Chapter 3 – The Return

The feeling of the sword in my chest didn't just fade away.

I could still feel the crushing pressure, as if my lungs were drowning in water. I remember hitting the platform with my face, there was no pain, just a deafening silence that drowned out the roars of the crowd.

Then, suddenly, everything snapped back into focus.

The square was gone. No blood, no crowd, no Vance.

I was standing in a massive, endless space filled with a soft white light. It was coming from everywhere, the floor, the walls, the air itself. It was impossible, surreal.

“So this is it,” I breathed out, weary, too loud in the quiet. “Is this where failures go?”

An angelic voice entered my mind. It was beautiful, but it had an edge to it that made my skin crawl.

“You are many things, Amani of the Eclipse Star pack. But a failure is not one of them.”

I spun around in horror. My breath caught, my pulse hammering in my ears as the light seemed to bend around her form. The air itself shifted to strangely calm, as though the world had paused to acknowledge her presence.

That’s when I saw her, a woman standing just a few feet away.

She was tall, with hair as bright as a flame, cascading down her shoulders like molten fire. Her eyes glowed with an ancient knowing, as if they had witnessed every betrayal, every triumph, every secret whispered since the dawn of time. Her robes shimmered faintly, not with jewels or embroidery, but with a living radiance that made the fabric ripple like water touched by moonlight.

 She didn't look like a wolf, she looked like someone who gave orders and expected them to be obeyed.

“Moon Goddess,” I breathed. My knees gave out, and I just hit the floor. “Why am I here? My heart stopped. I know I’m dead.”

She stepped closer, and I could feel a weird heat coming off her. It was comforting, but also kind of terrifying.

“You're not done yet, Amani,” she answered. “You died for a lie. I watched you break your back for that pack while they did nothing. I saw you handle the Alphas, fix the trades, and keep everyone from killing each other. I watched you put up with a mate who wasn't even fit to stand in your shadow. You built that pack, and they repaid you with an execution.”

I let out a short, pathetic laugh. “I don't even care anymore. I’m just... tired. Let me stay here. I don't want to go back and see his face or feel that steel in my ribs again.”

The tears I’d been holding back while they marched me to the platform finally gave way. They were hot and messy, and I couldn't stop them.

“The threads of fate are tangled,” the Goddess declared softly but with confidence. “The Eclipse Star pack is doomed to burn. Zebub is a rot in the heart of the wolves, an invasive shadow that will grow until it chokes everything around her. If she remains, the pack will fall to the rogues within five years. Vance is too stupid to see he’s being played, blinded by a false bond, and your father's line will be wiped out, leaving nothing but an empty name. Only you can cut away this rot.”

Her words didn't sway me. I shook my head, totally over it.

“Let it burn,” I snapped, frustration finally breaking through my exhaustion. “They watched me die. They cheered for it. Why should I save them? I’m so done with them.”

“Then go back and make them regret it,” Selene replied without hesitation.

The air around her started to feel like an oven.

“I’m sending you back to the start. You’ll know what’s coming. You’ll have my backing. But don't do it for the pack, and definitely don't do it for him. Do it for yourself. Take the power they think you don't deserve. And in return, I'll grant you a throne of great authority.”

Before I could even argue, she pressed her thumb against my forehead. It felt like being branded with a hot iron.

“Wake up, Amani. Do it right this time.”

A flash of light blinded me, and suddenly, my nose was hit with the smell of lavender and cedar. It was the smell of home, but it made me want to gag. I gasped, my lungs burning as I shoved air back into them.

When I opened my eyes, I was back.

In my bed.

The silk sheets felt cool against my skin, which was weirdly triggering after feeling the rough wood of the gallows. The sunlight streamed through the window, falling in the same spot it always did every morning.

I checked my chest, my fingers clawing at my nightgown. Nothing. No blood, no hole. My skin was perfect, smooth, warm.

I looked at the clock, then at the date on the side table. My stomach did a slow, sickening roll.

Three years ago.

This was the day everything started to fall apart. The first year of my mating to Vance.

Before I could even breathe in this new reality, the door handle shifted, the wood creaking as the door swung open, spilling shadows into the room. I froze, my breath snagging in my throat, waiting for the inevitable.

Vance walked in. He looked younger, his face still fresh and not yet ruined by the stress of the wars.

But he wouldn't look at me. He kept his eyes on the floor. And then I saw what he was carrying.

Zebub!

She was wrapped in one of his shirts, looking small and scared, her eyes wide and watery like a child caught in a storm she didn’t understand. The fabric hung loose on her frame, swallowing her, yet it sent a clear message: she belonged to him now.

My blood went from ice to boiling in a split second. The rage was so sudden it actually made my hands shake, it burnt away every shred of doubt.

The lying bastard!

The girl who told me in the other life that she’d killed her own pup just to take my place. The memory of her words slithered back into my mind, venomous and vile. I could still hear her voice, trembling yet proud, confessing the unthinkable as if it were proof of her devotion.

And here she was, acting like a fragile little thing, while her eyes practically screamed that she’d already won.

My thoughts turned dark.

I looked at Vance and wondered if this was really what he wanted. Did he want a woman who would kill her own blood just to get into his bed?

And, if she could kill her own pup, what else would she do? What else would he let her do?

The betrayal wasn't just him anymore. It was both of them.

Standing there in my own bedroom, I felt a new kind of fire starting to burn in my chest. It wasn't love, and it wasn't pain, it was a promise of vengeance, of fire that would consume them both.