Chapter 1

Chloe’s POV

“I said I want to marry Jax!”

Hannah’s familiar shout rang in my ears. I blinked open, looking around in confusion. The decoration. The food. This party looked too familiar.

“You cannot marry Jax, Hannah.”

Hearing my husband’s name, my head snapped to the person who spoke. It was David, my step-father.

Only that there was something weird about him. He looked at least a decade younger, none of his grey hairs in sight.

Soft and warm arms closed around my shoulder. “We agreed that Jax would marry Chloe, they might be the mates. You cannot change your mind now, Hannah.”

“Mum,” I whispered, turning to face her with my eyes watering. Without warning, I pulled her into a hug. “Mum!”

It had been years since I saw her alive.

Though confused, her hands slipped to my back. “It’s alright, darling. We will make sure you get to marry Jax a year from now.”

I leaned back and cupped her cheek. “Marry who?”

My gaze swept the entire party and suddenly, everything clicked into place.

I had gone back in time.

A whole ten years back in time to when I was seventeen. I had not yet married that scumbag, Jax.

My mother held my hand, her eyes blazing with anger at Hannah. “Hannah, you have been screaming for years that you were in love with Axel. Do not try to take your sister’s–”

My hands tightened around my mum’s arm as Hannah’s gaze burned into me.

A mixture of jealousy and regret swirled in her eyes.

“I deserve to be Luna, not you,” Hannah spat venomously.

Hannah’s words sent chills down my spine.

If Hannah married Axel, she would instantly become the Luna of our pack since he was the Alpha’s first son. For her to say that, it means that she knew that Jax would become Alpha later…after Axel dies…

Hannah just turned eighteen, there’s no way she should know things that haven’t happened yet!

Unless… I was not the only one who was reborn.

Hannah was reborn, too.

As we watched, Hannah stomped to Jax and grabbed his arm. His eyes lit up as she started to chant the sacred words to accept their mate bond.

“I, Hannah McAnthony, accept you, Jax Everdeen, to be my mate–”

Her father, David, reached for her. “Hannah, wait!”

Jax turned them so he stood between David and his daughter. He nodded at her to continue.

“–I declare that our bond is permanent and irreversible as long as we both shall live.”

Shimmery light descended from the night sky and enveloped them in a halo, signalling that the bond was complete and now recognized by the Moon Goddess.

All the people gathered at Hannah’s party were silent, varying degrees of awe, shock and confusion plastered across their faces.

A wave of anger rippled from our left and washed through the clearing. I stumbled to my knees without meaning to.

Alpha Paul Everton stomped from his chair to Hannah. His hand wrapped around her neck as he lifted her off the floor. “Everyone was gathered here to see the bond of my first son. My heir.”

Hannah spluttered for breath. Alpha turned to David. “Beta, you and your daughter have made a fool of me.”

Before Jax could step forward, his father pinned him in place with a glare. His head lowered.

This was so Jax.

Before my rebirth, Hannah and I both followed the original plan of this party: Hannah married Axel, and I married Jax. But soon after, an accident stripped Axel of his chance to become Alpha. As the Alpha’s second son, Jax inherited the title instead.

Back then, everyone envied my luck in becoming the pack’s Luna.

A cold sneer tugged at my lips at the memory. If I had a choice, I’d never get with Jax again!

Hannah thought she stole my shot at being Luna, but she had no idea…

I actually owed Hannah for marking Jax first. Otherwise, I would’ve had to find a way to delay my engagement to Jax, and that would’ve been far more troublesome.

Slowly, Hannah’s hand lifted, pointing towards me.

“My sister,” she gasped out. “She…loves…Axel…”

My words stuck in my throat. The Alpha’s aura, thick in the air, made my breathe hold.

Alpha Paul’s grip loosened and Hannah fell to the ground, coughing as she tried to catch her breath.

He turned to me. “Chloe, was it? You love Axel. Is that true?”

Before I could even shake my head, Hannah burst into loud, evidently fake tears.

She had always been an expert at drawing attention to herself.

“My sister. She has always secretly loved him. I could not bring myself to take away her man.”

“Mum,” I hissed under my breath, my grip on Mum’s arm probably deathly painful.

Mum smiled at the Alpha. “Alpha, the thing is–”

“Good,” he declared, pleased by the turn of events. “Then, you two will be bonded to each other tonight.”

“She is only seventeen,” David said, his voice unnaturally tight.

Alpha’s voice grew gruffer, his wolf teetering on the surface. He turned to me. “Chloe, bond with my son now.”

I met the Alpha’s icy gaze. The aura rolling off him held an innate dominance over wolves like me, triggering an instinctive rush of fear.

In my past life, after Hannah married Axel, she’d come home to complain countless times that Axel was quiet and dull.

I glanced over at Axel standing at the edge of the clearing, the heir to the Alpha title. His frigid stare mirrored his father’s exactly.

I had gotten a second chance at life. Why would I want to willingly subject myself to the chaos of the Alpha’s family?

I would work out a solution. I just needed some time.

My head lowered, and I bared my neck. “My apologies, Alpha. No one could have foreseen what happened at the party. Please grant me one week to think about it.”

The whole place fell deathly quiet. Not even the crickets dared chirp.

Alpha Paul took one step to me and my body was forced even lower to the ground. I could barely breathe.

“Are you disobeying my decree…to my face?” he spat slowly, every word piercing into me.

Mum was panicking beside me. “Alpha, please forgive my daughter—”

“These are the daughters you have raised, David?” he snarled at my stepfather. “Is your family trying to break free from my authority and commit treason?!”

David dropped to his knees to beg Alpha Paul, but it was futile.

Alpha’s words were loud and clear as he announced.

"The daughter of the Beta, Chloe Waterson, will marry my heir, Axel Everton, in one week. This is the Alpha’s order!"