Naked

Naked
The werewolves stood in the middle of the village, the large expanses of land surrounded by the wooden houses that had been built. 
Healers surrounded them, watching intently and waiting for the leader of the werewolves to drop from the sky. Damon stood in front of the werewolves, taking the role of the temporary leader as he faced the real leaders of the healers.
The leaders of the healers had absolutely nothing against these innocent werewolves. However, the same could not be said for the leaders.
Especially Marisol.
She had told Chase to leave. She told him to leave and never to return to this small village.
However, he had done the opposite of that, and not only did he disobey her, he also brought his people to her. 
What was his problem?
For minutes, there was a deathly silence. Amongst the leaders stood Dali, and next to her was Celyn. They all had bones to pick with Chase. Both Chase and Kiara.
For Kiara, it was Celyn.
Right at that moment, Kiara and Chase fell from the sky. Kiara dropped to the ground on her two feet, while Chase came from the sky as a wolf but dropped in his alternative form.
Naked.
Dali turned her eyes away.
Seeing the scene before her, Kiara could already guess what was happening. She had promised Chase that she would stand by him, that she would defend him, and after what she had just come to discover, Chase was never really the problem. 
None of what happened was entirely his fault.
So she stepped forward.
“Chase Konerak!” Marisol called. “I told you never to return.”
Before Chase could get a word out, Kiara spoke.
“So he should let these werewolves be food to the vampires?”
Alexa glared at Kiara. “This has nothing to do with you, Kiara.” 
“It does!” Kiara yelled. “More than anyone else, this has a lot to do with me.” She spoke with the lingering anger from facing Glenda and the heroism in her to save these werewolves.
Standing in front of the leaders that provided for her, the ones that acted like her family for years. 
“So you do remember what this man did to you?” Alexa spoke. “You died, Kiara! And you dare stand next to him?”
“You’re also forgetting that my family were killed by him,” she said.
Behind her, Chase’s eyes flashed with shock. He had always known and had come to accept that he had killed Kiara, but he thought that was where it ended. He never realized that not only did he kill her, he also killed her family?
Who was her family?
How did this happen?
What had he been thinking?
He lowered his head. Shame, guilt, and remorse overwhelmed him. He could no longer lift his head because he had not lived a life that would make him stand tall amongst these people. 
A few days ago, he had been so arrogant. He had regretted what he did to the world but not to them, and he had been so suffocating that he actually uttered those words, showing no concern for how the others felt.
Alexa swallowed, suddenly unable to think of anything to say. Yes, Kiara had suffered the most from Chase if pain was being measured. Her mother, her stepfather, her siblings — all of them had been killed, and the sword did not spare her. She also had died for a fleeting moment until she was rescued by Dali’s bite.
However, she could not understand one thing: if Kiara was so aware, so cognizant of what he did to her, why does she still stand next to him? Why does she still defend him?
Was she so amazing that she could easily forgive him?
Forgive a man that had never apologized for what he had done?
“I know you have questions,” Kiara’s voice suddenly reduced. “And I will tell you only one thing.” She pointed to the man behind her, the man who harbored the hatred of everyone watching, even the hatred of his own people. 
Chase.
“All he had done was never on his own accord,” she said. 
“What do you mean?” Deidre suddenly asked.
“He was under a spell.”
Gasps.
Chase’s heart skipped a beat in shock.
Both the leaders, Dali and Celyn, had their eyebrows raised in absolute disbelief when those words were spoken.
Silence took over the village.
Dali’s laugh broke the silence. She laughed heartily for a while before she stepped forward, standing in front of Alexa. 
“I never realized you were this funny. I always wondered how Celyn could like someone with no sense of humor, but it seems I was wrong. You really are funny.”
Kiara dropped her hand. When faced with a number of people, her confidence, her words were spoken out confidently. However, faced with Dali, after she came back to life as her childe, there was a strong sense of their dynamic within her. 
Her confidence waned when faced with her sire.
Dali glared at Chase, who stood behind Kiara, standing behind the protection of a woman.
“So you’re telling me that attacking the witches and the healers had been nothing but the works of a spell?” Dali asked, bringing her eyes back to Kiara. “Was this a lie the two of you came up with? Why are you standing up for him?”
Kiara shook her head. “This is not a lie, Dali.”
Chase, on the other hand, stood with his lips sealed. He knew better than to say anything. They hated him. Absolutely abhorred him, and that fact was something that daily, he reminded himself. He was hated. He shouldn’t speak.
He had been reduced. He should know his place.
“When we went to take the wolves, we met Glenda.”
That name made Dali’s heart freeze. “Glenda.”
Kiara nodded her head. “You have never trusted Glenda. You saw that things only changed when Glenda came into the picture, and that is because she was the one who cast a spell on him. She was manipulating him, making him do her bidding.” 
Dali scoffed. She knew better than anyone who Glenda was. She had hated Glenda mainly because Chase showed so much interest in her regardless of the fact that she was a witch. Chase cared for her, and one night, he had wanted to have sex with her, but he couldn’t.
So yes, Dali knew Glenda. Too well.
“You have to believe me,” Kiara cried out. “I would never lie to you. I swear, Glenda is behind all of this. Chase never did any of that on his own.”
“Fine!” Marisol yelled out. 
Everyone turned to her. 
“There’s a way I can find out if truly he was under a spell. The residue of magic can easily be spotted, and I can tell what kind of spell it was,” she said, glaring at the naked man.
“And if he doesn’t have a trace of that spell in him,” Alexa continued, “then I will have Dali kill him.”