Chapter 1
~Isabella~
“Ahhh!” I curled up on the straw mat in the Moon Claw Pack’s abandoned cabin, my bonding mark burning red hot and bleeding.
The day we became one, my chosen mate, Victor, marked me. But now it felt torn open, as if sliced by a burning blade.
Screams erupted from me. Not just from the pain, but from the realization that my mate was cheating on me. That was the only reason why his mark on me was bleeding.
Today was supposed to be the day Victor and I had our mating ceremony, but he was making love to another woman.
The pain was too much on me.
“Victor, stop please!” The scream tore from my insides.
I could see him in my mind—in bed with another naked woman, Diana. It had to be her. She has always been the only person who came between us.
“I need to find Victor,” I told myself.
But who was I kidding, I couldn’t even walk.
It wasn’t just his betrayal causing my pain. A few months ago, I had taken a dagger coated with wolfsbane poison meant for Victor. The blade pierced my heart and shattered my soul. Since then, my life had never been the same. I became terminally ill. My wolf grew weak. I was left crippled.
I saved his life—my Victor, the only man I ever loved. But he didn’t even bother to see me.
I was once the Alpha’s little princess of the Moon Claw pack, yet now I was barely surviving in the pack’s storage room!
Pain washed over me, my bleeding head, my aching chest, the mark on my shoulder, my crippled leg.
Every part of me burned.
I couldn’t keep my eyes open for long, it was all too much. I let myself succumb to darkness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
SLAP!
A sharp stinging pain erupted from my face again. Making me finally wake up.
There she was, Diana. Victor’s mistress, who was merely an omega from a neighboring pack.
She had struck my face.
“Where is Victor? I need to see him?” These were the first words that came from me.
SLAP! Her palm landed on my cheeks yet again.
I gasped, holding my cheeks and groaning out in pain. It was all too much, my heart was failing, the bleeding mark and the poison residue within me were killing me. Now Diana’s slap added to the pains.
“Who do you think you are to ask to see him?” She had a smug look on her face as she stared at me with great disdain.
“A crippled wolf like you can’t see Victor. I won’t let you see him.” Diana smirked, resting her hand on her slightly bulging belly.
My eyes grew wide. Even though my mind was in chaos, I knew what that meant.
“Stop dreaming. Let me tell you the good news…” She came closer, making sure to maintain eye contact with me.
“I’m pregnant with Victor’s child. You’ll have nothing more to do with him.”
The words cut deep into my bleeding heart.
Bearing Victor’s pup had once been my greatest wish. Every time I wanted to have sex with him and get pregnant with his pup, to prove our bond was real, Victor refused me. I had even wondered if he was incapable, sexually frigid… but now I knew the truth. He simply didn’t want me.
If this had been in the past, I would have lunged at Diana, teeth bared, claws out, even if my wolf could no longer shift. I would have torn into her like a mad thing. But now… I was too weak. Too empty, I couldn’t even stand if I wanted to.
Diana chuckled coldly.
“This is exactly how useless Victor wants you to be. You’re an eyesore, Isabella. The sooner you die, the better.”
My heart clenched. “Victor... wants me to die?”
Why? Why did he hate me so much?
I had given him everything. Ten years of my life. My father’s pack lands, the pack members, the company, my love, my wolf’s very strength. I gave him my future. And he gave me nothing, not even the chance to see him one last time.
“Does Victor know I’m dying?” My voice cracked, blood spilling from the side of my lips.
Diana didn’t hesitate.
“He knows of course.” Diana pulled out her phone, “I don’t think you get it. Victor never loved you; he wishes you were dead already.”
Victor’s voice suddenly sounded, and I realized Diana was playing a recording,
“Isabella? I’ve already taken over her pack. Keeping her alive is just a burden; it’s better if she dies sooner.”
The words slammed into me like another knife. My vision blurred. For a month, he had vanished. Since the day he proposed breaking the engagement, he had moved out of our chambers, blocked me from his mind-link, entirely erased me from his life.
He never loved me. All his tenderness and affection were just an act, always for my pack.
I once loved his ambition, loved the way his eyes lit up when he talked about the future, but I never imagined his empire would be built on my sacrifice.
