Diana felt the pain of betrayal more than the stab wound that pierced through her womb as she stared at the person before her with tearful eyes.
"Why?" Diana coughed more blood. "Why did you do this? I... I thought – "
"You thought what? That I will forever remain as your shadow? Ha! Tough chance, Luna Diana." A cruel grin curved from the person's red lips as she stared down at the Luna of the Crescent Pack below her. "Everything you have. Everything that you will have. All of them belong to me! Mine and mine alone! I, Anastasia Lerin, am the rightful Luna of this pack and never a pathetic woman like you! Had it not been from your lineage that belongs to the Beta Family, you will never have had the chance to be with Alpha Axel!"
Diana's chest tightened as she gazed up at the woman whom she once treated as her soul sister ever since she could remember. "I trusted you. My family treated you as if you belong to the Beta Family. H-How? How could you betray them like this?"
Anastasia kicked Diana's bleeding stomach once more, ensuring the death of the unborn heir — eliciting a painful gasp from Diana. "Ha! The Ritchell Family of the Beta lineage is nothing but a stepping stone for me, Diana. I never see any of you as family. When the Ritchell Clan became useless for me, what more choice do I have to do?" Anastasia grabbed Diana's short blonde hair. "I had to eliminate them or else they will remain a backing pillar for you. With them now reduced to a mere treacherous family, you will have no one."
Diana's eyes widened. The news of her family being executed right after she was framed for allegedly poisoning the alpha, her husband, was a big blow for her that she had spent three days and three nights mourning for her father and her brother.
A glint of light sparked beneath the hardened hazel eyes of the beaten luna as she stared at the grinning Anastasia. "You! You collaborated with the real culprit." Diana needed not to ask. She already knew after she heard Anastasia's confession.
"Bingo! I did give them an idea or two." The grin painted on Anastasia's beautiful face grew bigger as she hovered over the curled form of the woman who once stood side by side with the man she coveted ever since she learned what the word 'power' meant.
Diana could only clench her fists until her knuckles turned white as her lips trembled from pain and anger. "Axel will not let you go. You killed his heir. That is enough to make your head roll at the pack's square."
There was still hope for Diana, or so she thought. The small curve of the corners of her lips dwindled when she watched Anastasia laughing like a banshee in front of her. The latter hugged her abdomen as she practically cried from laughing her lungs out.
"Hahahaha!" Anastasia's laughter shook the stale air of the pack's prison halls.
Diana's smile vanished, replaced by the pounding of her heart as she watched Anastasia mock her. Not minding the heavy breathing she produced neither the continuous flow of her blood to the chains around her ankles, Diana focused on the whimpering of her wolf at the back of her mind as if her wolf knew something that she did not.
'What is happening?' Diana asked her wolf in the back of her mind, but her beast only answered her with a whimper.
A thread of suspicion bloom in Diana's tightening heart, suffocating her by the mere thought of a certain possibility — more betrayal.
"Sweetheart, you don't have to hide your presence anymore. It's your time to send this bitch off," said Anastasia after laughing. She was now looking at the metal door of the prison cell Diana was in.
On cue, the resounding footsteps drew Diana's attention away from the smirking Anastasia. The moment a familiar scent wracked Diana's sense of smell, her wolf howled at the back of her mind. For Diana, her body went numb as her mind went into static.
Hot tears continued to fall from Diana's unblinking eyes as she watched the silhouette of a man become clearer and clearer as he stood side by side with Anastasia.
One word echoed inside Diana's mind. "Why?" Diana asked the man before her in a whisper. So many questions she wanted to ask but only one word prevailed which represented all her thoughts.
A pair of cold electric blue eyes, which once gleamed with warmth for Diana, glared at her. "Because you never deserve me. I hated the Moon Goddess for giving me someone like you as a mate. I cursed fate for your existence, forcing me away from the one whom I love. So please, Diana. If you truly love me like you always said every night for the past nine years, please die for me."
Anastasia let go of her linked hand from Axel's before she crouched before Diana. With their faces now inches apart from each other, Anastasia grasped Diana's neck tightly until Diana's veins started to protrude around the latter's neck and forehead. "Die, Diana. Your role in this world is done after you give me and Axel the happy ever after we all deserve."
Diana could not even speak when Anastasia's sharp claws pierced right through her chest before the latter took her beating heart away.
With a loud thud, Diana fell to the bloody floor. Her chest was now empty and her womb had seized emitting the faint heartbeat of an innocent child. With open eyes, until she drew her last breath, Diana's tears continued to fall from them as the shadow of Anastasia and Axel left the dingy prison cell to announce the formation of the second chance bond with the new luna of the Crescent Pack.
