My Alpha Husband Killed Me, So I Married His Enemy

The first thing I felt was the blade against my throat.

The second was the betrayal.

Rain hammered against the windows of the mansion, loud enough to drown out the thunder rolling across the mountains. Yet I could hear every breath in the room.

Especially his.

Damon.

My husband.

The man I had loved for seven years.

He stood in front of me with a silver dagger in his hand, his face colder than I had ever seen it.

I stared at him, struggling to understand what I was looking at.

“Damon?”

My voice trembled.

He didn’t answer.

I glanced toward the doorway.

Two armed wolves stood there.

The door was locked.

My stomach dropped.

“What is this?”

Damon’s eyes remained fixed on mine.

“You finally found out.”

“Found out what?”

He took one slow step toward me.

I instinctively stepped back.

The movement made the blade scrape against my skin.

A thin line of pain burned across my throat.

I lifted my trembling hand.

“Why are you doing this?”

His expression didn’t change.

“You should have known this day would come.”

My heart pounded.

“I don’t understand.”

“You never do.”

The cruelty in his voice made my chest ache.

This wasn’t the Damon I knew.

Or perhaps it was.

Perhaps the man I had loved for seven years had always been standing behind the face I trusted.

I swallowed.

“Did I do something?”

A humorless smile touched his lips.

“You still think this is about something you did?”

“Then tell me what it is about.”

He walked toward the fireplace and poured himself a drink.

The casual movement frightened me more than the knife.

As if my death were nothing more than an appointment he had been waiting to keep.

“You have been very useful to me, Seraphine.”

My brows pulled together.

“Useful?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“I am your wife.”

“Exactly.”

The word landed like a slap.

I stared at him.

For seven years, I had defended this man.

When other wolves whispered that he was too cold to love anyone, I told them they were wrong.

When women from other packs tried to get close to him, I ignored my jealousy because I trusted him.

When he refused to mark me, I convinced myself he needed more time.

When he spent nights away from home, I told myself an Alpha carried responsibilities I couldn’t understand.

When he never told me he loved me again after our wedding, I blamed myself.

I had spent years finding excuses for him.

Now I wondered why.

“What have I done to deserve this?”

Damon’s eyes hardened.

“You were born with something I needed.”

My breathing slowed.

“What?”

“Blood.”

I stared at him.

He placed the glass on the table.

“Your blood.”

A chill crawled across my skin.

“What are you talking about?”

He gestured toward the table.

One of the guards placed a small glass vial beside him.

Dark red liquid filled it.

I recognized it immediately.

My blood.

My stomach turned.

“No…”

“You’ve been giving me what I needed for years.”

“I never agreed to that.”

“You didn’t have to.”

Damon’s voice was calm.

“You were my wife. I could take what belonged to you.”

I shook my head.

“You’ve been taking my blood?”

“Not enough to kill you.”

My eyes filled with tears.

“Why?”

“Because your blood is the key to the Blood Moon Gate.”

The name meant nothing for a second.

Then a childhood memory surfaced.

My mother’s voice.

Never go near the northern forest, Seraphine.

Never touch the stones.

Never let anyone see your blood.

I had thought it was an old superstition.

Now I understood.

“You knew about my mother.”

Damon’s silence answered me.

“You knew?”

“Yes.”

“How long?”

“Before I ever met you.”

My heart cracked.

“So our meeting…”

“Wasn’t an accident.”

I took a shaky breath.

“You knew who I was.”

“I did.”

“And you married me because of my blood?”

“Yes.”

The answer was so simple that it hurt more than a lie would have.

I looked at the man standing before me.

“Did you ever love me?”

He didn’t answer immediately.

For one foolish second, hope rose inside me.

Then he said, “No.”

The room seemed to disappear.

I could hear my heartbeat.

Slow.

Heavy.

Broken.

“No?”

“I needed you.”

My lips trembled.

“But I loved you.”

“I know.”

“You knew?”

“Yes.”

“And you still did this?”

Damon’s face remained emotionless.

“That made it easier.”

I laughed.

It was a broken, ugly sound.

“Easier?”

“You trusted me.”

Tears slipped down my cheeks.

“You used my love.”

“Yes.”

The honesty was unbearable.

I pressed my hand against my chest.

“I gave you everything.”

“And now you’ve given me everything I need.”

I looked at the vial.

Then at the dagger.

Suddenly, everything made sense.

The secret meetings.

The strange rituals.

The nights he disappeared.

The servants who were replaced without explanation.

The old books hidden in his study.

The way he had always refused to mark me.

He hadn’t been protecting our bond.

He had been protecting the secret of my blood.

“Why kill me now?”

Damon’s expression changed slightly.