The truth hurts more than the silver that pierced my body that day.
“If I were you, Isabella, I’d never love a man so much I’d lose my dignity. The more you grovel, the more men despise you. Learn that lesson, if you live long enough.”
Diana gripped my collar, I helplessly fell towards her. Her gaze on me was cruel and unfriendly.
“No, no!” I mumbled one last helpless plea that fell into deaf ears.
I watched as Diana’s eyes darkened.
She pulled out a dagger, one coated with wolfsbane.
Pain exploded in my chest as the dagger pierced my heart. Hot blood poured down my tattered dress. I gasped, clawing at the air, my voice breaking on one last name.
“Victor...”
But Victor would never come.
“Let me let you in on a secret,” Diana’s voice sounded in my head.
“The poison in your body could have been removed the very day it got in there. But Victor warned the healers to let it kill you slowly. The rogue ambush was never real, Isabella. Victor and I orchestrated it and you, my dear. Fell for it and now, you’ll have to go meet your make…”
I clutched my chest in pain. How much of an idiot I have been. Tears filled my eyes. The pain in my chest couldn’t even be compared with how terrible I felt knowing they’d made a fool out of me.
My last memory was of an exceptionally handsome man. I thought the angels were here to pick me up. Until he spoke and I realised I’ve heard that voice before.
I forced my eyes open to take a closer look at him, silver hair, deep grey cold eyes, an imposing figure. That was only one person. Damien, my father’s best friend. The alpha of the Crimson Pack, the strongest and most influential pack in the empire, my fated mate, the man I brutally humiliated countless times at 18 just to be with Victor. Never in this life did I imagine he’d be the one to collect my body after my passing. Tears filled my eyes as he lifted me off the filthy ground.
“I failed to protect you, Isabella,” he bowed his head, bringing me to his chest.
Tears blurred my vision as my head bowed in shame and regret.
The pain within me got worse, the silver, wolfsbane and the wound won. My chest grew cold. I could feel the world slipping away from my view.
Was this it? Was this my end? For an alpha female, it was a shameful way to die.
I managed to look up to the sky, to the moon goddess. With pain and bitterness, I let out a whisper.
“You brought Victor into my life. Now, it’s about to end because of him. It’s unfair. ”
“If I ever get another chance, I’ll make the leech pay!”
And then I let the darkness consume me.
~~~~~~~~~
My eyes opened to sun rays peeking at me through the window.
Some books lay open on the desk where my head rested.
My heart nearly stopped as I looked down at my legs. I touched my chest, but felt no pain. I rose to my feet, I was no longer crippled.
The chains, the blood, the agony—all of it vanished.
“How’s this possible?” I mumbled, taking in the environment before me.
I was back in my senior year of the werewolf high school.
“What is going on?” I was confused and trying to come to terms with the fact that I was supposed to be dead but somehow I’m back here.
My fingers curled into fists as the shock gave way to cold clarity. I was alive again, reborn, though I had no idea how. But the fact was, I’d been given a second chance.
“Isabella!” Victor’s voice barked from outside the door, breaking into my thoughts.
The twenty-year-old Victor.
He approached with that same arrogant stride I once found attractive, his dark hair catching the light.
“Diana has a stomachache. Go buy her medicine, and get her some food. Make it heavy with meat. She’s lean. She needs nourishment.”
The moment he came into view, my rage burned hot.
It was this deceitful man who stole my clan’s authority, drove a dagger into my heart, and made me die without dignity.
In my past life, I treated his every command like the word of God. Whatever he wanted, I would do—just to make him look at me.
Not anymore. From this moment on, I know I can set everything right.
“And why should I do that?” I raised a brow, watching him walk up to me.
He seemed taken aback by my outburst at first. But then he was quick to mask it.
“Isabella, if you don’t go, I won’t talk to you all week!” He tried to threaten me like he has always done in the past, but I cut him off.
“You think I care? I’m done running errands for you Victor. I won’t be doing anything for you anymore. ”
“Go to hell!”
The Moon Goddess gave me a second chance, and I swear, I’ll take back everything he ever stole from me—one by one.
