He Knew All Along That His Dead Mate Had Come Back

In my last life, when I died in Kane's arms, the moon was full.

A hunter burst out of the trees and lunged at his heart with a silver knife. I didn't stop to think. I threw myself in front of him. I still remember the silver poison spreading through my flesh, the cold crawling up my bones until even breathing hurt.

I heard Kane screaming my name. He never cried in front of the pack, but that night he held me and begged me to open my eyes.

When the system sent me back to the human world, the last thing I heard was him crying.

My parents thought I'd only been missing for a while and had finally come home safe. They made all my favorite dishes, but I kept waking in the middle of the night, remembering the wind in Graypine Forest and the warmth of Kane's hand around mine.

Three years later, I traded 20 years of my life for one chance to return to the pack. The system agreed to let me borrow the body of a low-ranking she-wolf who had just died. There was only one condition: I couldn't tell anyone I was Ivy. Kane had to recognize me himself.

I didn't think that would be hard.

He and I had stood side by side through the five most dangerous years of his life. Kane knew I wasn't afraid of his wolf form, that I always set aside hot meat for the injured guards, and that when I was angry, I called him by his full name. He'd promised I'd be his only mate in this life.

But I'd barely woken up when I was dragged into the Graypine pack's stone courtyard to be punished.

This body had belonged to Leah, one of the servants who hauled supplies for Selena. She'd knocked over some of her mistress's things by accident, and now Selena's attendants had me pinned to the ground. A whip threaded with silver wire lashed my back. The silver burned until this body's healing, already slow in a low-ranking wolf, all but stopped. Each strike felt as if it split my skin all over again.

Selena sat on the raised platform in the pale dress I'd loved most when I was alive. That face, so much like mine, looked down at me as coldly as if I were a wild animal that had wandered into the house.

Kane was right beside her.

"Kane..." Gritting my teeth against the pain, I called out to him almost on instinct.

The courtyard fell silent. No one dared call the acting Alpha by his name, least of all a servant at the bottom of the pack. Kane looked my way, and his step faltered.

In that moment, I thought he would recognize me.

"Enough," he finally ordered. "Take her to the healer. No more."

I tried to say more, but nothing came out. When I came to, I was lying in the servants' quarters, my back covered in a thick layer of salve.

The girl sitting by my bed was Mia. She'd once been my most trusted maid, but because she was always standing up for me, she'd been sent to the back kitchen, where the work was hardest. After I died, Kane sent away everyone who'd been close to me. Mia had nowhere else to go, so she stayed on as an ordinary servant.

"Selena has no official standing as a mate, but she runs everything," Mia said, holding a cup of water to my lips. "Everyone says the Alpha only sees her as a sister, and he's only so protective of her because she looks like Luna Ivy. He even planted a huge memorial grove for Luna Ivy, and he goes there alone every full moon."

A little hope stirred in me again.

I asked, "Why are you so kind to me? We didn't even know each other before."

Mia's eyes reddened. "The Luna I used to know was the only one who dared call the Alpha by his name, just like you did."

I looked at her, and tears pricked my eyes.

Mia didn't ask anything more. As she tucked the blanket around me, I gently took her hand. "There are things I can't say. If anyone figures it out, please help me keep it quiet. Otherwise, I might just disappear."

"I understand," she promised quietly.

That night, the system's cold voice sounded in my head. [If someone else recognizes you on their own, it does not count as breaking the rules. Once Kane says aloud that he recognizes you, you may stay.]

I looked at the full moon outside my window. Kane should recognize me soon.