“Because the gate is ready.”

My stomach dropped.

“What gate?”

“The Blood Moon Gate.”

“You said my blood was the key.”

“It is.”

He stepped closer.

“Once the gate opens, your purpose is fulfilled.”

I backed away.

“No.”

“Seraphine.”

“No.”

I looked toward the door.

The guards blocked my only escape.

“I won’t help you.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

“There is always a choice.”

He sighed.

“You’re making this harder than it needs to be.”

I stared at him.

“Let me go.”

“No.”

“I’ll leave the pack. I’ll disappear. You will never see me again.”

“You know too much.”

“I won’t tell anyone.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“I am your wife.”

His eyes became cold.

“Not anymore.”

The words shattered whatever was left of me.

I slowly shook my head.

“You’re a monster.”

“Perhaps.”

He lifted the dagger.

I stepped back until my legs hit the table.

“Damon, please.”

His expression didn’t change.

That was when I understood.

He had already decided.

There would be no mercy.

I thought of my mother.

My father.

The little girl I had once been.

The woman I had become.

All the years I had wasted loving him.

I suddenly wished I had been braver.

I wished I had asked more questions.

I wished I had listened when people warned me.

Most of all, I wished I had never met him.

Damon approached.

“I’m sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

He stopped.

I looked directly into his eyes.

“You will regret this.”

Something flickered across his face.

Then it disappeared.

“I already regret many things.”

He raised the dagger.

I closed my eyes.

The blade struck.

Pain exploded through my body.

I gasped.

My knees gave way.

Damon pulled the dagger free.

Warm blood soaked my clothes.

I fell against the cold marble floor.

For several seconds, I couldn’t breathe.

Then I heard footsteps.

Someone was crying.

Elena.

My stepsister.

I opened my eyes.

She stood near the doorway, tears streaming down her face.

“You…”

My voice barely existed.

“You knew.”

Elena covered her mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“You knew?”

She nodded.

“How long?”

Her tears fell faster.

“Years.”

I stared at her.

The two people I had trusted most had destroyed me together.

Damon looked at her.

“Leave.”

She hesitated.

“Damon…”

“Leave.”

She obeyed.

The door closed.

I was alone with my murderer.

Blood spread beneath me.

My vision blurred.

Damon stood over me.

I looked at him one final time.

“I hate you.”

He didn’t respond.

The darkness began closing in.

Then something strange happened.

A voice whispered inside my mind.

Not Damon.

Not Elena.

Not any voice I knew.

You were betrayed once.

I struggled to breathe.

But your story is not over.

My fingers twitched.

“What…”

Open your eyes, child.

The voice grew stronger.

Return to the beginning.

A burst of light filled my mind.

The mansion vanished.

The pain disappeared.

The rain stopped.

Everything became silent.

Then I heard a heartbeat.

Not mine.

Someone else’s.

Slow.

Strong.

Alive.

My eyes opened.

I gasped.

I sat upright in a bed.

Sunlight streamed through white curtains.

I looked down at my hands.

No blood.

No wound.

My breathing became frantic.

I touched my stomach.

Nothing.

I stumbled toward the mirror.

The reflection staring back at me was not the woman who had died.

She was younger.

Her skin was smooth.

Her eyes were bright.

Her hair fell over her shoulders.

I knew that face.

I had seen it in old photographs.

I had been her.

I was eighteen again.

“No…”

A knock sounded.

“Miss Seraphine?”

My heart stopped.

That voice.

Martha.

My mother’s old maid.

She had died years ago.

I opened the door.

Martha stood there holding a tray.

She stared at me.

“Miss?”

I couldn’t speak.

I pulled her into my arms.

She gasped.

“Seraphine?”

I held her tightly.

She was alive.

She was really alive.

I had been given another chance.

A second life.

A chance to change everything.

Martha pulled away, confused.

“What happened?”

I wiped my tears.

“Nothing.”

But then she smiled.

“Your father sent word.”

My heart sank.

“What did he say?”

“Alpha Damon is coming this afternoon.”

My blood turned cold.

Damon.

Seven years before the knife.

Seven years before the betrayal.

Seven years before my death.

I looked into the mirror again.

This time, I didn’t see the frightened girl who had once loved him.

I saw a woman who remembered exactly how she died.

And I knew one thing.

This time, Damon Blackthorn would never become my husband.

But if I wanted to survive, I couldn’t simply run from him.

I needed to find out who had really been behind my murder.

Because as I remembered the final moments of my first life, one detail suddenly terrified me.

Damon had not looked like a man who wanted me dead.

He had looked like a man who was afraid of someone else.

And somewhere in the darkness behind my husband’s betrayal…

someone far more powerful was waiting for me.