Chapter 1

Planning a romantic cruise for a third anniversary hadn’t seemed like a bad idea. But when I discovered my best friend had been fucking with my husband—and in ten minutes, they were going to throw me into the sea—it changed everything.

I stood in the corridor outside the cabin, peering through the slightly open door. In the large vanity mirror, I saw their bodies tangled together, speaking truths that sent chills down my spine.

“Oh, Tyler,” Vivian purred, her voice dripping with satisfaction. “I knew you only married Renee for my sake. She’s so utterly pathetic. Did you see the way she looked at you? Like some lovesick puppy.”

Tyler chuckled. “Like I could ever want anyone but you… Tell me I don't have to keep this up much longer.”

She giggled. They turned, her climbing on top of him.

“Not much longer, once we get our hands on her fortune....” She moaned, tilting her head back.

I clenched my fists. Years of my life flashing through my mind. All I could think, see, hear, was her laughing, the little inconsistencies of my married life, the little things that had a seemingly innocent explanation.

I felt like an idiot.

But not for long.

Before I could think, my hand was in her hair. She shrieked as I ripped her off Tyler and threw her to the ground. Then, I was on Tyler, striking him hard and fast in the face. He tried to dodge and tumbled out of bed as Vivian picked herself up.

"You--" She broke off as I turned the light on. They were both frozen, staring at me.

"I wonder what Dominic will think about all of this?" I asked. Dominic was Vivian’s father, a highly respected and incredibly powerful Alpha. Vivian was his most beloved daughter. But recently, I had heard some gossip—Vivian had been expelled from his pack by Dominic, and it had been upsetting her. That was why I invited her to join my cruise trip.

Tyler flinched then.

Vivian sneered. "As if you’re going to get the chance."

Danger screamed from the back of my mind. Tyler's eyes flashed and all too quickly, he lunged across the bed at me. I swung, trying to fight him off. I caught him in the face and the gut, but Tyler had martial training that I didn't. He wrestled me into a headlock, his grip like iron, and lifted me, half carrying me. Choking me. Vivian laughed, wiggling her fingers with a mocking farewell as Tyler opened the balcony door.

The cold wind over the sea rushed in around me. He slammed me back against the railing. Pain exploded across the back of my head., then the world tilted. I saw my feet above my head and his face flying away from me.

I was falling, and Tyler was gone before the currents embraced me and dragged me under. The water filled my lungs, a burning, suffocating agony. I thrashed, but I had never learned to swim and soon the sounds of the crashing waves and the thrum of the yacht's engine faded into the deep, cold, heavy darkness.

Then, the weight started to lift and shift. A strange floating sensation took over and I was drifting through air and time and space, bobbing along like a balloon. Suddenly, I was hovering above a crowded hall, the air thick with the buzz of voices and the flash of cameras. A press conference, looking up at a gigantic projection of a photo of my own face from the anniversary party.

Tyler and Vivian stood on a raised platform with my father, Philip. Their faces were etched with practiced grief, but my father simply seemed reserved. I could practically hear his thoughts about the pack, his stance, and if that was not betrayal enough, Tyler and Vivian had the nerve to speak.

“It’s a tragic accident,” Tyler said. “Renee… she must have slipped. We were so happy, celebrating our anniversary…”

Vivian dabbed at her eyes with a delicate lace handkerchief. “She was so full of life,” she murmured, her voice trembling. “We’ll miss her terribly.”

I glanced over at Dominic, his eyes red and downcast with grief that screamed into the air. It should have brought me some measure of peace that at least one person in my life would truly grieve me, especially a man like Dominic: powerful, wealthy, confident, and completely in control of himself.

But it didn’t. When Tyler and Vivian left the press conference, I was pulled along as if tethered to them by an invisible string. As soon as they got into the chauffeured car, they were laughing and kissing feverishly.

“How much did you say it was?" Vivian purred. “Renee was always tight-lipped about it." I am the daughter of Alpha, and my mother brought a generous dowry. She left all those to me when she died.

"A lot," he said. "But let's not talk about that right now. I'm more interested in christening Peacock Hollow."

I lunged for him again. My hands passing through his neck again. If only I could rip it out!

He drew her close.

"It's ours now."

She squealed. "I've never been, but I've see the pictures. I can't wait to re-do the garden."

Peacock Hollow was my mother's estate. It was my private sanctuary where all of my memories of my mother still lived. They were headed to it, but I didn’t need to follow them. I blinked and I was standing outside the warm little cottage, imagining them there defining every inch of my childhood the way they’d defiled my adulthood.

The injustice was unbearable.

"Please."

Then, everything went black.

My eyes snapped open. I gasped, my lungs burning with the air of a warm, familiar room. I sat up, my heart pounding, my body trembling. Had it all been a dream? A nightmare?

No. It was too vivid, too real. I remembered the cold, the darkness, the laughter. I remembered death.

But I was alive.

I looked around the room, recognizing it as a room in the Brightclaw Estate, Dominic's incredibly lavish home which he'd offered as my wedding venue years ago. Every inch of it screamed of his effortless elegance and wealth. But this wasn't the room that I stayed in usually, yet it was still eerily familiar.

"No!" Vivian shrieked. "He can't bring her! Not to Renee's wedding!"

Those words were hauntingly familiar. I turned over, grabbing my phone and freezing at the sight of the date.

Three years before the night on the yacht.

No. Three years and a day.

It was the day before my wedding.

Was this real? I looked into the mirror searching for some sign that I hadn't been dreaming, that my mind wasn't just making things up. My reflection staring back at me. Aside from three years younger, there was nothing to see.

Then, I saw it. A faint, shimmering mark, a crescent moon, nestled just above my heart. I gasped, my fingers tracing the delicate curve. The Moon Goddess had heard my plea, granted me a second chance.

This wasn't a dream.

This was a gift, a weapon, a chance to rewrite my destiny.

A surge of adrenaline coursed through me.

I couldn't waste a moment. The first thing I had to do was stop the wedding. I fled from the room, my bare feet silent on the plush carpet.

I rounded a corner, nearly tripping over my own feet and collided with a broad, solid, warm figure. Strong arms wrapped around me, steadying me and pulling me into a broad, heavily muscled chest. The familiar musky, delicious scent hit my nose as I realized my face was pressed against bare skin. My breath catching in my throat and I looked up.

It was Dominic, wearing nothing but a partially open robe.