Chapter 2

Nilah's Pov

A gasp tore out of my throat, sharp and jagged, like a blade. “Ah!” I bolted upright, my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs. “Hold on… My heart is beating?”

The smell of antiseptic and blood was gone, replaced by the faint and comforting scent of my room and perfume. Warm sunlight spilled across the bedspread, forcing me to shield my eyes. For a long moment, I didn't move. I waited for the coughing fit, the metallic taste of blood, the heavy tiredness of my illness. It didn't come. My lungs expanded fully, pulling in sweet, clean air.

I looked down at my hands. They were steady. The skin was tan and vibrant, not the translucent gray of a corpse.

"Goddess..." the word was breathless as it escaped my lips. I lunged for the phone on the nightstand and my thumb hit the home button, and I stared at the glowing numbers until they practically burned into my eyes.

June 14th 2023. I died June 14th 2024. The date was showing one year ago. One full year before I was supposed to be cold in the ground.

“How is this possible??” I muttered under my breath and jumped down from the bed instantly. I threw the duvet aside, my bare feet hitting the rug, a rug I had picked out myself before the sickness took my interest in everything but survival. I practically crawled into the bathroom, gripping the cold glass as I stared into the mirror.

The woman looking back was like a stranger. Her eyes were bright, amber flecks dancing in the hazel. Her hair was thick, falling in healthy waves over shoulders that were no longer skeletal.

“Oh my goodness.” I muttered, my voice breaking. “I came back. I'm alive. I'm really alive.” I cried out, touching my face everywhere. I couldn't believe this. How is something like this possible? How was I able to come back to this time?

“Or did it have anything to do with those people who took me away?” I wondered though I wasn't able to think of the answer no matter how hard I tried. But still, I was alive. "Moon Goddess... thank you," I whispered, my voice cracking. I pressed my palm against the glass, tracing the line of my jaw. "Thank you."

But the gratitude was quickly swallowed by anger. Six months from now, I would already be poisoned and sick. Months from now, I would already be working eighteen-hour days to build the pedestal Kendrick would eventually stand on to announce my death.

"Never again," I hissed at my reflection. I dressed in record time, grabbing my lab bag and my keys. I had to go to the lab immediately. The drive to the pack hospital was a blur of adrenaline and as soon as I walked through the sliding glass doors, I spotted Sarah, a junior researcher and one of the few people in this pack who didn't look at me like a tool to be used.

"Nilah? You're early," she said, looking up from a clipboard. "I thought you were working from home today to finish the silver-stability report for the Alpha."

I paused, a thought occurring in my head. Sarah was a special kind of werewolf. Her heightened senses were better than almost everyone in this building. In my last life, it was clear that the whole mating thing was fake, but I wasn't able to see it clearly and even till now, I still can't feel that it's fake. Since she has more heightened senses than me, she can help me. I'm sure of it.

So I smiled at her and gestured my head towards my office. "I need a favor from you, Sarah. In my office. Now."

She blinked, startled by the coldness in my voice. "O… okay. Sure."

Once the door clicked shut behind us, I turned my back to her and pulled my hair over one shoulder, baring the side of my neck. "I need you to check my mating mark," I said.

Sarah gasped. "What? Nilah, why? Is everything okay with Kendrick? Did something happen?"

"I'm just curious about something," I lied, my voice tight. "Humor me. Is it... is it real? Does the bond look right? I… I can't feel anything from the mark, it's like it's just there."

“Well, if you can’t feel anything from the mark, it’s likely the mark is fake—but how is that even possible?” Sarah answered.

“I know. But just help me check, Sarah. I want to be sure.”

“Okay.” Sarah stepped closer, her brow furrowed in concentration. She leaned in, her eyes scanning the jagged heart shaped mark near my collarbone. She immediately went quiet.

"Nilah..." she whispered, stepping back as if the mark might bite her. "This mark... it’s ink. It’s a kind of high-grade chemical tattoo mixed with a trace of his scent, but there’s no soul-tether. There's no magical resonance. It's fake." She looked like she was about to cry for me. "Are you okay? Do you want me to call someone?"

I let out a long, shaky breath, but I didn't cry. I didn't have time for that now. "I'm fine, Sarah. Better than fine. I'm informed."

"But…"

"Thank you. I'll make it up to you for helping me check later," I said, giving her a sharp, conspiratorial wink that clearly unnerved her.

“O… Okay. I'll leave now. See you later.” As soon as she scurried out, I dove for my terminal. My fingers flew across the keys, entering the encryption codes for my research on the silver-poisoning cure.

Access Denied. I stared at the screen. Access Denied?

"Wow," I let out a dry, jagged laugh. "Of course. You didn't waste any time, did you, Kendrick?"

He had already started locking me out of my own server. He had been setting the traps while I was still dreaming of our 'forever.' He wanted the cure, but he wanted to make sure I couldn't take it with me if I ever grew a spine.

I scrolled through the local backup files. The core formula was encrypted, but the herbal trials were still here, messy, unstable, and completely useless without the final stabilization sequence I had perfected in my 'first' life.

"You want the glory, Kendrick? Take it," I muttered, deleting the local optimization logs. "See how far you get with half a map."

My phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out, expecting a text from the man I now loathed. Instead, a string of digits I hadn't seen in more than a year flashed on the screen. In my past life, I had ignored this number dozens of times. Kendrick had told me they were scammers, or rival pack spies trying to steal my work. Since I had never answered, eventually, they had stopped calling.

I hit 'Accept' before I could talk myself out of it.

"Hello?"

"Is this Miss Nilah?" A man’s voice came through, deep, formal, and tinged with an immense sense of relief.

"Yes. Who is this?"

"My name is Asher," the man said, and I could practically hear him straightening his posture on the other end of the line. "I am the Beta of the Serene Moon Pack. We’ve been trying to reach you for months, Nilah. There is a matter regarding your biological lineage that requires your immediate attention."

“My biological lineage? What are you talking about?” I questioned. Maybe the person was a scam like Kendrick said? But if they were, why were they always calling so much? One time, he had even sent me a text message that he wanted us to meet each other. And that was when Kendrick said they were scammers.

"I understand your skepticism, Nilah but this can't be kept off any longer." Asher’s voice was steady, possessing a gravity that made the hair on my arms stand up.

“We have been searching for you for over twenty years. You are not an orphan of the Silver Moon Pack.”

A pause.

Then—

“You are the sole surviving heir of the Serene Moon Pack.”

My breath caught.

“The next Alpha.”