A Rage Curse swept through the werewolf world. Only an Alpha strong enough to fight it could keep his throne.

I was Alpha Liam’s personal alchemist. For nine years, I brewed "Serenity," the only potion that held back his curse.

I dragged his pack, Silverclaw, from a back-alley crew to a pharma empire. I turned him from a rabid dog into a king.

Liam promised me the Chief Alchemist title. He promised me millions in profit sharing the day the potion went public.

But on his coronation day, he gave it all to Chloe, a she-wolf who’d just joined the pack.

All because she was high-born. The perfect face for the pack's new image.

And me? I was just a lowly Omega.

I confronted him. He crushed me with his Alpha aura.

"You're an Omega. Be grateful I even let you stay. Without me, rogues would've torn you to shreds by now!"

I walked out before he could throw me out.

We’ll see who gets torn to shreds first.

But I know one thing. Without my potion, that power he's so proud of... will turn him back into the rabid animal he truly is.

"Harper's pathetic. Nine years and she couldn't even make Chief Alchemist."

"Please. Chloe's high-born. She got 'Serenity' to market in two months. That's real talent."

"Figures. An Omega alchemist was always a joke."

I stood just around the corner, their familiar voices like poison in my ear.

The main hall of Silverclaw Tower was packed. They were all buzzing about today's ceremony.

Chloe was about to become Chief Alchemist. She was getting everything that should have been mine.

"I always said Harper was just a front," said Elena, the woman I once called sister. "Someone with real skill wouldn't need nine years."

A small vial of pale green liquid hung from her belt.

The "Soul-Heal" potion I’d made for her three months ago.

She'd been attacked by rogues. Her inner wolf was dying.

I stayed up for seventy-two hours straight, testing hundreds of herbs to save her life.

Now she was standing there, laughing at me with the others.

"Bloodline is everything," Elena continued. "Chloe's father was an Alpha. Even if her pack fell, she was born better than some."

A sharp pain shot through my chest.

Then I smirked.

I strode into the crowd. The chatter died the second they saw me.

"Harper?" Elena’s face went pale. "What are you doing here?"

I didn't say a word.

I walked right up to her and snatched the vial from her belt.

"No—" Elena tried to stop me, but she was too slow.

I yanked it free.

The glass vial shattered on the marble floor.

Green liquid splashed everywhere.

A life-saving potion worth fifty thousand dollars.

Elena stared at the broken glass, terror in her eyes. She knew that without it, her inner wolf would begin to wither.

But she didn't dare move. She knew my temper.

The others were dead silent.

I stared at the pack I’d bled for. My heart went cold.

If this pack won't give me what's mine, then to hell with it.

I turned on my heel and stalked toward the underground lab.

As the elevator went down, I remembered that night nine years ago.

I carried my dying adoptive father, Marcus, to the edge of the Silverclaw territory.

Liam had just become Alpha. The Rage Curse had just taken hold of him.

After he lost control one night, he saw what I could do.

"We don't care about rank in this pack," he’d told me. "Only real talent."

"My father is dying. He needs medicine," I said.

"Help me control this curse, and I'll give you a ten-million-dollar share," Liam promised, grabbing my hand. "Enough to cure any sickness."

I believed him.

For nine years, I poured my blood, sweat, and tears into this lab.

Countless sleepless nights. Countless burns. Countless failures.

The Silverclaw pack grew from a back-alley crew to a pharma empire.

We used the profits from other potions to fund our work, hunting for a cure to the Rage Curse.

Finally, "Serenity" was born.

Liam went from an unstable Alpha to an untouchable leader.

But the potion was still missing something. It wasn't stable enough for a full market release.

Two months ago, Chloe joined.

I knew Liam hired her as another alchemist. I knew she was the daughter of a fallen Alpha.

But she never looked down on me. She acted like she was eager to learn, saying she’d lost her home and just wanted a place to belong.

At the time, Marcus was getting worse. I was swamped, trying to finalize "Serenity."