The grievances of the former Luna, Diana Ritchell, lingered around the four-corner cell.
Despair. Anger. Sadness. Regret.
Diana's soul lingered instead of being one by nature right after her death. Her grievances chained Diana from being pulled to the natural circle of life.
Instead, Diana's soul, which was tinged with a dark hue of red, flew to the moon. And in the arms of a woman, whose beauty could not be bound with any earthly word. The raven-haired woman cradled the soul in her arms with her glittering lashes cast down.
"Why are you holding a soul, Selene?" A gruff voice spoke behind the woman. He strode towards the unmoving deity before he encircled her waist with his inked arm. Upon taking a closer look at the swirling essence, he frowned. "A vengeful soul? Why is it here? The Demon Lord should have taken it."
The woman shook her head. "Look, Remus. A faint glimmer of light in the center of the blackened soul."
"So? Most of this soul's essence is already corrupted with grievances."
"No. That single glimmer of light means that this soul can still be saved. This poor child only wanted to be loved, but the pain is too much to bear for her."
Remus, God of Time, stared at his wife before he spoke again. "Then I will gift this soul a chance; a single chance to rewrite her cruel destiny. If she still pursues the life given by fate, then she will still become a vengeful soul with no chance for reincarnation."
Selene opened her left palm. On cue, a beaten red string appeared. The red string was worn out with snapped sides as if someone—or something—tore its other half on purpose; it was a red string that belonged to someone whose other half had long died.
"Selene, what are you doing? You know that we cannot do this. It will be against the laws of the Heavens." Remus reached out for Selene's hand but stopped midway upon seeing the tear-stricken silver eyes of his wife.
"I made a mistake when I gave this child a fate that is much crueler than a sinful one. Remus, we may be gods, but we too make mistakes. But unlike the others, we can rectify them. And this is what I am doing." Selene tied the glimmer of light to the beaten red string.
"And you are saving the vengeful soul by tying her second fate to him? Have you forgotten who he is?"
Selene, the Moon Goddess, gave her husband a meaningful smile before she released the vengeful soul. "Sometimes, two broken pieces make a perfect match. I am merely giving the poor child a second choice—a path bound with endless heartaches that will cleanse her soul back. Now, it is up to them to save each other."
Remus could only kiss Selene's forehead, for he also received the second chance that Selene was talking about.
With one wave of his hand, Remus sent the soul back to the realm of the living.
A pair of blood-red eyes snapped open followed by a sharp intake of breath. It was as if she came from a deep slumber with no room to breathe, in a way she did. She practically climbed up from hell after dying at the hands of the people she trusted. A wave of scalding hate pierced right through Diana’s ice-cold heart, melting it with only one purpose: revenge. She trusted them and loved them with all her heart and soul but what did she get in return? Her baby was taken away from her and her life trampled over and over again! “Hey, Diana. Are you alright? Why are you clutching your chest?” Anastasia’s over-the-top sweet voice pulled Diana from her miserable trance. “!!!” A gasp escaped Anastasia’s pale lips when the latter met Diana’s gaze—it was burning with hatred and malice. But in a blink of an eye, the seemingly daunting look of the submissive Diana vanished as if it was never there in the first place as if it was only Anastasia’s figment of imagination. Anastasia failed to not
“I still can’t believe you are here, Diana. I am so glad you finally start to come out of your shell.” Luna Riza gave Diana a list of to-do before placing a whole platter of pancakes before her. The middle-aged blonde Luna continued with her natural sweet voice. “Nathan is still not here. He is with Alpha Dylan and your father surveying the borders where the rogue attacks are frequent.”Diana frowned. She did not remember this event from her past life. “Why are they there instead of checking the area for the Tribute Ceremony, Luna?”Luna Riza leaned and whispered, although it was pointless since werewolves got a sensitive hearing. “My husband mind-linked me just now. He talked about blowing some steam.” She shrugged. “I don’t know what’s going on inside the mind of the alpha who singlehandedly defeated the northern rogues.”Diana was about to find some alibi to excuse herself when Luna Riza’s cellular phone rang. The latter’s face lit up upon reading the caller’s ID. Diana took this c
“I know I asked you to be brave and to explore your comfort zone, but this—this is too much!” Beta Mason, who looked younger than his age, wiped his face from exploding right in front of his daughter. He paced in the living room while Diana and his mate, Lorraine, remained seated on the sofa. Beta Mason and his wife, Lorraine, let an entire night pass before interrogating their daughter. The sudden change of disposition of Diana, their usually timid child, was so abrupt that it sent the old couple into a loop. “Your father is right, darling. The Tribute Ceremony is only for those who have lost their mates.” ‘If you only know what my supposed mate will bring in this family along with that woman, Mother, Father,’ Diana thought beneath her collected façade. She stood and faced her father—something the previous Diana would never dare to do. She spoke in a resolute tone. “Dad, Mum, do you trust me?” “Of course! What kind of question is that?” answered Beta Mason. “Of course, we do, dar
