002

(Lana POV)

I gasped.

Cold air rushed into my lungs and I clutched my chest, dragging in a breath so heavy.

I forced my eyes open, scrutinizing my surroundings. I was in a room I didn't recognize.

There were velvet curtains, gold framed mirrors and a faint perfume that didn't smell like mine. The room looked too regal, too alive.

I pushed myself up on trembling elbows. My body felt wrong, lighter, shorter ... .my hands, slender, uncalloused, were not mine.

“What—” My voice caught, it wasn't my voice. It was softer and higher.

What was happening? Wasn't I supposed to be dead?

My eyes fixed on the mirror beside the bed and in a swift, I rushed towards it, standing before it to find out the cruel truth.

The woman staring back had pale hair my, blue icy eyes, wide and terrified. My face, my face was….my breath stilled and I stumbled toward the mirror, touching my reflection like it might shatter and set me free.

‘This isn't me.’

But I knew those eyes, I had seen them before — thrice, peeking from behind Amethyst's shoulder during council dinners.

Sapphire.

Amethyst's younger sister. The one who had left Silvercrest years ago to train in the neighbouring pack.

I stepped back, horror plastered all over my face. ‘The Moon Goddess….she—”  

Before I could finish the thought, a surge crawled up in my skin, alive. It was my wolf.

I fell to my knees, shaking. “Why her? Why this body?” I whispered to no one. “Why not peace? I was fine — I was fine in my mind.”

But no answer came, only the distant sound of laughter and music from outside the window. I dragged myself to the balcony and looked down.

My heart stopped.

There was a banner in the courtyard, the colours of Silvercrest and tables filled with wine. I could smell roasted meat and sweet fruit. A crowd of pack members filled the gardens and there, at the center of it all, was him.

Diego Sandhill.

He stood, wearing the black ceremonial pack of an Alpha King with a proud triumphant smile fixated on his face. The one he had yesterday when I was dying — wait, yesterday?

I died yesterday and today…today there ….. The scene below twisted my stomach, watching Amethyst in lace filled with jewels,  stand beside him.

I pressed a trembling hand to my lips. “No…”

A knock startled me. “Sapphire!” A maid's voice called from outside. “Are you still sulking about Luna Lana's death? It's been a month now and you should let it go.”

Sulking about my death? This body was sulking about my death?  A moon's cycle. That was all it had taken, a single month.

“You're late. The engagement ceremony is about to begin. Lady Amethyst would be so shocked to see you!”

Her sister, of course.

I turned toward the mirror again, studying the stranger I had become. Pale skin, more beautiful than I last saw. The Moon Goddess hadn't just resurrected me …if so, she also hid me behind the face of the one person Amethyst would never suspect, the one person still sulking my death even when we really never had a heart to heart discussion.

My lips curled slowly. “So this is how you want to play it, Goddess?”

I threw open the wardrobe, staring at the silk dresses placed perfectly from side to side. I pulled out one, midnight blue, embroidered jewels. It fit perfectly, as if it had been waiting for me. I was going out there, to end things. To make things right and expose their evil deeds.

No one was getting married!

By the time I descended the grand staircase, the celebration was already roaring. The great Hall of Silvercrest, my father's pack had transformed into glittering lights.

Just one month and just like that, I was gone in their mind. I doubt that I had a one minute respect from them.

A pack that my father had gathered, helping them to crops, healing, always helping and yet they turned against me just a year after his death.

No one, no one deserved my forgiveness. Not a single one in the pack.

I watched as Amethyst burst into laughter, making me clench my fist in disgust.

As I stepped through the doors, the chatter softened and heads turned.

“Sapphire?” Someone gasped. “W…when did she return? She became more beautiful ....”

Eyes followed me, eyes filled with curiosity, perhaps admiration. The younger sister of the bride-to-be had always been the pack's most quiet person if I should remember clearly.

Amethyst never for once talked about her sister to me. All she does whenever the name ‘sapphire’ is  mentioned is hissed out in disgust.

And even through the facade of being strong, I still felt my heart thundering really loud.

Amethyst was radiant, her hand looped around Diego's arm, her laughter flattered when she saw me. “Sapphire?”

I curtsied slightly, forcing my lips into a polite smile. “Sister.”

For a moment, I could see the flicker of uneasiness in her perfect eyes. “You didn't write,” she said, in a soft tensed voice. “We weren't expecting you.”

“I heard about your engagement,” I replied calmly. “How could I miss it? Just surprised you are getting married to your best friend's husband in just a month of her death.”

Her gaze sharpened, staring at me in disbelief. “Of course.” She muttered.

Diego turned his eyes, his movement slow, unaware that the world was about to change. The moment his eyes landed on me, the air shifted.

I felt it first, a pull deep in my gut. My pulse quickened and my skin tingled, every nerve sparking alive and the room blurred.

His eyes widened, and in that instant, I knew.

The mate bond.

It hit like lightning, wild and my heart slammed against my ribs, the scent of his aura— cedar and smoke wrapped around me. My wolf howled inside, clawing at my chest, desperate to reach him.

‘Mate.’

I stumbled back, gripping the edge of a table to steady myself. What was the Moon Goddess doing?

How?

“Sapphire,” he called in a rougher and lower voice. “You…”