Chapter 7

(Avery’s POV)

Avery’s eyelids fluttered.

The harsh glare of fluorescent lights stabbed at his eyes as he blinked awake, the sterile scent of antiseptic burning in his nostrils. Cold sweat clung to his skin. Confused, disoriented, he scanned the hospital room.

Wasn’t he… dead?

“Avery!” a voice choked with relief.

Shawn stood at his bedside, eyes red and swollen from exhaustion. His relief was palpable as he rushed forward. “You’re finally awake. How are you feeling?”

Avery blinked, his throat dry, his voice rasping. “I… what happened?”

Memories came crashing back like broken glass—painfully sharp and impossible to ignore.

The crumbling of concrete.

Mia’s lifeless body.

Lilith’s trembling voice pointing at him, accusing him of poisoning his own sister. The cell walls closing in. The guards sneering. The beatings. The betrayal. The laughter.

Her laughter.

He remembered how Lilith visited him before his execution—face painted in false sympathy, voice dripping with cruelty.

“You really thought you mattered?”

Back then, he had believed her.

Believed she had saved him. Believed Mia was the one who caused the accident. Believed every lie that dripped from Lilith’s forked tongue.

He had mocked Mia. Spat on her name.

But Mia… had saved him.

Even as the realization set in, it was too late. He had been executed in that life—regret bleeding through every fiber of his being.

Now he was awake. Alive.

Had the Moon Goddess… given him another chance?

Tears welled in his eyes as he slapped himself, twice loud and brutal.

“I’m not even human,” he choked, the sting doing nothing to silence the screams in his chest.

Shawn grabbed his shoulders. “Avery! Stop! What are you doing?”

Avery pushed him away. “Where’s Mia?”

“She is… with Lilith. I had our Warriors bring her to apologize—”

“What?” Avery jerked upright, yanking the IV from his hand.

“Why should she apologize? She didn’t do anything wrong!”

(Mia’s POV)

I wandered through the pristine white halls of the hospital’s VIP ward, heels clicking against marble, heart steady with purpose.

I was here for Alpha Norman. But before I found his room, fate dealt me an unwanted card.

“Why are you here?” Selene’s voice sliced through the hallway like a blade.

I turned slowly, unsurprised to see her—perfectly dressed, face tight with disdain.

“To visit Lilith and Avery,” I lied smoothly, schooling my features into neutrality. I had no interest in tipping her off—not yet.

Selene smirked. “At least you know to show some remorse. Go on then—Lilith’s waiting for your apology.”

My smile was sharp. “Lead the way.”

---

Lilith’s hospital room was staged like a tragedy.

She sat propped up with pristine sheets, eyes brimming with tears, a picture-perfect damsel. The moment she saw me, she flinched theatrically, her voice trembling with practiced fragility.

“Mia… you came to see me?”

Before I could answer, she launched into a sob story, rehearsed and dripping with victimhood.

“I’ve already lost friends. People laugh at me. Avery collapsed trying to defend me. I promise, once I recover, I’ll move out, so you don’t have to see me. Just… please, let me go.”

Selene wrapped her arms around Lilith. “You don’t have to leave, sweetheart. She should leave. I won’t let that jinx hurt you again. Mia can live anywhere else in the pack—just not with us.”

Every word was loud. Intentionally so. She wanted me to feel hurt.

I didn’t.

The woman who birthed me chose her adopted daughter over me every time. Even in this life, she hadn’t changed. And this time, I didn’t come for her love—I came for justice.

“No need to be so loud,” I said coldly. “You don’t have to remind me I’m unwanted.”

“But Mom,” Lilith sniffled dramatically, “Mia is your real daughter… I’m just the adopted one…”

Selene snapped. “Don’t say that! You are my daughter. She’s the mistake. You’re the only one I love.”

Lilith blinked, then turned toward me, fake tears glittering. “Mia… don’t blame her. She’s just overprotective because she loves me so much.”

I tilted my head, eyes gleaming with ice. “If I’m a curse for being born, what does that make you? You weren’t born—you were chosen. That should terrify you.”

Selene’s expression turned murderous. “How dare you! You’ve only been back two days and already harmed Lilith twice and put Avery in the hospital!”

I smirked. “Wow, I must be powerful. If I was this dangerous as a baby, surprised I didn’t take you all out in the womb.”

“Enough!” she snapped. “Make her kneel!”

Two Warriors stormed in.

I didn’t flinch.

I reached into my bag, fingers brushing the needle I always carried—just in case.

But I didn’t need to use it.

“Avery, no!” Selene gasped as a figure shoved between me and the guards.

Avery.

Breathless. Pale. Changed.

“She didn’t do anything,” he said, voice quiet but resolute. “This is my karma. Don’t make her pay for it.”

Selene gaped at him. “You’re defending her?”

“She’s my sister, Mom. My real sister. We’ve hurt her enough.”

Lilith’s eyes shimmered with confusion. And fear.

Avery glanced at her. Cold. Detached.

He no longer saw the sister he once adored—only the mask she wore.

Selene tried again. “She’s the one who hurt Lilith!”

“I’m fine,” Lilith said quickly, pasting on a shaky smile. “Avery’s just… confused.”

But he wasn’t. Not anymore.

Avery turned to me. “Come on. Let’s get out of here.”

When the Warriors moved to block us, Avery shot them a look that made them freeze.

“Unless you want to explain to the Pack Doctor why I flatlined again,” he warned.

We walked out.

For the first time in two lives… side by side.

---

Back in the room, Lilith turned to her parents. “Why is he being so strange?”

Shawn sighed. “Must’ve hit his head too hard.”

Lilith pouted. “I don’t want to go back to school. Everyone’s been whispering.”

Selene rubbed her back. “You don’t have to, sweetheart. We’ll take care of everything.”

But Lilith didn’t want “everything.”

She wanted Avery—and for the first time, she was no longer the center of his world.