Diana stared at the wall of her room.Papers pinned on the wall were connected by a red string with numbers allocated carefully. Pictures of all she was yet to know in this second life and the people she held dear from both lifetimes were also scattered onto the wall before her. This was the timeline of the future she knew for the next ten years.Diana’s misfortune was set in stone the moment Axel returned to the Crescent Pack which would be two months from now. But her bad luck began way before that—it was the Tribute Ceremony that started it all.Her gaze flickered to the picture of a smiling Anastasia. Diana’s gaze darkened as she caressed Anastasia’s picture which was scratched by the knife many times already. “I want to see if you can still smile brightly after I exact my revenge on you. Losing everything you hold dear, realizing what you have is nothing but a mere sand castle. I want to see you crumble, my dearest best friend.”The feeling of blood trickling down her thighs, Dia
The good thing about ceremonies maintained for over millennia, the higher-ups would respect them to the point of avoiding the usage of the rising technology—and Diana took this blind spot and used this to her advantage. After separating herself, she immediately situated herself atop a Willow Tree.Having been in siesta mode for over three hours since the Tribute Ceremony began, Diana heard the rustles and howls within the misty forest. The sound of claws hitting the moldy forest floor did not leave her heightened senses. And the smell of blood grew stronger as time passed.Diana, who was leaning against the tree trunk with her legs hanging on the topmost branch, could not help the cold grin on her face. Staring at the light blue sky, she inched her arm beneath her head as a pillow while listening to the cries of the women in the Tribute Ceremony being slaughtered one by one.Like a symphony of the devil himself, Diana waited for the entanglement of blood and desire to reach her tempor
Right after Diana was freed from the awarding ceremony of the Tribute Ceremony, she heard the voices of her mother and father from her right side. In between them, there was a horde of spectators from the Tribute Ceremony. She could have squeezed herself to meet them halfway, instead, Diana took this opportunity to walk away from them—it was as if she did not hear them in the first place. The heavy downpour of rain began, soaking her black shirt and white shorts. Yet her muddy shoes did not falter, for her strides were predetermined already. ‘As expected, like what happened in my last life, the killing spree was not a big deal in a Tribute Ceremony. In fact, it is quite normal. For this generation who enjoyed peace more than the turbulent times, it is quite a big deal for the younger folks. But for the older ones? No rule has been breached.’ Diana thought. A warm yet abrupt hug pulled Diana from her trance. “!!!” “Diana! Oh, goddess! Diana Ritchell!” cried the elder woman who was
‘I doubt if Amber was treated like this in the first timeline,’ Diana thought.Hands in her luggage, she stood in front of a room akin to a utility room inside the Blood Claws Pack. Sighing at how childish the alpha was acting, she opened the dingy old door with the rusty key Beta Seymor gave her right after arriving at the back of the pack house.No welcoming. No introduction. Nothing. Diana’s arrival was treated like a grand secret befitting of a criminal.“I wouldn’t wonder if I find any dead body here,” mumbled Diana. She wandered around the tiny room.Aside from a bed which was fairly new, a cabinet, a study table, and a chair, there was nothing. There was no source of light either. The wall had yellowish streaks on the wallpaper. Cobwebs littered the corners of her ceiling. And the small window right in front of her study table was dusty.“At least the bed is comfy.”Diana did not mind being in this kind of room. Almost all her life, she lived as the lesser one. This time, she w
Diana listened as the pack house’s backyard was full of all the werewolves living in the pack house—mostly unmated ones—and those who finally earned themselves a cabin after meeting their mates or having a family of their own.With her head against the wall and her eyes closed, she listened to the laughter of the children as they waited for the grilled meats prepared by their parents.The cute giggling of the children and the cooing sounds of the infants, Diana relished the sound. With her other hand on her stomach, the corners of her lips tugged as tears continued to stream down her face.After spending her second day in the Blood Claws Pack, Diana realized how close-knitted the werewolves in the supposed ruthless pack were. Every night, as long as the moon shone over them, they would gather in the pack house’s backyard and eat together like a big family.‘In a world where everyone forgot about your existence, I will never forget you, my sweet child. I may not have the privilege to h