Two

CHAPTER TWO ; Catherine's POV

I woke up gasping.

Sunlight streamed through gauzy curtains,birds sang outside the window and my alarm clock showed 6:47 AM, the numbers glowing red in the early morning light, at the bottom was today's date.

My wedding day!.

Again!?

I lay frozen in my childhood bed at the Anderson estate, my body drenched in sweat, my heart slamming against my ribs so hard I thought it might burst through my chest. My throat felt raw like I'd been screaming. My chest ached where Selene's hands had burned.

But there were no marks, no chains and no blood, it's like I just woke up from a bad dream and all this never happened. 

Except it did and this is the third time in a row. I'd died twice and somehow woken up here, on this same morning, in this same bed, staring at this same ceiling.

I pressed shaking hands to my face. The memories were clearer this time, sharper, no longer hidden behind fog. I could see it all now, both deaths playing out in my mind like a nightmare I couldn't escape.

The first time: I'd begged Anderson at the altar, humiliated myself in front of everyone, married him anyway. That night, Luna and Selene came. I died confused, not understanding why anyone would want anything from someone as worthless as me.

The second time: I'd begged again, been stupid enough to marry again but when they came that night, I'd remember and fought back. Unfortunately it wasn't enough as I died screaming, begging to understand why this kept happening.

Now I am back for the third time.

“They want something from me,” I mutter quietly to myself in realization while sitting up slowly. “Something they can only take on my wedding night. Something valuable enough to kill me for two different times” 

Luna and Selene were going to kill me again tonight if I went through with this wedding.

Unless I didn't.

The thought was so simple it almost made me laugh. Unless I didn't marry Anderson and I didn't give them another chance to chain me down and drain whatever it was they wanted.

Unless this time, I chose differently.

I stood on trembling legs and walked to my closet where my wedding dress hung like a dead cow. A Size eighteen that has been altered  three times because Luna kept making comments about whether I'd fit down the aisle, whether the photographers could make me look "presentable," whether Anderson's reputation could survive being married to someone my size.

For seven years I'd believed I was lucky. Lucky that the Anderson family took me in when my father gave me to the Alpha family at sixteen in a blood oath that can only be broken when I marry Anderson and we consummated things. I've always believed I was lucky that Anderson was willing to marry someone fat and broken like me.

But what if it wasn't luck? What if they needed me specifically? What if I'd been kept here, medicated and controlled, for this exact purpose?

‘This time will be different,’’I whispered to myself in the empty room.

I reached for my medication bottle on the nightstand, the pills Dr. Selene prescribed for my mental illness, the pills I took religiously every single day to keep from going rogue. My hand hesitated.

Then I took one anyway. I couldn't risk whatever illness I had manifesting today of all days. I needed to be stable, clearheaded, strong enough to do what I'd never done before.

Walk away.

---

Six hours later, I stood at the altar in the Grand Ballroom of the Moonveil Estate. Crystal chandeliers cast golden light over the two hundred guests of pack members, business associates, supernatural elite from across the region. Cameras flashed constantly. 

This was the society wedding of the season, broadcast across supernatural social media, the billionaire heir Anderson Anderson finally marrying his blood-oath bride.

I felt the honeymoon tickets digging into my ribs where I'd hidden them in my corset earlier just in case I found the courage to do what I'd never done before.

Anderson stood beside me in his custom tuxedo, not looking at me. He hadn't looked at me all day, not during photos or during the ceremony. His eyes kept drifting as usual to the front row where Selene sat in a pale blue dress, beautiful and thin and perfect.

The officiant's voice echoed through the ballroom: "Do you, Anderson Anderson, take Catherine Vale to be your bride and your Luna?"

Anderson opened his mouth.

Then Selene gasped loudly and collapsed in her seat : I've seen this same exact scene play out several times now ; The ballroom erupted, guards and guests surged toward her. Anderson moved instinctively, stepping away from me, away from the altar, his face twisted with concern for her.

I knew this moment. I'd lived it twice.

This was where I'd drop to my knees. Where I'd beg Anderson and I'd humiliate myself in front of everyone while cameras captured every pathetic second.

Anderson turned back to me, his expression almost apologetic. "I'm sorry, Catherine. Selene has been my love since we were children. I can't possibly—"

"Don't bother, Anderson."

My voice rang clear through the ballroom. Guests froze and cameras swiveled toward me.

I reached up with steady hands—steadier than I'd ever felt in my life—and removed my veil. "I withdraw my consent, and I reject you, Anderson Anderson of Moonveil Pack."

The words fell into the stunned silence like stones into still water, the only sound I could hear was my breathy sound.

Luna shot to her feet, her face a mask of fury. "You can't—"

"I just did." I looked at Anderson, this man who'd made me feel worthless for seven years, who'd let me die twice. "Go to her. You're free."

I gathered my ridiculous wedding dress in both hands, while still feeling the tickets pressing against my ribs, and walked down the aisle past the shocked guests, the flashing cameras, Luna's outraged screaming and Anderson's stuttered protests.

The massive doors stood open at the end of the aisle and beyond them was freedom. Beyond them was a life I'd never dared imagine. While chaos erupted behind me I didn't stop to rethink things or look back at Anderson calling my name.

I walked through those doors and kept walking, I was about to take the last step out of the building when a heavy and thick hand landed on my shoulders and spun me around.

“Where do you think you're going?”