed.

Loudly.

Unapologetically fucking loud.

I lost it at her assumption about meeting a mate and she looked back, unimpressed.

Find my mate?

Been there,

Done that.

No thank you.

"What's so funny? Aren't you curious who your mate is?" She questioned as I wiped my tears, laughing again.

"Aw Pen, I'm sorry but I'm not interested in relationships, nor a mate. Whoever he is." I responded and patted her arm.

"Why? We're wolves Cece. We don't have a choice in that matter since bonds are strong and sacred to us."

"You said it yourself, I don't have a choice since that was taken from me!"

I snapped but quickly realised my slip up as Pen furrowed her eyes in confusion.

"Taken from you? What do you mean?"

"Let's drop it Penelope, I really don't want to talk about it." I muttered before she held my hand to stop me from walking away.

"Sorry Cece, I didn't mean to pry. Tell me when you're ready but don't keep your problems to yourself. I'm here for you and so is Eric."

I sighed deeply and gave her a long, comforting hug.

I always knew that hiding my past would come biting me back soon enough. I just wasn't ready for it, but Pen deserves to hear it.

I trust her,

And she trusts me.

The tension simmered a bit after that hug and we walked back to our shared guest room in the pack house to get ready.

Pen wore a patterned sleeveless smock dress, which I know Eric would salivate over. Fuck, even I would with how hot my bestie looks.

But not to be outdone, of course, I wore my green midi slip dress to accentuate my hips and potentially snag a hottie later.

Just when we were about to take an OOTD pic after finishing our look, a text message from my mum popped up and I immediately opened it.

> Mum 👹: Hello Clem, did you forget that your mother is still alive? Be nice for you to call from time to time. Don't forget your heat starts tomorrow. You really need to learn when it's coming and to pop that in your calendar darling. Love you and call me x

Of course, my heat.

An eternal reminder of him.

My punishment.

I texted my mum a thank you and told her I'll ring her tonight. All I got was 'K' in response because adding the 'O' is too much effort for my mother.

Pen's sister knocked on the door to hurry us out since we were slightly behind schedule. We both rolled our eyes and took our time to get there. We were petty like that.

'Queens could never be late.

Everyone was simply early.'

Is our motto. And Pen and I swore by that.

But as soon as the meeting hall doors opened, I truly did wish that I was a Queen who could leave fucking early.

Like immediately. Since, there in the corner of the meeting hall, I was greeted by a face full of anger.

Resentment.

Disgust.

Pain.

It was Tom and he looked like he was going to rip my head off.

"Girls, you're late. We need to introduce you to some guests." Pen's dad gently reprimanded as soon as he saw us.

But I was frozen in place and couldn't move. My past has finally caught up with me.

If Tom was here, does that mean Lucas was here too?

Shit.

SHIT.

"Uh, Pen I don't feel too good all of a sudden. If you could excu—"

I was quickly cut off by Tom who pulled me by the arm and out of the meeting hall in front of everyone.

He didn't even care that he did that in front of the Alpha as a guest, let alone a room full of people.

He was seething.

And he had every right to be.

"Long time no see, Tom." I joked as I tried to pull my arm away but he gripped it tighter.

"What the fuck Clem!" He growled, his eyes darkening.

"You're it. You found me haha. What a game." I chided and he just stared at me with a murderous glint.

"You think this is funny? Fuck you Clem! You disappeared and didn't even say goodbye. Nothing. Absolute fucking silence!"

"I'm really sorry Tom, I couldn't. My link to the pack was cut off as soon as we left."

"Bull fucking shit. You have a phone and you have social media. Which by the way, you blocked me in. So you cutting me off was intentional, it was purposeful and it hurt!"

I wanted to cry there and then.

I did this.

I hurt my best friend.

I was lost for words, as the tears trickled down.

"No amount of tears Clem would be enough for the anguish you have caused. No sorry would be enough either. You treated me like I'm as awful as Lucas, that I was not worth the effort as your best friend, and that was the most horrible thing out of all of this. We're done and I'm done with you."

With those words, I knew I clearly fucked up and there was no fixing this.

He stomped away back in the meeting hall and left me, every step he took felt like a stab in my heart.

It was like Lucas all over again. But this time, I was the antagonist and I was the one doing the hurting.

===End of chapter===

Oh no, the besties are fighting.

Sorry not sorry, but I needed to spice it up before that build-up on what happened in Ch.10 hehehe

Dw, ch.12 would be juicy. I promise.

Next update is on Sat next week.

Thank you again for reading!

(I'll fix any grammar errors in a bit lol)

Inspired by:

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