Chapter 3

Soon, Kyle knocked on my door. "Ophelia, are you asleep?"

Before I could answer, the knocking stopped. Kyle had never possessed much patience where I was concerned.

I slipped out of bed and crept to the door, only to see Vivian in a camisole with her arms wrapped around Kyle. "Kyle, my head hurts so much. Am I dying?"

Kyle tried to push her away, but Vivian clung to his hand. "Kyle, please do not send me away or stay angry with me. I missed you every day in the Dark Moon pack. That is why I risked coming back for you."

A vein bulged at Kyle's temple. He said, "I will not be taken in by your sweet talk," even as his hand slid beneath Vivian's skirt with the intimacy of a lover.

Vivian laughed softly and turned as though she meant to leave. "If you truly don't want me, I'll go back to the Dark Moon pack and be their Luna right now."

She had barely finished when Kyle stepped forward, seized her by the throat, and kissed her hard. "How dare you run? Am I not enough for you in bed? Why flee back to that traitorous pack? You should be on your knees, begging me to take you back!"

Kyle released her throat, tore open her camisole, and kissed her hungrily.

Vivian kissed him back through her tears. They devoured each other as if desperate to merge into one body. "No matter what you call me, I cannot stay away from you. Seeing Ophelia at your side broke my heart. Are you truly going to choose that bitch? She must bore you to tears in bed. Tell me who you really love, or I will never sleep with you again!"

Kyle was already hard and desperate to throw Vivian down. Reason had deserted him. "You. You are the only one I want, and the only one I love..."

I picked up my phone and recorded everything. Inside me, there was only stillness. Kyle's betrayal could not raise so much as a ripple in my heart. I no longer loved him.

Instead of returning to bed, I pulled on a coat and went outside. At the festival, I had glimpsed someone familiar, only for him to vanish the next instant.

My feet carried me to the Temple of the Moon Goddess. When I looked up, a tall, powerfully built wolf stood ahead of me: Kyle's uncle, Grant. His rank in the pack was second only to Kyle's, and his strength made him one of the most sought-after males in the entire pack. My aunt Celine even claimed one look at him proved he would be formidable in bed. Unfortunately, Grant was illegitimate, a pup born to the former chief and a maid, and the pack had always shunned him for it.

My heart threatened to pound out of my chest. "Grant," I called, my voice trembling.

Grant was surprised to find me there. I told him about Kyle and Vivian without holding anything back, but he barely reacted. Somehow, he had already known.

Grant arched one eyebrow, a teasing smile curving his lips. "So? Did you come looking for me because you want a new mate to help you take revenge on Kyle?"

He stepped close, his powerful frame towering over me. My heart raced, and I could barely contain what I felt for him.

In my previous life, when I was locked in that cellar dying of wolfsbane, it was Grant who came and fought Kyle. He held my body and wept, and in the end he killed himself beside me.

I was nervous, even afraid, but I asked the question that mattered most. "You were the wolf I saved all those years ago, weren't you?"

Grant didn't deny it.

I could not understand why he had deceived me.

Grant shook his head. "Kyle was the one you loved. Even if I had told you I was the wolf you saved, what could I have done? I was not the pack's Alpha. Only Kyle could give you the life you wanted."

What Grant had not expected was that Kyle was not a man worth entrusting my life to. He had failed me, failed the pack, and continued sleeping with the traitor.

"You’re wrong! I could never care about any of this. Kyle was never the man I loved."

After a long moment, Grant released me and searched my face. "Do you mean that, Ophelia? Think carefully. If you choose me, there will be no going back to Kyle."

When I was ten, I found a wounded pup barely clinging to life while gathering herbs beyond the pack. I saved him, gave him the moonstone pendant I always carried, and made him promise we would meet again. Then he vanished without a word.

I mistook that wolf for Kyle. I gave Kyle my moonstone pendant - and my heart. Yet when I later asked him about our childhood meeting and the pendant, he always gave evasive answers.

That was when I realized I had mistaken one wolf for another.

No one had told me that Grant was the one his own brother had cast out of the pack for being illegitimate.

The image of Grant clutching my body and howling his grief to the sky remained etched in my mind. All for an impostor, I had wounded the man who truly loved me.

I looked up at Grant and spoke solemnly. "I mean it. Grant, I want everyone who hurt me to pay in blood and tears. Will you help me?"

Grant smiled and pressed my hand against his chest. "This time you came to me. Even if you're only using me to take revenge on Kyle, I will never let you go."

We kissed beneath the moon. I breathed in his cool, clean scent and melted into the heat of his embrace, unwilling to move even an inch away.

And Kyle, I would never give him the chance to hurt me again. I would make him and Vivian pay what they owed.

This time, someone else would be driven from the pack!