Chapter 2

Eden

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The rejection hadn’t even happened, yet my heart twisted. I thought I had shed all my tears in the prison, but here I was, aching tears gathering in my eyes.

Was this what this was all about?

According to our law, the Luna must be either the Alpha's mate or attained through Timagon-killing the Luna. The high priestess had always stopped the Timagon, for her it was barbaric and she was against rejection, saying you were defying the moon goddess

But after being framed for the death of Alpha Lev, I was nothing but a murderer—a sinner. There was nothing she could do.

Once again my eyes met with Troy. “Finding a second mate will be very hard; you might go mad,” I said not knowing whether, I was trying to convince him that he needed me, or myself that he wouldn’t abandon me.

But like I was talking at a wall, Troy wasn’t moved at all. “If being with something as evil as you could bring me peace, then I would rather roam the rest of my life mad.”

My brows shot up and my chest tightened. Memories of our time spent together flooded my mind, each spawning a suffocating ache that spread through me. Weren’t they real?

A bitter taste charred on my tongue. Is this why he did this? All these so he could just reject. A frown snatched my face as anger melded with the pain in my veins.“Then I will never reject you. I'll die with your wolf still linked to me. Since you want to be mad, I'll let you taste it.”

Troy’s brows furrowed. "I promise to end this if you reject me.” His words, like a bitter cheese set on a mouse trap. "If you are not the Lunar, nobody will want you dead. Tik, Tik, Eden, time isn't on your side.”

Realization dawned on me; No one was going to save me. Not the moon goddesses. I was all on my own. A ragged chuckle escaped me as tears trickled down my face.

I straightened my spine. “I, Eden Everly, reject you as my mate.” I braced myself for the excruciating pain that comes with rejection. If this was what would save my life, so be it.

“I, Troy Adonis, reject you as my mate.”

Suddenly the pain came, surging in. Not only my heart but every part of me heated as though my blood turned into acid.

The pain hadn’t even subsided, when a hand tugged at my hair. My breath hitched—it was Lydia.

I stared up at Troy, still in obvious pain. “You promised to end this.” My throat tightened, the thought of him actually betraying me crawling into my veins.

A wry smile formed on his lip, his hands still clenched to his chest. “Promises are made to be broken.”

He was never going to banish me; He knew Lydia was going to kill me, yet he tricked me into accepting the challenge.

Just like when he confessed his feelings for me in the lake a few meters away from the harem, Just like when he had told me he would save me from the former King, Alpha Lev—all lies and tricks. And like a fool, I swallowed every word, clinging to empty promises.

Every inhale pierced through my lungs as I screamed. “Bloody liar. I hope you set with the sun, never to rise with it. And when you die, I hope heaven rejects your soul." I cursed at him, kicking at the air as Lydia dragged me by the hair.

The cheers resumed as Lydia hurled me to the center of the circle. This wasn’t about me being the Lunar, but rather because I was an abomination.

The half-moon had replaced the sun and darkness had shrouded the sky.

I tilted my head up. “Is this what you wanted?” I yelled at the moon, hoping the moon goddesses heard me. “You are just going to sit up there and do nothing?” I just watched them torture and break me. My tears turned hot against my face.

“Do you want to drink the blood of an abomination so bad?” My voice sank and my gaze fell to the floor. “I bet I’d probably taste bitter.” My fingers dug into the soil, the dark sand tainting my fingernails.

“Enough of your chatter.” Lydia drew closer, her impatience evident. Why wouldn’t she be when she was on the verge of becoming the new Queen Lunar? She clawed my face.

I shrieked as I cupped my face. She clawed my back, then my arm. My back thudded against the hard ground as pain ripped from my throat and streamed from my eyes.

Lydia slashed till I grew numb. Till all I could feel was the tearing of my flesh. There’s a saying when you can no longer feel pain, death is near.

Lighting sprinted across the sky, followed by a thunder rumble. Did heaven rejoice at my death?

My blood dyed the ground red and the pack members began to leave, leaving only Troy and Lydia.

“You are truly merciless.” Troy pulled Lydia into his arms.

Lydia smiled as she wrapped her hands around his waist. “A powerful Alpha deserves a strong Luna,” she smiled. “How did you convince the elders to go against the high priestess?”

"It was easy. After all, we all hated her," Troy replied, chuckling. He glanced down at my limp

body.

It was all his idea and he made me believe he was powerless to stop it. He didn’t have to kill me, he could have rejected me and banished me. To think this was a man, I gave my heart, body, and soul. My heart was on its last beat, it was too weak to hurt.

"You have no idea how long I've waited to get rid of her. Imagine having an abomination as a mate. The Moon Goddess must have despised me," he scoffed.

It was I who she hated, for pairing me with such a monster. If I could take it back, the hands of time, to fix my wrongs. But wishes aren’t horses.

"Let's get out of here. The Nightgale might show up any moment," Lydia said.

Lightning lit up the environment once more, giving me glimpses of Lydia and Troy passionately kissing over my broken body.

I thought I couldn’t feel anything, but I was wrong. An angry heat—deep as the abyss—surged through me.

As soon as they left, drops of rain began to fall. And I couldn’t tell if the heavens were crying for me or merely cleansing the land of my abomination’s blood.

With life seeping out of me, I stared at the moon. I had always prayed for good things, and she never answered. Perhaps I should have prayed for evil, as I was one myself.

May I roam as a vengeful spirit and haunt them down. Until the earth drinks Troy and Lydia’s bloom as it drank mine, may heaven and hell reject my soul.

Everything faded as I drew my last breath.

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My eyes opened and suddenly I was sitting in my bathtub. The water, warm and steam curling up into the air. The bell in the sacrarium echoed and I remembered the day; It was the day the old high priestess died. A year and five months before my death, A year before Alpha Lev's death, three months before the palace knew I was an abomination.

I had retrogressed. And this time, I have to make things right. Troy, Lydia, and the author of my bitter fate, Alpha Lev— I had to purge them out before they destroy me

My eyes fell on a small folded white paper caught between my fingers. Opening it, it read;

“Welcome back Eden. Roses are red, Violets are blue, to kill a dog poison its bone.”

Clearly whoever had written this letter was aware of my plans and had awaited my return. Many questions dominated my mind as one couldn’t regress without the help of a witch. But a witch in the werewolf realm was close to impossible. So who was this witch and why did she help me?