~ 2

0002

✧･ﾟ: ✧ :･ﾟ✧  Marichuy ✧･ﾟ: ✧ :･ﾟ✧

I floated in darkness.

No pain. Just me, conscious in an endless void.

Am I dead?

"Why do you linger, child?"

The voice came from everywhere and nowhere — ancient, ageless, heavy with millennia.

"Who's there?" My own voice echoed strangely.

"You stand at the threshold between life and death. Yet you do not pass. Why?"

"I don't... I don't want to die."

Light exploded around me.

Stars on every side, impossibly close. Galaxies wheeling in the distance. Above it all, hung a silver moon so massive it filled half the sky.

She stood before me, and I knew her instantly.

The Moon Goddess.

Silver hair flowing like liquid moonlight to her feet. Eyes glowing with something ancient and infinite. Robes woven from starlight itself.

My knees hit the ground before I decided to kneel.

"Rise, daughter of Winters."

"I can't." My voice broke. "I don't want to die like this. My parents were heroes — they saved so many people in the war. My sister is out there somewhere, branded a rogue for choosing freedom. And I died on my bedroom floor, rejected and betrayed by the two people I trusted most. Please. Don't let this be how my story ends."

The Goddess tilted her head, studying me.

"You were not meant to die this way," she said softly. "Your fate was tampered with."

My head snapped up. "What?"

"See."

She raised one hand, and the stars rearranged themselves into moving pictures. Memories that weren't mine.

…

Five years ago. Derek’s mother - Luna Margaret's private study.

"You need a mate, Derek. Someone suitable. Someone... profitable."

Derek, younger but just as arrogant, lounged in a leather chair. "I'm not interested in…"

"The Winters girl. Marichuy."

He frowned. "The orphan? She's weak. Timid. Not Luna material."

"She's the sole heir to the Winters fortune. Thirty million in liquid assets, plus the territorial rights her parents earned in the war." Luna Margaret smiled coldly. "We're drowning in debt, Derek. We need that money."

Derek was quiet a long moment. Then he smiled. "She is pretty. In a plain sort of way."

"Then court her. Make her fall in love. Once you're married, the assets transfer to you as Alpha." A pause. "We can do whatever we want with her after that."

…

Three years ago. A pack dinner.

I watched my past self laugh at something Derek said, glowing with happiness. So young. So stupid.

Across the table, Lily smiled that smile I'd never once questioned — and when no one was looking, she pulled a small vial from her purse and poured something dark into my wine.

Wolfsbane.

I watched myself drink it. Watched myself pause at the bitter aftertaste.

"You okay?" Derek asked, not caring.

"Fine. The wine just tastes a little off."

Lily's smile widened.

…

Two and a half years ago. The pack doctor's office.

"You're certain no one suspects?" Luna Margaret passed him an envelope thick with cash.

"Positive. It's wolfsbane poisoning, but I've documented it as stage three cancer. Untreatable. Terminal."

"How long does she have?"

"If Lily keeps the current dosage? Three years. Four at most. The wolfsbane destroys the wolf first. The body follows."

"Perfect. That gives Derek time to secure the inheritance legally." Her voice dropped. "Make sure she suffers, doctor. I want her to know exactly how little she means to us."

"It will be my pleasure, Luna."

…

Two years ago. Derek's office.

Lily straddled him in his desk chair, both of them half-dressed.

"When are you getting rid of her?" she whined between kisses.

"She's dying anyway. The cancer…"

"The fake cancer."

"...will finish her within a year or two. She already signed over power of attorney. If she's incapacitated, I control everything."

"And her inheritance?"

"Already moved to a joint account. Once she's dead, it's all mine."

Lily grinned. "Ours."

"Ours," he agreed, pulling her closer.

…

I screamed.

The sound tore across the celestial space, raw and primal.

"They POISONED me!" I shrieked. "It was never cancer! Derek married me for inheritance! Lily poisoned me! Luna Margaret orchestrated all of it! They murdered me slowly and made me believe my own body was the traitor!"

"Yes," the Moon Goddess said quietly.

"Why?!" I whirled on her. "You're supposed to protect your children!"

"I gave you free will, Marichuy Winters. All of you. That includes the will to choose evil."

"That's not good enough! I was kind! I loved them! I did everything right and they still destroyed me!"

"I know."

"Then DO SOMETHING!"

She stepped closer, her presence terrifying and comforting at once.

"I am," she said. "I offer what I rarely give, daughter of heroes. A second chance."

I stared at her, not daring to breathe.

"I will send you back five years. To March 6th — three months before your wedding. You will have ninety days to change your fate."

"You can do that?"

"For you, yes. Your death was unnatural. The balance has been disturbed." Her eyes flared brighter. "And I will give you gifts for your new path. First: your wolf restored. Aria will return to you, stronger than before."

My chest seized. "Aria? I'll have Aria back?"

"Yes. Second: you will hear the thoughts of those who wish you harm. Their intentions will betray them before their actions can."

Hope bloomed, fragile and fierce — and then caught on an old instinct.

"What's the price? There's always a price."

The Goddess smiled sadly. "You understand the old ways. The price is this: someone else must marry Derek in your place. If you stand at that altar again, the original timeline reasserts itself. You will die again."

"Someone else has to marry Derek?" I thought of his cold eyes. His formal, practiced rejection. "That won't be hard."

"Won't it?" She arched a brow. "He is charming when he wishes to be. Your past self loved him deeply. Can you guarantee your heart won't betray you twice?"

"After what I've seen?" I shook my head. "Never."

"Good. Hold onto that rage. Let it fuel you — but do not let it consume you." She laid a hand on my shoulder, warmth flooding through me. "And remember, child: trust is earned. Sometimes your greatest enemy wears the face of a friend."

"Lily."

"And others. Be wise. Be careful. Be strong."

The stars began to spin, faster and faster.

"Wait! What do I do? How do I…"

"You will know." Her voice faded with the light. "Trust yourself, daughter of Winters. You are stronger than they ever let you believe."

The sky exploded into white, and I fell through space and time…

…

I gasped awake.

A ceiling I hadn't seen in years. My old bedroom. My parents' house — the small one I'd lived in alone before moving into the pack mansion.

I sat up so fast my head spun.

No pain or weakness. I looked down at my arms — full, healthy, not a single IV scar.

"Oh my God," I whispered.

My phone buzzed on the nightstand. I grabbed it with shaking hands.

March 6th 2021. 8:47 AM.

Five years ago.

"It worked," I breathed.

Then I felt it. A stirring in my chest. A presence I hadn't felt in three years.

‘Marichuy?’

The voice in my mind broke me open.

"Aria?"

"I'm here. I'm BACK. Oh … we're back!"

"Aria!" I pressed a hand to my chest, sobbing. "I missed you so much."

"I never left willingly. The wolfsbane trapped me. I was screaming and you couldn't hear me." She paused. "Wait. I feel different. Stronger. What did the Goddess do to us?"

"She gave us a second chance. And we're not wasting it."

The phone buzzed again. A text.

Derek: Good morning, beautiful. Can't wait to see you tonight. Dinner at 7?

Rage flooded through me so hard I nearly shifted on the spot.

He had no idea what he'd done to me. What he was going to do to me.

But I knew. I knew everything.

"We're going to make them pay," Aria growled.

"Yes," I whispered, deleting the message. "We are."

Ninety days until the wedding.

Ninety days to destroy them all.

I smiled. "Let's get to work."