Chapter Three: A Second Chance

LARA'S POV

I wasn't dead but I wasn't alive either.

A blinding light surrounded everything, so bright it hurt. I was standing in whiteness with no ground beneath me and no pain. I touched my chest where the blade had gone in, but there was no wound. I touched my stomach, but there was nothing there.

"My baby," I whispered, my voice echoed in the emptiness, "where's my baby?"

"Safe," a voice said, a woman's voice that sounded like music and thunder at the same time, "your daughter is safe with me."

I looked around, and she was there—the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, with long silver hair and eyes that looked like the moon.

"Who are you?" I asked. "Where am I?”

"I am the Moon Goddess," she said, walking closer, I realized she was glowing.                 

“Lara Voss, I am here to direct you on the right path, you were brutally murdered by the man you trusted and your baby has been taken for a dark ritual."

Hearing it out loud made it real, made my chest hurt even without a body. "Kael killed me, he killed our baby, I don't understand why."

"The Alpha Curse," she said, her voice was sad, "an ancient ritual that grants immortality through blood sacrifice. They needed your blood because you carry my magic in your veins, your baby's innocent soul, and one final thing.

"What thing?" I asked, "what else could they possibly need?"

"The Vale twins' ancient Alpha power," she said, watching my face, "Cian and Rowan Vale, the Frostborn Alphas. They descend from the first Alphas I ever blessed, and their bloodline carries power older than the packs themselves."

The names meant nothing to me. "I don't know who those are."

"You will," she said, "after tonight Kael will hunt them, bind their power through dark magic, steal what makes them strong. Both packs will fall and everything will collapse because of what happened to you."

My mind was spinning. "Why are you telling me this? I'm dead, there's nothing I can do."

"I can offer you a choice," she stepped closer, her eyes boring into mine, "I can send you back Lara, seven years into the past, before Kael chose you and before any of this happened."

Hope flared in my chest. "You can bring me back? You can save my baby?”

"I can give you the chance to save her yourself," she said, "but there are conditions; the twins are your true fated mates. You must work with them, trust them, and let them help you."

"Wait, what?" I said. "Kael is my mate; he chose me and marked me."

"He was your choice," she corrected, "they are your fate. There's a difference, Lara. Your soul has been calling to theirs and that's why you dream of them."

My stomach dropped. "The dreams, the two men I dream about, that's them? Those are  the twins?"

"Your soul knew even when your mind didn't," she said, "they've been dreaming of you too, searching for you, waiting."

This was insane— impossible. "So you want me to go back and find these random Alphas and tell them we're mates?"

"I want you to stop the ritual," she said firmly, "save yourself, your daughter, the twins, and the pack. But I must warn you, if you choose revenge over love, if you let hate consume you, your daughter will pay the price."

"What does that mean?" Fear crept into my voice.

"I will keep her soul safe while you're in the past," she said, "but your choices matter—choose vengeance and she dies, choose love and she lives. The path you walk determines everything."

I touched my stomach even though there was nothing there. "I just want my baby back, I want her to live."

"Then trust your true mates," she said, "trust fate and trust love. It's the only way."

Before I could ask more questions she touched my forehead and I felt warm. "Wait, I don't know how to find them, I don't know what to do."

"You'll know," her voice was fading, "your soul will guide you. Trust the pull, Lara, and trust the bond."

Everything went dark, and suddenly I was falling and tumbling through nothing. I was helpless—voiceless, the world shattering  around me.

Then I heard voices—a child crying, begging, “Mom, please save me.” Other voices followed, urgent and desperate : “Lara you have to break the curse. Don’t let it happen again.”

I tried to move towards them, reaching for the child’s voice, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get closer. The distance never changed, and the voices only grew fainter.”

Everything vanished—the world dissolved completely, leaving me alone in emptiness. I couldn't reach  the child or break free from whatever held me back and the silence that followed was heavy and terrifying.