Sometimes I’d give Chloe my notes and send her to find rare ingredients.

I thought she was here to help.

I never imagined it. In their eyes, she was the prodigy. I was just the hired help.

I stared at my life's work, scattered across the lab bench. My heart didn't just ache. It shattered.

The click of high heels echoed behind me.

"Harper."

Chloe pushed the door open. She'd changed out of her ceremony dress and into a white lab coat, trying to look professional.

"This position... it should have been yours," she said softly, her voice dripping with fake guilt.

I didn't stop, just kept packing my glass beakers.

"I may be high-born, but I only finished the potion thanks to your foundation," Chloe said, stepping closer. "If you're upset, I can ask Liam to compensate you."

I finally stopped.

I turned and looked at her perfect, lying face.

And I laughed.

"If you had an ounce of shame, you would renounce the title and the money," I said, my voice dangerously low. "Then you would get on your knees and apologize to me in front of the entire pack."

The sweet smile on Chloe's face froze.

"What did you say?"

"I said, give me back what's mine." I took a step toward her. "Then get out of my lab."

She stumbled back, her gentle mask crumbling away.

"You worthless Omega!" Her voice was shrill. "You were never good enough to be Chief Alchemist! You just had a few years' head start. I earned this!"

"A few years' head start?" I laughed out loud. "Chloe, the final version of 'Serenity' has only one new ingredient."

Her face turned white.

"It's called 'Moonshadow.' I found it on the black market when I was getting medicine for my father." I pulled out my phone and showed her the purchase history. "See? Time, place, price. It's all here."

"I was too busy, so I asked you to add it." I stared into her eyes. "So tell me, how did that become your discovery?"

Chloe's lips trembled. She had nothing to say.

"And another thing." I sniffed the air. "That cheap perfume you're wearing? It has a chemical reaction with 'Serenity.' It's pathetic. Our new Chief Alchemist doesn't even know the first rule of alchemy."

"You're lying!" she shrieked.

"Am I?" I suddenly grabbed her arm and yanked up her sleeve.

A patch of red spots was spreading across her skin.

"This rash is the proof." I sneered. "Should we go show everyone?"

"Let go of me!" Chloe ripped her arm away.

Her eyes darted around the room, landing on a small bottle on the corner of the lab bench.

It was the potion I had just made for Marcus. A pale blue liquid. His only hope.

"Using pack resources for yourself!" Chloe snatched the vial. "Making private potions for your pathetic father in the pack's lab!"

"Put. It. Down," I snarled, my voice dangerously low. "Liam approved that himself."

"You and your useless father should just die!"

She raised the vial high and slammed it onto the floor.

The sound of shattering glass filled the lab.

Blue liquid splashed everywhere.

That potion took me a full week to brew.

Marcus was getting worse. He needed more of it just to stay alive. Every drop was precious.

Rage erupted inside me.

My inner wolf howled.

And just like that, my control snapped.

I lunged for Chloe.

She didn't move. She just smiled, a smug look on her face. Like she wanted this.

My nails grew into sharp claws.

I raked them across her face.

"Aaargh!" Chloe screamed and fell, blood pouring from the wound.

Just then, the lab door burst open.

"Stop!"

Liam stormed in, his eyes burning with fury.

He saw Chloe on the floor, bleeding from three deep claw marks on her face. He instantly went feral.

"Harper!" his roar shook the entire lab. "What have you DONE?!"

Liam’s hand closed around my throat, lifting me off the ground.

His strength was terrifying.

I felt his fingers tighten, cutting off my air.

"She tried to kill me!" Chloe screamed from the floor. "She's a traitor!"

I struggled to breathe. My lungs burned.

My legs kicked uselessly in the air.

"I should have killed you long ago," Liam's eyes were pure red, his pupils slitted. "You filthy Omega. Daring to harm my Chief Alchemist."

Black spots danced in my vision. My head went light.

But I had to speak.

