Four Alphas, One Regret

Death awaits you.

The system's voice echoed in my mind as I arrived at Celeste's mate bonding ceremony.

Inside the great hall, Sebastian Blackwood and Celeste Moon were kissing at the altar.

He was the last of the four Alpha males I had been assigned to seduce.

And I had failed. Miserably.

I was once an ordinary human girl. When I was reborn into this werewolf world, the system made me a deal. Within eighteen years, if I could make one of the four Alphas fall in love with me, I would be resurrected in my original human world.

Eighteen years. Four men. Not one.

Fate, it seemed, had already decided I didn't deserve to live.

I turned and walked away, pulling out the wolfsbane I had prepared. The acrid, bitter stench of it filled my nostrils. Burning. Toxic. The scent of death.

Freya, no. Snow's voice whimpered inside my head. My wolf. My other half. The only warmth I had known in this world.

Please. Don't do this.

I have to, Snow. I pressed my palm against my chest, feeling her presence flicker like a dying flame. There's no other way.

But I love you, she cried softly. We are one. If you die, I die too. Don't you care?

Tears burned my eyes. Of course I cared. Snow had been my only comfort, my only true companion through eighteen years of loneliness and pain. She had licked my wounds when no one else would. She had howled with me under the full moon when I had no one to run beside.

I'm sorry, I whispered to her. I'm so sorry. But I can't stay anymore.

Every single one of those men had chosen Celeste over me. Celeste was this world's protagonist. The system said it wasn't my fault. She was the heroine, and the male leads were drawn to her like wolves to a fresh kill.

Then let them have her, Snow growled weakly. We don't need them. We can run away. Just the two of us.

You know we can't. My hand tightened around the wolfsbane bottle. The system will erase me if I don't complete the mission. Death is the only escape now.

Snow fell silent. But I felt her sorrow. Deep and endless, like a river flooding my chest.

I looked up at the endless blue sky. Was I doomed from the start just because I was born as a supporting character?

No point in staying.

I closed my eyes and stepped off the cliff.

A sharp snarl. Then a furious male voice.

"Freya! Are you trying to embarrass Celeste by dying? How vicious can you be?"

I opened my eyes. It was my brother, Kael. One of the four Alpha leads. The system had once said that if I could raise his familial love to one hundred percent, I would succeed. But then Celeste had stolen his heart.

All it took was her saying that I'd hired rogues to rape her, and he believed her without question.

From that day on, he hated me.I was no longer his sister.

Kael dragged me toward the cliff's edge. His hands shifted mid grip, claws extending. He seized my throat. Not to kill, but to dominate. His wolf surged forward, and before I could scream, he forced the wolfsbane bottle between my lips and poured.

Burning. Acid fire flooded my throat. I gagged, choked, tried to spit it out, but he held my jaw shut.

"That cheap poison won't kill a rabbit," he snarled, releasing me. "The purity's laughable. You'll just scar yourself, you foolish girl." He laughed bitterly. "You never really wanted to die anyway. This is just another act, isn't it? Another desperate plea for attention."

I collapsed to my knees, coughing up blackened saliva. My throat felt shredded. My cheek, where some of the poison had splashed, began to blister and smoke. The skin peeled back in raw, weeping strips.

Kael crouched in front of me, his eyes still flickering amber. "If you're going to die, find somewhere private. Don't make innocent wolves pay for your mess." He pointed to the churning river below the opposite ridge. "I picked a good spot for you. Jump. No one will even find your body."

"Kael..." My voice came out a rasp, barely a whisper through my burned throat. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be at Celeste's bonding ceremony? Did you follow me?"

My voice cracked with bitter hope. He had been inside the hall. Had he come after me because he was worried?