No Second Chances

Celeste’s POV

I gasped, my eyes snapping open. I was standing, having abruptly pushed my chair back—in the middle of a classroom. 

Dozens of my former classmates had paused their exams to stare at me in stunned silence.

I was dead. I knew I was dead. So why was I here?

Muffled voices slowly came into focus. “Miss Thorn? Are you deaf?”

I blinked, my heart beating so fast. I looked down at my hands—no blood, no scars. Trembling, I touched my stomach. It was completely flat. My baby was gone.

A sharp gasp escaped my lips, and the room violently spun around me. I grabbed my head as a wave of intense dizziness hit. 

My knees buckled, and I collapsed onto the hard floor.

Chairs scraped as students jumped up, craning their necks to see what was happening to me.

“Miss Thorn? Miss Thorn!” the stern, familiar voice of my old professor called out in alarm.

I tried to push myself up, my hands trembling against the cold floor as a sudden rush of adrenaline pierced through my dizziness.

"Oh gosh! What is wrong with her?!" a girl shrieked nearby.

"Is she okay?!" someone else yelled.

"Oh, please, someone call her knight in shining armor," a snide voice mocked from the back row. "Tell him his little princess is playing the damsel in distress again."

I ignored them, staring at the blurred, familiar faces of my classmates as if they were ghosts. I scrambled to my feet, my breathing shallow and erratic. I stumbled backward, desperately looking for the door.

"Miss Thorn!" my professor called out, bewildered. "Where do you think you’re going? You cannot just leave!"

No words would come out of my mouth. I spun around and bolted out of the classroom.

The moment I rushed into the hallway, I crashed hard into someone. A pair of glasses clattered to the floor. I gasped, my eyes widening as the girl bent down to retrieve them.

It was my best friend, Angela. But her face... she looked so bubbly. 

"Celeste!" she exclaimed, grabbing my hand to steady me.

I froze. Her hand was warm. Solid. I could feel her pulse beneath my fingertips. This isn't a dream, my mind screamed. 

Her expression shifted from surprise to deep concern as she felt me shaking. "Celeste? Are you okay? You're pale..."

"I… I'm…" I stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence. I pulled my hand away, backing up as I looked wildly around the corridor. I felt completely lost.

"Today's the Pre-med exam... where are you going?" Angela asked, stepping toward me.

But I wasn't listening. My eyes had locked onto a massive banner hanging above the main bulletin board: WELCOME TO FALL SEMESTER – 2019.

My lungs seized. I died in 2026. I remembered the blood, the silver, the cold stone floor. And now it’s 2019.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, and the air left my lungs when I saw the caller ID: Caius.

My thumb hovered over the screen, trembling violently before I hit decline. I shoved the phone away, but as I looked up, my heart stopped completely.

He was walking down the hallway.

He wasn't wearing the sharp, dangerous suits of the Alpha he would become. He was wearing his team hockey jersey, his hair slightly messy, his broad shoulders relaxed. His teammates trailed behind him, laughing, but Caius’s eyes were locked entirely on me.

My lips parted, and I whispered his name like a prayer I no longer believed in. "Caius…"

He broke away from his team and jogged over to me, his brow furrowing with that familiar, intense worry. "Cece? What are you doing out here alone? Shouldn't you be taking your Pre-med exam?"

He reached out, his large, warm hand moving to cup my cheek.

I flinched violently, then Caius froze, his hand hanging in the air. A flash of hurt crossed his young, innocent features. "Hey, what's wrong? Did they bully you again?" 

I just stared at him. Tears burned the back of my eyes, blurring my vision. 

Oh, no. I was looking at the boy who would supposedly break anyone's bones just to protect me… But I was also looking at the man who would one day look me in the eyes and order my execution.

Angela gently squeezed my arm. "Celeste, seriously, what is going on? You look like you've seen a ghost," she whispered, glancing nervously back at the classroom door. "You have to go back in there. Professor Joe is strict. He won't let you retake it, and if you fail today, there are no second chances."

No second chances.

Her words echoed in my mind, but they triggered something entirely different. The chaotic panic in my chest began to settle. 

I looked down at my unscarred hands, and a profound realization washed over me. The Moon Goddess had done the impossible. She had given me a second chance at life. The fear completely disappeared, replaced by a cold, burning resolve. I already knew exactly what I was going to do next.

"Breathe, Cece," he teased softly, giving me a slow, effortless wink. "It’s okay, you can pass the exam..."

I didn't smile back. I just turned my back on him and walked straight into the classroom.

What Caius and the rest of them didn't know was that in my past life, I had already graduated from this brutal pre-med program. I had studied day and night until I became the entire pack’s lead healer doctor. 

This exam, which used to give me panic attacks, was now going to be effortlessly easy.

Before, everyone in this room used to laugh at me because my name was always dead last on the academic ranking board. 

But this time? They were going to question everything when they watched me climb straight to the top.