Chapter 3

Serana's face was streaked with tears. A group of she-wolves from wealthy packs were shoving and pushing her.

With hands balled into tight fists and a jaw tight with tension, Trey stared fixedly toward the second floor.

But in the end, he didn't go up. Instead, he turned toward me.

I knew he wanted me to clean up the mess for Serana again.

This wasn't the first time.

Serana was slender and had long legs. She knew how to play weak in front of male wolves, making her quite popular among them.

Naturally, there were plenty of she-wolves who didn't like her.

Once, she'd been pushed into an ice lake, and Trey had jumped in without a second thought, rescuing her despite the cold.

Since then, whenever Serana got into trouble, he was always the first to show up.

The places where he couldn't appear, I had to handle.

After Danny Gardner, the Alpha of the Gronya pack, had made it known that he intended to take Serana back to the Gronya Pack, those who were already jealous of her had gotten worse.

They believed that just being seen by Danny, even if it was only for a moment, could earn them enormous benefits.

"Let go of your hands."

The leader of the group crossed her arms and sneered. "Danny likes you, right? Show us what exactly made him choose you, then."

"Please, don't do this. There are so many people watching…" Serana shrank back, her voice trembling.

"Stop pretending."

Another she-wolf laughed coldly. "If you were really clean, would Trey protect you, or Danny single you out?"

"Exactly. Stop playing the victim while you've got every wolf in the North wrapped around your finger."

Serana was forced to step back. Her back pressed against the balcony railing on the second floor.

Trey, unable to wait any longer, pushed me from behind and whispered urgently, "Leah, go."

I stumbled, nearly catching my heel on the edge of the steps.

But he didn't even glance at me. His whole focus was on Serana.

I forced a smile and made my way up to the second floor.

As soon as Serana saw me, she rushed behind me and said in a trembling voice, "Leah, help me."

I glanced at the she-wolves in front of me and spoke coldly. "Humiliating someone publicly at the auction center? Do you want to drag your entire pack down with you?"

The lead she-wolf was Kendra Wheeler from the Graywolf pack.

Raising an eyebrow, she smiled with a hidden meaning. "Leah, we're just trying to help you see her true colors."

"Yeah," the she-wolf next to her chimed in. "A few days ago, I saw Trey walking around the neutral zone with her. Don't you find that suspicious?"

Serana shook her head desperately, but her fingers gripped my arm tightly as she slowly moved toward the railing. "That's not true! Leah, don't listen to their nonsense!"

"Nonsense?" Kendra sneered. "Just yesterday, I—"

Before she could finish, Serana suddenly screamed and fell backward.

At the next moment, she flipped over the railing, plummeting to the first floor.

"Serana!"

Trey practically lunged to catch her, and the two of them went sprawling to the ground together.

Ignoring the scratches on his arm, he held her tightly as he repeatedly asked, "Where are you hurt? Talk to me!"

Shaken, Serana took several seconds before slowly raising her tear-streaked face to look at me. "Leah… why did you push me?"

Trey's gaze shot up, cold as ice. "Leah Stewart! I told you to go up to help her, not push her!"

It wasn't until this very moment that I finally understood why Serana had been pulling me back all along.

She had been planning to pin the blame on me from the start.

"She threw herself down," I said flatly.

Serana immediately lowered her head, her shoulders shaking, as if she didn't even dare to argue. "I-It was my fault. I lost my balance. It's not Leah's fault…"

When she said that, Trey's gaze at me turned to pure disgust.

"I saw everything clearly from down here. How long are you going to keep lying?"

With those final words, he ignored the collective gaze of the surrounding wolves and swept Serana into his arms before carrying her out of the auction center.

As I watched their retreating backs, I suddenly lost all desire to explain myself.

Trey had already decided on the answer in his mind anyway.