Reborn: My Alpha Ex's Worst Nightmare

"Your husband never loved you, Liora. He only needed your pack. And now that he has everything, he's finally ready to get rid of you."

I gasped as a sharp pain exploded across my chest, sending me crashing onto the cold floor of my bedroom.

Blood pooled around my shivering body, soaking through my nightgown while my wolf whimpered weakly in the back of my mind.

Standing directly over me was Lilith, her lips curved into a triumphant, wicked smirk that sent a chill through my dying heart.

She was wearing my hand-stitched Luna gown, and around her slender neck hung the silver pack crest that symbolized my position as Luna of the united territories.

"You really believed you were special to him, didn't you?" Lilith purred softly, nudging my bleeding ribcage with the tip of her boot. "You gave him your pack, your loyalty, and your father's total allegiance, thinking it would buy his eternal devotion."

My lips trembled as I tried to summon enough strength to speak, but only a choked sob escaped my throat. My vision blurred around the edges, yet the sight of my precious family crest hanging around her neck burned into my mind like hot iron.

"Aldric only needed your birthright to consolidate his rule over the northern borders," Lilith continued, leaning down so her voice was a faint whisper against my ear. "Now that the merger is completely finalized and official, you are nothing more than an ugly, useless obstacle in our path."

Lilith crouched beside me, reaching out a hand to mockingly trace the line of my trembling jawline.

I flinched away from her touch, but my broken body couldn't retreat fast enough to escape her cruel fingers.

"How pathetic," she laughed, her eyes glittering with dark satisfaction as she watched me struggle for air. "I spent months acting like a fragile, helpless woman just so you would pity me and take me into your home like a stray dog."

I stared up at her through a veil of heavy tears, completely unable to comprehend how the helpless girl I had once protected could become my executioner.

"Look at you now, laying in your own filth on your wedding anniversary," Lilith taunted, adjusting the silver crest resting against her chest. "You gave up everything to earn a love that never belonged to you."

My heart shattered completely. Every sacrifice I had ever made for Aldric flashed before my eyes, each memory turning into a cruel reminder of my own foolishness.

The doors of the bedroom creaked open, and I forced my eyes open, a small flicker of desperate hope flaring inside my chest despite the agonizing pain in my chest.

Aldric walked into the room, his tall figure casting a long, dark shadow across the floor toward me.

"Aldric..." I managed to croak out, my voice barely audible as I stretched a trembling hand toward him. "Please... help me..."

He walked over to stand beside Lilith, looking down at my dying form with eyes that were cold, distant, and completely unbothered.

"She is still breathing, my Alpha," Lilith murmured, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her cheek against his shoulder. "Should I finish it now?"

Aldric stared at me for a long, agonizing moment, his expression remaining completely blank. Then, without a single word of comfort or denial, he turned his back on me and walked toward the open balcony doors.

"Clean it well," Aldric instructed coldly, "I don't want any stains left on the floor by morning."

Those four bitter words completely destroyed the very last piece of hope I had been desperately clinging to.

The man I had loved with every fiber of my soul, the husband who swore to protect me until death, had explicitly ordered my murder.

Lilith smiled brightly, drawing a silver blade from beneath her cloak as Aldric stepped out onto the balcony without looking back.

She pressed the sharp tip directly against my heart, "Goodbye, Luna Liora," Lilith whispered, driving the blade deep into my chest with a single, ruthless thrust.

Agony tore through me, but as the final darkness closed in, I swore with my very last breath that if the gods ever gave me another chance, neither of them would escape my wrath.

The dark void swallowed my consciousness whole, leaving me floating in a vast, weightless abyss of total silence.

But instead of fading away into nothingness, the darkness suddenly gave way to a blinding silver radiance.

I found myself standing upright on a sea of solid glass, staring directly at a massive silver moon that hovered closely before me.

"Liora of Silver Fang," a resonant voice echoed, "You have suffered great injustice at the hands of those you trusted most."

I lifted my head, my shoulders straightening as I felt the undeniable presence of the Moon Goddess wrapping around my spirit.

"Your thread of fate was cut short by betrayal and deceit," the divine voice continued, "If I give you another life, Liora of Silver Fang, will you choose differently?" the Moon Goddess asked, her voice ringing out.

I raised my head high, my eyes glowing with an intense, silver light as I stared directly into the moon.

"This time, I'll make them regret the day they ever laid eyes on me."