Chapter 2

Aria.

“You… poisoned me…” I whispered, feeling a coil wrapping around me tightly, suffocating me.

I slumped on the floor, blood already dripping down my mouth and nose.

“Of course.” He laughed coldly, staring down at me like I was something unworthy. “You really believed that I was going to have someone weak, foolish and pathetic like you as my mate? And you are my fucking stepsister, do you know how much I hated your mother for taking over my mother's title?”

His mother's title?

But the Luna had passed away many years ago, when had he become this venomous?

“This—wasn’t what—you—promised me, Tristan,” I choked out, every word felt like a struggle.

Tristan reached into his pocket. He pulled out a cigarette and a lighter. He lit the cigar, crouched lower in front of me and puffed the smoke right on my face which I knew would have turned red by now.

“I don't care about those shitty promises,” he growled. “You are nothing but a pawn who was useless to me and needed to die before you became a hassle later on. I only promised you that just so you could be stupid enough to help me get rid of my arrogant brother and you did it, Aria. You really did it.”

Fuck…

I had just realized how much of a fool I had been for years. He had spat on me, bullied me and the moment he came asking for my help, I had done it without a second thought.

Just then, the door to the cheerleading room slid open and Maya Frost, my best friend and the leader of the cheerleading squad stepped in.

My hope was rekindled. At least I wasn't going to die. She was going to try to save me. But that hope quickly dashed away when he snapped his head towards the door, and calmly rose.

“Oh… baby,” his voice dripped with so much sweetness. “I was getting rid of this bitch like you said. Thank Goddess I accepted your suggestion that letting her leave might ruin things.”

Maya stood in front of him, cupped his cheeks and kissed him, his hands trailing down and spanking her ass cheeks.

What?!

The realization that they seemed to have been together made my throat burn more fiercely.

They had never seen eye to eye, so I thought. Most times when Tristan treated me badly, Maya had been the one who stood up for me.

When they pulled back, she stared down at me, lips lifting in a mask-like thin disgust. “Well, well, well…” she sneered, her voice dripping with mockery. “Look at you, Aria. You really thought Tristan would accept the mate bond? No… he is mine. No, I wanted him because you did.”

Her eyes burned. “You've been so stupid not to realize how much I have hated you all this while?”

Hated me?

Why?

As if she could hear the questions I couldn't ask, she continued. “Yes, I hated you. I hated the fact that you had to be academically smart and my family wouldn't stop comparing us.” Her father was the Alpha's beta.

God… how could I have been stupid enough to see her deceit?

“Yes Aria,” Tristan chipped in. “The same way everyone wouldn't stop comparing me to my brother. We hated you both and that was why we decided to get rid of you two. You might not know… but my brother loved you. No… he was obsessed with you… so obsessed that he wouldn't stop fucking himself to your memories and fighting with me to treat you better.”

Trenton was nice to me, but he loved me?

How?

Why?

But looking back now, it all made sense.

From the way he stared at me like I was his salvation, the way he smiled like I was the only thing that made sense in a while, the way he made sure the maids and guards at the palace treated me like I was a princess too.

And I had been foolish enough to kill him.

Oh… I really deserved to die.

Streams of tears burned down my cheeks.

Maya stomped on my ankles with the heels of her ankle-length boots and even though pain exploded there I just couldn't scream. The poison had ripped off every nerve of mine.

“Now, die, Aria.” She pressed down on my ankle. “Go and rot in hell while we win the championship, become the rulers of this pack, get married and live happily ever after.”

“Hahahaha,” their menacing laughter was like bad music to my ears.

The rest of their celebratory words faded into the background as I felt life slowly slipping through me.

Goddess… I had been stupid. So stupid. If there was another life, I promised I was going to make a difference. I wouldn't be stupidly in love and foolishly trusting.

I heaved deeply and the last thing I saw before I closed my eyes in death was them walking out of the hall, hand in hand.

——————

My stomach twisted so painfully that I jolted awake and sat up on the bench. My chest rose and fell frantically. Beads of sweat trickled down my forehead.

I slapped my mouth, my nose… and there was no blood. Even my throat wasn't tight at all.

My wide eyes cast a wary glance across the room and I realized that I was in the cheerleading hall. The same place that I had supposedly died.

What the heck?

A wave of confusion slammed into me as I tried to make sense of what was happening. How was I here and not burning in hell for killing my kind and superstar stepbrother?

Just then the screen of my phone lit up. With trembling hands, I picked it up from the bench and my eyes caught sight of the date.

Sixteen of June 2025.

This was the date that Winterridge had the match with Silvercrest. But the time was an hour… until the match started, until Tristan summoned me to help poison his brother.

My breath caught when realization dawned on me. I slapped my hand over my mouth to muffle the screams threatening to slip past my lips.

Wait… wait… had I been reborn by any chance?

Of course, that was the only explanation for all these strange happenings.

Before I could fully process it… a message notification from Tristan popped up on the phone screen.

“Hi, Aria. I need your help mate. Can you please come over to the locker room?”

The same message.

The same trap. He had never acknowledged me as his mate until now.

But this time…

I wasn't the same foolish girl who died in this room.

In my previous life, I had left everything I was doing and ran to him in the locker room like a lovesick fool.

I'd make sure that I used this second chance that the Goddess had given me judiciously. I would rewrite my fate now.

My hand tightened around the phone when I remembered how this bastard had poisoned me and confessed to the fact that I was nothing but a pawn.

But then he said Trenton loved me.

I had only thought that he was just being kind to me as his stepsister, but whatever, I would make sure he didn't die this time.

A devilish smirk curled on my lips as I stood and made my way to the locker room, already scheming ways on how to deal with my dear stepbrother and fated mate.