Chapter 2

Mathew barged in with a few of his friends, looking fierce and annoyed as he pulled Aria into his arms. “What gives you the right to provoke Aria?” He snapped, not even bothering to greet my father, who was higher than him.

Because I used to be madly in love with him, I had publicly announced he didn’t need to bother with any formalities with my family. I have even given him a higher rank where other alphas who were clearly more powerful than him have to bow to him.

I laughed softly to myself. I have been so foolish.

“Apologize to her now!” He ordered, pointing a finger to my face. I laughed at his audacity. Being reborn really opened my eyes to a lot of things. I have spent years training to be the perfect alpha only to be reduced to this by a man who isn’t even worth half of me.

“And if I don’t?” I met his gaze and his eyes widened in shock at my outburst. Before, all he had to do was raise his voice and I’d have been begging and doing whatever he wanted.

I would have sent a lot of gold and silver, several of stuff to his pack in effort to beg him. He would give me the silent treatment for days, having me run around and asking his friends for help.

“And what makes you think you have the right to barge in here and not bow to my father?”

“Bow to your father?” His friends repeated.

“Olivia, you’ve been chasing after Mathew for a long time now. Look, she even got her father to do a private mating ceremony for her? And you’re asking your future alpha to bow for a soon-to-be-dead one?” His friends laughed, mocking me.

One of them, Jake, leaned against the wall with a smirk. “Five years of trailing behind him like a lost pup. Everyone in the pack knows he doesn’t bow to anyone.”

“Yeah,” another chimed in, elbowing the first. “Remember when she waited outside the training grounds for three hours just to hand him water? And he didn’t even look at her twice.”

Hearing this, Mathew grew more confident. “I know you must have picked me as your chosen mate. If you don’t apologize to Aria now, you can forget about mating with me.”

“Mathew, she’s gonna get angry.” Aria said, feigning weakness as she clung onto him. “And Father is here; you can’t keep talking like that.”

My father stood up, almost to yell, when I stopped him. I can handle this. The last thing I wanted was dragging him into this again.

“What makes you think I’d choose you?” The moment the words left my mouth, everyone froze, Mathew’s expression changing as his friends exchanged glances.

Aside from me being obsessed with Mathew, his parents were also friends with my father. Those were the only two reasons why my father never opposed the mate arrangement. Out of respect for his daughter and their friendship bond.

“There are several powerful alphas here; what makes you think I’d choose someone like you?” I asked again.

After a long moment of silence, one of his friends burst into laughter. “Olivia, are you seriously trying to make Mathew jealous with such words?”

The others joined in laughing too.

“You’ve been licking his feet and acting like a maid for five years. No alpha from any pack would dare take you as their Luna.”

“Unless she wants to be the mistress,” another added, snickering.

Jake stepped forward a little. “Come on, Olivia. Drop the act. We all know you’ll crawl back the second Mathew snaps his fingers. You’ve done it before.”

“Every single time,” the third friend said. “Remember the border-patrol incident? She nearly got herself killed just so he’d notice her. And still he chose Aria’s company that night.”

Mathew laughed, stepping closer. “I know you’ve made up your mind to be my Luna, just like the last time. But I also have a few conditions, and if you can’t meet them, don’t even think for one second I will complete the mating ceremony with you.”

Hearing those words, I stared at him in shock, eyes wide. He didn’t say this in our past life. In fact, he had behaved like a gentleman and accepted the mate bond without hesitation.

What does he mean by “just like the last time”? He could not have possibly been reborn too, right?

“I will let you know now. I can complete the mate bond with you, but in my heart…” He paused and reached for Aria’s hand again. “There would only be Aria. As long as you don’t interfere with us, I will let you keep your position as my Luna.”

“Mathew!” My father finally snapped. “How dare you insult my daughter like that?”

“It’s okay, Father,” I said.

“Mat, you can’t say that. My sister is your soon-to-be Luna; she will be upset. This isn’t right.” Aria’s voice was soft, almost trembling, but her eyes stayed locked on me, waiting for my reaction.

“There’s nothing wrong with what I said. If she dares blame you, I won’t mate with her.” With that, he took her hand and walked away.

His friends followed, still chuckling.

“She’ll come running by tomorrow,” Jake said loud enough for the whole room to hear.

“Bet she already has the mating dress picked out,” another replied.

“Desperate alphas’ daughters always do.”

Mathew didn’t look back. Aria leaned into him as they left, her earlier tears gone.

I stared at the scroll and picture of the men in front of me and laughed. Mathew, I never planned on mating with you again in this life.