Chapter 1: Reborn

My heart hammered against my ribs like a trapped beast as I stared into the full-length mirror.

The cold iron chains, the bone-snapping blow to my jaw, Clara’s sharp heel grinding into my bleeding cheek, and the suffocating drop from the gallows, it had all vanished. My skin was smooth, pale, and untouched. No rope burn. No bruises.

I was standing in my dressing room at the Silver Moon Packhouse, wrapped in a deep emerald velvet gown that clung tightly to every rich, voluptuous curve of my body. My heavy breasts overflowed the tight corset, my waist dipped sharply, and my hips flared out with plush, soft weight.

I was twenty again. This was the night of the annual Grand Alliance Banquet. The night Alpha Brandon was supposed to announce our official betrothal as his mate, but instead chose to publicly humiliate me before the entire realm.

A cold, deadly calm washed over the horror of my memories. They thought my curves were a flaw? They thought my soft body made me weak? In my first life, I had starved myself and begged for Brandon’s approval. In this life, I would watch him bleed.

Suddenly, a sharp, searing heat spiked behind my gums. I gasped, clutching my mouth as my canine teeth throbbed violently. I leaned closer to the mirror, pulling my lip down with trembling fingers. Beneath my normal teeth, two sharp, razor-thin white fangs extended downward before slowly retracting back into my gums.

A dark, icy craving roared to life in the pit of my stomach. It wasn't hunger for food, nor was it my wolf spirit waking up. It was a carnivorous, primal thirst for fresh, warm blood.

My mind spun in terror. What was happening to me?

A sudden, dizzying memory flashed behind my eyes, cold ocean water swallowing my lungs, red light cutting through the dark abyss, and the vague, blurred shadow of a breathtaking man with glowing eyes bending over me...

The vision shattered as quickly as it came, leaving my head pounding and my heart racing. I had no idea who that dark shadow was or what had been done to me in the depths of the sea. All I knew was that something terrifying and powerful was waking up inside my body.

"Jennifer! Did you hear me?" my stepmother barked, throwing the dressing room door open with a slam. "Brandon is already on the main stage! Stop obsessing over your weight and get down there!"

I turned slowly, my dark eyes locking onto hers. In my past life, her sharp voice would have made me flinch. Tonight, as I caught the faint, pulsing rhythm of the artery throbbing in her neck, my stomach churned with a dangerous, predatory thrill.

"I'm coming," I said, my voice smooth, cold, and entirely devoid of fear. I stepped past her without a single glance.

The grand ballroom was packed with hundreds of wolves from neighboring territories. Crystal chandeliers cast golden light over silk gowns and polished armor. As I stepped onto the upper balcony, I saw Brandon standing on the central stage under the bright spotlights. Clara stood just two steps behind him, wearing a tight golden sheath dress that highlighted her bony, razor-thin frame.

Brandon looked up, his dark eyes locking onto me as I walked down the grand marble staircase. In my past life, I had cowered under that gaze, terrified of his rejection. Tonight, I held his gaze with a razor-sharp, lethal smirk.

The music faded. The crowd quieted as Brandon stepped up to the crystal microphone.

"Members of the Alliance," Brandon’s voice boomed across the hall, full of arrogant authority. "Tonight was meant to be the celebration of my betrothal to Jennifer Sinclair. But as an Alpha, my first duty is to the strength and prestige of this pack."

He paused, looking directly at me with calculated cruelty, expecting to see me tremble and break.

"A Luna must represent perfection, agility, and power," Brandon continued, his voice amplified so every pack leader could hear. "Jennifer’s... physical state and lack of restraint prove she cannot carry the burden of an Alpha’s mate. She is simply too large, too untamed, and unbefitting of the title."

Gasps rippled through the crowd. Murmurs of secondhand embarrassment bounced off the walls. Clara raised her hand to cover a fake, sympathetic gasp, though her eyes danced with malicious triumph.

"I Brandon Clove reject you Jennider Sinclair as my mate." He said and pain shot through my body but I supressed it.

In my first life, this was the moment I had burst into tears, begging him in front of everyone not to abandon me.

Not tonight.

Before Brandon could launch into his pre-planned speech about demoting me to a servant, I stepped directly onto the dais. The sheer confidence in my stride made him pause, his brow furrowing in confusion.

I didn't wait for him to speak. I reached into the neckline of my dress, unclasped the silver betrothal necklace he had given me two years ago, and held it up between two fingers. My blood thrummed as the scent of his weak Alpha aura hit my nose, and for the first time, it didn't intimidate me. It smelled like prey.

"You're right, Brandon," I said, my voice echoing clearly through the silent hall without a microphone. "A Luna should represent strength and power."

I dropped the silver necklace. It hit the polished stone floor with a sharp, metallic clink.

"And you are entirely too weak to handle a real woman," I added softly, letting my gaze drift dismissively over his stiff posture before landing on Clara. "Keep him, Clara. A scrap like him suits a beggar like you."

The entire ballroom went dead silent. Brandon’s face flushed a deep, ugly red, his jaw dropping open in sheer disbelief. He opened his mouth to bark an order, to reassert his dominance, but I didn't give him the satisfaction.

I turned my back on the Alpha, on my stepmother, and on the pack that had cheered for my execution.

I walked straight out of the grand heavy doors and into the dark, misty night, heading toward the forbidden royal forest. The cool night air hit my bare shoulders, but beneath my skin, my strange new blood burned hot, driving me forward into the shadows where I felt the pull.