From Contract to True Mate

The chandelier lights in the ballroom stabbed at my eyes, and the voice in my head jolted me awake from a fog.

[I'm taking Collin! Ella can get Ethan, that emotionally abusive lunatic. Every advantage she had last time is mine now!]

It was my sister, Leena Fox's, voice.

I turned my head. Leena was staring at a male wolf across the room, her expression making it clear that she wanted him.

Her lips never moved, but her vicious thoughts screamed inside my head.

My body went cold.

I had actually been reborn back to the day Leena and I chose our mates. And somehow, my wolf spirit had awakened the ability to read minds.

The look on Leena's face made it clear that she remembered her past life, too.

"Leena, if you've made up your mind, go stand with the mate you chose," our father said.

Leena immediately clicked across the floor in her heels and rushed to Collin Brooks, looping her arm around his without hesitation. "Collin, I've fallen for you since the day I met you."

Her smile was sickly sweet, but her thoughts were venomous.

[Ella, hope you enjoy that block of ice!]

Collin wrapped an arm around Leena's waist, his smile gentle and refined, but his thoughts were far from that.

[What an idiot, throwing herself at me.]

"Ella." My father's gaze shifted to me. "Leena has chosen Collin. You'll be Ethan's mate."

Leena tilted her head toward me, deliberately raising her voice. "Ella, see how thoughtful I am? Ethan is everyone's dream guy."

[I can't wait for you to go crazy from being ignored by him, while I show off my perfect life with Collin!]

In my last life, I married the seemingly kind and polished Collin, while Leena married Ethan Brooks, Collin's cold and distant brother.

They were the most talked-about brothers in the Brooks family and were both heirs to the Alpha line. Collin was the younger son, charming and social. Ethan was the eldest, holding real authority but rarely showing his face.

People said Ethan never pretended to be warm. In our past life, Leena tried again and again to earn his attention, only to be dismissed and shut out even more.

Eventually, she couldn't stand the loneliness. She seduced another male wolf, was discovered by Ethan, and was expelled from the pack.

Meanwhile, I stayed married to Collin.

He didn't hold the power Ethan did, but in public, he treated me with meticulous care. The entire pack knew how loving we seemed.

But it was all a lie he carefully constructed. Behind closed doors, the gentle-looking Collin was a monster. He treated me like a toy, tormenting me until my body was covered in bruises hidden beneath my clothes.

Leena never knew any of that. She was driven mad with jealousy over what she thought was my perfect marriage.

Later, during a family gathering in the mountains, she tricked me into going near a cliff.

Then she pushed me.

-

I lifted my gaze and looked toward the male wolf standing quietly in the corner.

Ethan was dressed in a black suit, tall and imposing.

I tried to read his thoughts, but there was nothing. Just silence.

"Okay, Dad," I said, my voice trembling slightly.

I walked toward Ethan. When I got close, his palm was unexpectedly warm.

I brushed against it without thinking, then quickly pulled back, my heart skipping for no reason.

His hands had never touched Leena in my last life. But when Collin was torturing me, they once offered me a chance to escape.

But I was too terrified then to take it.

The wedding a week later was exactly the same as before.

Collin arrived early, sharp in his suit, openly attentive to Leena.

Ethan still hadn't appeared when the ceremony was about to begin.

"Where's Ethan?" Leena asked me, clinging to Collin as she deliberately walked up. Her voice was just loud enough for everyone to hear. "Don't tell me he's getting cold feet and decided to hide."

She tilted her neck, making the marks on her skin impossible to miss. "Look how devoted Collin is to me. On such an important day, he won't leave my side."

[Ethan didn't show up at all. Maybe he couldn't stand the sight of you. Once the whispers start, we'll see how you handle it!]

Her thoughts were sharp and cruel.

I looked at her fake smile and curled my lips slightly. "He's just handling an urgent family matter. It's a lot more important than childish romance."

"What…" Leena's smile froze, and her face darkened instantly.

The murmurs around us grew louder.

A groom missing from his own wedding was the ultimate humiliation for a bride.

Leena looked even more excited when she saw that. She clung to Collin, tipped her toes, and kissed him loudly. "Collin, I love you."

She wanted to embarrass me. She wanted me to become a joke among the werewolves.

What she didn't know was that I could hear every filthy thought in her head, and I could see the bloodthirsty hunger hidden in Collin's eyes.

Watching the two of them clinging together, I laughed silently to myself.

What she stole wasn't my happiness. It was a ticket straight to hell.