Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Serena's POV

For several minutes, I remained on the edge of my bed without moving, listening to the quiet hum of the air conditioner and the sounds coming from downstairs. Someone was talking, dishes were clinking, and cars passed outside as if the world had never changed.

Everything was warm and peaceful, completely unaware of what was coming.

I rubbed my wrists, remembering the chains that had held me against the post outside the Silver Fang shelter while the warriors drained my blood. I could still hear Ethan crying behind the gates and see my mother's cruel smile as she watched me lose the strength to fight.

I had spent years believing that no matter how badly my family treated me, they would never stand by and watch me die.

I had been wrong.

Adrian had watched too.

He had stood behind those gates with Elena beside him, wearing the necklace I once treasured, while I begged him to let me inside. Then the gates closed, leaving me outside with the beasts.

I opened my eyes.

There was no snow beneath me and no blood on my clothes. I was still in my bedroom, alive and breathing.

I reached for my phone.

November 1.

My heart raced as I checked the date again.

The Great Awakening would begin on January 1.

That gave me sixty days.

Sixty days before the power grids failed, temperatures began to collapse, mutated beasts appeared, and awakened wolves started developing abilities that would completely change the balance of power between the packs.

Instead of fear, a strange sense of hope settled inside me.

This time, I knew what was coming.

I knew where the first Moonstones would appear, which places would become dangerous, which resources would disappear first, and which people would betray those closest to them.

I pushed myself out of bed and walked toward the mirror.

The woman staring back at me looked nothing like the person who had died in the snow. My face was younger, my skin smooth, and the scars and exhaustion that had marked the final years of my previous life were gone.

I touched my reflection.

My death hadn't been the end.

It had been my second chance.

I showered, changed, and headed downstairs with a list already forming in my mind. Food, water, medicine, fuel, weapons, generators, warm clothing, and a secure place to stay were only the beginning. I knew how quickly ordinary supplies would disappear once panic spread.

My first stop was the bank.

I withdrew almost everything I had saved over the years. The teller looked surprised by the amount, but I gave her no explanation. There was no way to tell her that the money in my account would soon be worth far less than the supplies I could buy with it now.

From there, I drove to the largest supermarket in the area and filled two carts with rice, beans, flour, canned meat, cooking oil, salt, sugar, powdered milk, bottled water, medicine, batteries, flashlights, blankets, first-aid supplies, and portable gas burners.

By the time I reached the checkout, the cashier stared at the overflowing carts.

"Are you preparing for a very long camping trip?"

"Something like that."

She laughed as she scanned everything, completely unaware that every bottle of water represented another day of survival to me.

I loaded the supplies into a rented van, making several trips because there was too much to fit at once. I had just lifted another box of water when someone called my name.

"Serena?"

I turned.

Emily stood a few feet away with a small shopping bag in her hand. She looked exactly as I remembered her before the apocalypse, and seeing her alive after remembering her frozen body nearly brought tears to my eyes.

"Serena, what are you doing with all of this?" she asked, looking at the supplies filling the van.

"I've decided to prepare for the future."

"You bought enough food to feed half the pack."

"I know."

"Is something wrong?"

I wanted to tell her everything. I wanted to warn her about the Great Awakening, tell her where to go, and explain how to survive what was coming.

But the moment I tried to speak, an intense pressure closed around my throat.

"The Great Awakening..."

The words barely escaped before the pressure became painful. I grabbed the side of the van and tried again, but my throat closed completely.

Emily stepped closer.

"Serena, what's wrong?"

I swallowed hard and forced myself upright.

"I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"I haven't been sleeping well."

She glanced at the van again. "You've bought enough supplies to survive a siege."

"Maybe I'm finally thinking ahead."

She smiled faintly, then casually mentioned the one name that still made my body tense.

"I never thought I'd hear you say that. You used to spend every spare minute worrying about Adrian."

My phone began ringing.

Adrian.

For years, I had answered his calls without hesitation. I changed my plans for him, abandoned my own needs for him, and convinced myself that every sacrifice proved how deeply I loved him.

Even after he began choosing Elena over me, I stayed because I believed being his mate meant accepting whatever he gave me.

Now all I could remember was him watching while his warriors drained my blood.

Emily glanced at my phone.

"Aren't you going to answer?"

I declined the call.

"No."

"Serena, it's Adrian."

"I know."

The phone rang again almost immediately. This time, I switched it off and placed it inside my bag.

Emily studied me.

"Are you two fighting?"

"Something like that."

Before I could climb into the driver's seat, she reached for my arm.

"Serena, if something is wrong, you can tell me."

Her words touched something inside me. In my previous life, I had watched people disappear one by one until I stopped believing anyone would come when I needed them.

I wanted to warn her, but the moment I tried to speak about the future, that invisible pressure returned.

So instead, I squeezed her hand.

"Whatever happens over the next sixty days, trust your instincts and don't put yourself in danger simply because someone you love tells you to."

Emily frowned.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know yet."

It wasn't completely a lie. I knew what was coming, but I still didn't know how much I could change.

I climbed into the van and drove away, watching Emily disappear in the rearview mirror.

My phone remained switched off.

Adrian would keep calling, but I had no intention of answering him.

In my previous life, I had spent years running toward him whenever he needed me, believing that loving my mate meant sacrificing everything for him.

This time, I wanted to know what my life looked like when I stopped making myself available to him.

I drove toward the warehouse I had decided to rent while reviewing the rest of my plans.

I needed a secure location, a reliable vehicle, enough food and medicine to last for months, weapons to protect myself from humans and beasts, and, most importantly, I needed to find the Moonstones before the Silver Fang Pack discovered their true value.

I knew where the first ones would appear.

I knew which places would become death traps and which people would betray those closest to them.

And I knew Adrian better than anyone.

I had spent my first life protecting his future while sacrificing my own.

This time, I had sixty days to build a future that belonged to me.