Friendly enemy

Maybe dying early was my fate.

Maybe I was never meant to taste happiness—not even for a moment.

Those were the thoughts crawling through my head the moment my eyes blinked open. It was a new day, but my heart felt heavier than chains. The dungeon smelled of mold, old blood, and damp stone. Cold seeped through my skin as if it wanted to numb the little hope still living inside me.

I hadn’t seen Jaden since yesterday. He had not come to check on me, not even once. And Lola—my friend, or the girl I thought was my friend—had not shown up either. My stomach rumbled, empty and hollow, reminding me of how long it had been since I last ate, but what was the point? Food wouldn’t save me from the execution waiting at dawn.

A slow metallic creak echoed through the dungeon.

The gate.

I tensed.

Footsteps followed—sharp, steady, confident. A woman wearing heels. The scent reached me before she did, and relief washed over me so quickly it almost hurt.

Lola.

I bowed my head and silently thanked the goddess. Maybe… maybe she found the killer. Maybe she had news. Maybe she would help me like she always promised she would.

Her silhouette appeared through the dim torchlight.

“Amara,” Lola said softly, tilting her head with a sweetness that made my chest tighten. “Are you alright?”

But her eyes… her eyes held something different.

The same look she had given me yesterday. Cold.

Detached.

Wrong.

“I didn’t kill the Alpha,” I blurted out, stepping closer to the bars. My voice trembled, desperate. “You have to believe me, Lola. Please, I would never do something like that—”

She folded her arms lazily. “Oh, I believe you,” she said.

I froze.

She smiled—wide and strange. “Because I know who did.”

My breath lodged in my throat.

“You… you know?” My voice shrank to almost nothing. “Lola, please tell me. Who killed him?”

She laughed. But it wasn’t her soft giggly laugh.

It was sharp, bitter and cruel.

For a moment, I simply stared. This was not the Lola I knew. This wasn’t the girl who held my hand when others mocked my low birth.

This wasn’t the girl who encouraged me when Jaden ignored me. This wasn’t the girl who told me she wanted me to be Luna.

Something in my chest cracked.

“You’re so dumb,” she snapped, her voice vibrating off the stone walls. Even the rats scurried back into their holes.

My lips parted in shock.

“Did you really think,” Lola continued as she stepped closer to the bars, “that I was going to smile and wish you a happy married life? That you stole what I wanted, and I would do nothing?”

My face went pale. My knees weakened.

“Stole… what?” I whispered.

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t pretend, Amara. You always knew I loved Jaden.”

I didn’t. I truly didn’t.

If I had known, I would have stepped aside. I would have walked away. I would have given her anything to keep our friendship.

But it was too late.

“You are just the daughter of a maid,” Lola said, sneering. “A nobody. You don’t belong beside a future Alpha. You don’t even belong in this pack.”

I swallowed the burn in my throat as tears blurred my vision. “Lola… what are you saying?”

She leaned in. Her next words slid from her tongue like poison.

“I killed the Alpha.”

The world around me froze.

Air refused to enter my lungs.

She said it slowly, intentionally, savoring each word.

“I. Killed. Him.”

I staggered backward. “Why?” I choked. “Why would you do that? You could have told me you loved Jaden. I would have stepped away. You didn’t have to—”

Lola’s smile widened. “Because I don’t let anyone control my fate. The old Alpha wanted Jaden to marry you. But I want him. And I always get what I want.”

My stomach twisted violently.

She continued, eyes gleaming with pride.

“And now, once I carry his heir, my family will rule this pack. That throne will be mine.”

“You’re insane,” I whispered.

“Maybe.” She shrugged. “But at least I’m not stupid enough to believe that friendship is real.”

My wolf growled inside me—weak, but furious.

This woman… this demon… had been beside me for years.

Watching me. Manipulating me. Using me.

“You think Jaden will believe you?” Lola asked with a cruel smirk. “Please. While you were busy dreaming about your wedding night, he was in my bed, Amara. Every night. Every single night.”

The words stabbed me..

“I’m going to tell him the truth,” I whispered through trembling lips. “I’m going to tell everyone. I won’t let you get away with this.”

She chuckled, examining her nails as if bored.

“And who do you think will listen? The elders? They work for my father. The guards? They fear him. Jaden? He hates you. He wants you dead.”

My knees buckled. I clung to the bars to steady myself.

Finally, something inside me broke.

“Please,” I whispered. “Lola… please help me. I’ll do anything. I’ll leave the pack. I’ll go so far you’ll never see me again. Just get me out of here. Please.”

She looked down at me the way someone might look at dirt stuck to their shoe.

“Accept your fate, Amara,” she said coldly. “You were doomed from the start.”

She turned to leave but paused, tapping a finger against her cheek as if remembering something trivial.

“Oh. Your mother is dead.”

My blood iced.

“She killed herself last night,” Lola continued, her tone annoyingly casual. “Poor woman couldn’t handle having a monster for a daughter.”

My heart stopped.

My wolf howled inside me, a broken, painful sound.

“Y-you’re lying,” I whispered. “Tell me you’re lying.”

She shrugged. “Believe whatever makes you sleep better.”

“Lola!” I screamed, my voice breaking in half. “Did you kill my mother too?!”

She walked away with a laugh that hollowed out my soul.