"Kill..." I forced the word out, my throat raw. "...me..."

"What?" Liam lifted me higher.

"Who'll make... your potion?"

The words hit him like a lightning bolt.

Liam froze for a second. A flicker of reason fought through the rage.

I was right. He needed the potion.

He'd been injecting "Serenity" every single night since I first made it, just to stay sane.

Who else could brew it for him?

But it was just a second.

"I don't need you!" he roared, slamming me to the ground. "Chloe is better than you!"

He slammed me against a solid silver mortar.

Sharp metal edges cut into my back. Blood soaked through my shirt.

"Get up," Liam ordered, looking down at me. His voice was ice. "I'm announcing your sentence."

I pushed myself up, my hand slipping in the growing pool of my own blood.

"Harper, formerly of the Silverclaw pack," Liam declared, "is hereby Exiled for treason, for attacking the Chief Alchemist, and for endangering the pack."

Exile.

The worst punishment a wolf could receive.

"I strip you of your pack name. I strip you of your right to shelter. I strip you of your safe passage." Every word was a nail in my coffin. "From this moment on, you are a Rogue. Any wolf who sees you is free to attack."

Chloe got to her feet. The rash was still on her face, but she was smiling.

"Now get out of my territory," Liam pointed to the door. "I want you gone in one hour."

I didn't speak.

I didn't beg. I didn't argue.

I grabbed my bag off the floor. As I shoved a few of my tools inside, my fingers brushed against a small, cold vial.

I slipped it into the bag's inner pocket.

It was the mother strain of Serenity. The source. They didn't even know it existed.

Then I walked to the door.

"Harper," Liam called out from behind me.

I turned back.

"If you dare tell anyone our secrets, I will rip out your tongue myself."

I looked at this man.

Nine years ago, he was just a young Alpha losing his mind.

My potion gave him his power. My loyalty built his empire.

And now, he wanted me dead.

"Understood," I said calmly.

Then I walked out without looking back.

I left them with their perfect new alchemist and a lab full of formulas.

What they didn't know was that I'd just stolen the heart of "Serenity" itself.

They put their faith in that fool. Now let’s watch her try to keep the ‘glory’ of Serenity from crumbling.

The slums were a world away from the gleaming towers of the city's heart.

No neon lights here. No skyscrapers. Just crumbling apartments and streets filled with trash.

Humans eked out a living here. So did a few rogues with nowhere else to go.

I pushed open a rusted iron door.

"Dad, I'm home."

A frail old man lay on the bed.

Marcus. My adoptive father.

"Harper?" Marcus struggled to open his eyes. "Why are you back so early?"

I sat on the edge of the bed. His forehead was burning up.

Without his medicine, his illness was eating him alive.

"I was exiled," I said simply.

Marcus tried to sit up, but he was too weak. "That bastard! After everything you did for him—"

"It's okay." I took a small vial from my bag. It was diluted "Serenity." "Drink this first."

Marcus took it and drank it all in one go.

A few minutes later, his breathing evened out. The fever started to break.

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"We survive." I looked out the window at the night sky. "There's always a way."

Meanwhile, back at the Silverclaw tower.

Liam stood in the med-bay, watching a doctor check Chloe's face.

"It's just a superficial scratch," the doctor said. "It'll be fully healed in three days."

"Good," Liam said, relieved. "She can't miss the board meeting tomorrow."

Chloe leaned back on the bed. Her face was bandaged, but she was in a great mood.

"That bitch is finally gone," she said, pleased. "Now the lab is all ours."

"Of course." Liam walked to the window, looking down at the city he ruled. "The Werewolf Alliance deal is about to close. As long as we have the formula, we don't need her."

"She won't talk," Chloe scoffed. "She's a Rogue. Who's going to believe a word she says?"

Liam nodded.

He was sure he'd made the right call.

Harper was just a brewer. Easily replaced.

The formula was what mattered.

And all of those precious formulas were locked safely away in his lab.