Second Chance

Chapter 2

Aria's POV

I jerked upright, heart slamming against my ribs.

The music was too loud. People were everywhere, laughing, drinking, pressed together in groups. The smell of beer and perfume was overwhelming.

Caden was standing over me, looking annoyed.

"Finally," he groaned. "You slept off right when I was asking you something important. Did you even hear me?"

My mind was screaming.

I was just in a car crash. I was dying. My parents were dead beside me, blood everywhere, and I couldn't reach my mother's hand...

But I was here. On a couch in a bar with music pounding and Caden talking.

I sat up fast, looking around frantically. This was the back-to-school thing at the bar near campus. I recognized people from my classes. There was Marcus from biology talking to some girl. Sarah from English laughing too loud at someone's joke. And across the room, Elena, my roommate, was talking to her friends like nothing was wrong.

I touched my arms. My face. No pain. No injuries. No blood.

I was wearing the black top and jeans I wore to this party three months ago. My phone was in my pocket. I pulled it out with shaking hands and checked the date.

My stomach dropped.

It was the same night. The exact same night Caden first asked me to be his mate.

"Are you okay?" Caden sat down next to me. "You look pale."

I barely heard him. My mind was racing in circles. This wasn't possible. I died. I felt it, the cold spreading through me, my vision going dark, everything fading. But this felt real. The couch under me was real. The bass vibrating through the floor was real. Caden's cologne was too strong and too real.

The mate bond pulled at my chest. That sick, wrong feeling I'd been trying to ignore for weeks.

"Aria." Caden's voice pulled me back. "I've been thinking about this for a while. Us. The bond."

I stared at him. He looked exactly like he did that night, confident, handsome, completely sure I'd say yes.

"You feel it too, right?" He leaned closer. "The mate bond between us. It's strong. Strongest I've ever heard of. I want you to accept it. Officially. Be mine."

I remembered this moment.

In my first life I tried to be nice. I told him I wasn't ready for a mate, I wanted to focus on school, maybe we could be friends first and see what happened. I thought if I was gentle about it, he'd understand.

He didn't.

He took it as encouragement. Kept pushing. Kept cornering me. Kept insisting the bond meant we belonged together and I just needed time to accept it.

And when I kept refusing, he destroyed everything.

This time I knew better.

I stood up fast, surprising Caden.

People nearby were starting to watch us, sensing something was happening.

"I will never accept the bond with you," I said loudly that everyone could hear. "I don't want you. The bond doesn't mean I belong to you. Leave me alone."

Caden's face went from surprised to angry in a second. He stood too, getting close to me.

"You don't mean that. You're just scared. The bond is intense, I get it. But we're meant to be together. I know you must feel you're not worthy of me, considering my background and I'll surely have to marry someone else of equal status. But I promise that even if you can't be the only woman in my life, you'll always be the first. Just give it time and you'll..."

"No."

He blinked. "What?"

"I said no. I'm not giving it time. I'm not changing my mind. I don't want you. That's it."

His eyes flashed gold. His wolf was pushing at the surface. People were definitely watching now, whispering to each other.

I saw the same pattern starting. Caden not taking no for an answer. Caden deciding he knew better than me what I wanted. In my first life I walked away after this. I tried to avoid him. It didn't work.

This time I needed to make the rejection so public, so humiliating, that he couldn't pretend it didn't happen.

I scanned the bar. There. The same man from before. Tall, broad shoulders, expensive suit that definitely didn't belong in a college bar, standing alone at the bar with his back turned.

I didn't let myself think, and walked straight toward him.

Behind me I heard Caden calling, "Aria, wait..."

I tapped the stranger's shoulder. He started to turn and I grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss.

For a second he went completely still, surprised.

Then his hand slid to my waist, fingers pressing into my hip. He kissed me back, his musky scent flooding my nostrils and holy shit, this wasn't like any kiss I'd had with boys in our class. He was skilled and possessive, making my head spin.

I forced myself to stay in control. This was a statement, it wasn't real.

I pulled back after a few seconds. I still didn't look at the man's face. Just turned to see Caden's reaction.

Perfect.

He looked like he was about to shift right there in the middle of the bar. His eyes were flashing gold, hands clenched into fists at his sides. His whole body was shaking.

People were staring, phones coming out.

The humiliation on his face was exactly what I wanted.

I smirked at him and walked toward the exit. I didn't look back or acknowledge the stranger I'd just kissed. Just walked out like I owned the place.

The cold night air hit me and my legs gave out.

I made it to the curb before I collapsed, sitting hard on the concrete. My hands were shaking. The adrenaline was draining away and reality was crashing in.

I was alive.

I was back.

I had three months before my parents died in that car crash. Three months to change everything. To save them. To stop Caden from destroying us.

But my hands wouldn't stop shaking because I remembered it too clearly. The way my mother's eyes looked empty. The blood everywhere. The cold spreading through my body as I died.

What if I couldn't change it? What if this was just delaying the inevitable? What if I made different choices and it all ended the same way?

My phone buzzed.

I pulled it out with numb fingers. It was a text from an unknown number.

I opened it.

The message was simple: "You just made a big mistake."

I didn't need to ask who it was.

Caden.