Chapter 1

CHAPTER ONE: 

THE EXECUTION

Lora/Nyx Pov 

"Please, Derrick. Look at me. *Look at me!, Why can't you look at me?.*"

My voice cracked as I screamed his name, silver chains burning into my wrists like acid. The entire pack surrounded us in a circle, their eyes cold and hateful. But I only cared about one pair of eyes. Blue eyes that used to look at me like I was his whole world, like he could not do anything without me. 

Now those eyes wouldn't even meet mine headon.

"Alpha Derrick, the evidence is clear." Vieve's voice was soft, almost sad. She stood beside her brother, her hand on his arm like she was the one comforting him. "I know this is hard. She was your mate. But she betrayed us all, and she has to be punished for her sins."

"I didn't!" I lunged forward, but the chains held me back. The wolfsbane they'd injected into my system made everything fuzzy and weak. I couldn't shift. Couldn't mind-link. Couldn't prove my innocence. I was left in a tight spot. 

"I heard Vieve meeting with rogues! She planned the……"

"Enough!" His voice cut through the air like a blade.

My heart shattered into a million pieces.

"The patrol schedules were found in your room, Lora." Elder Thorne stepped forward, holding up papers I'd never seen before. "Ten of our wolves died because you sold information to Crimson Valley Pack."

"Those aren't mine! Someone planted them!" Tears streamed down my face. Why wouldn't anyone listen? "Derrick, you know me. You know I would never do that…..I'm innocent"

"I thought I knew you. Turns out, I never did."

Finally, he looked at me. But there was nothing in those blue eyes except cold, hard stone. The mate bond between us felt like it was dying, withering away like a flower in winter.

"Derrick, please." I was begging now. I didn't care. "Just let me explain. Give me five minutes. Five minutes to clear myself…."

"You had months to tell the truth." Vieve's voice was gentle, but her silver eyes gleamed with something that looked almost like... victory? "My brother gave you every chance, Lora. But you kept lying. You hurt him by betraying the pack."

"I'm not lying!" I screamed so loud my throat hurt. "Vieve is the one who……."

"Take her to the execution platform." Derrick turned his back on me.

No. No, no, no.

"Derrick!" I fought against the guards dragging me backward. My feet scraped against the dirt. "I love you! I've loved you since we were kids! You know me! You know I wouldn't do that……."

He walked away.

My mate. The man I'd loved for ten years. The man I'd given everything to. My body, My heart, My soul. 

He just... walked away.

The guards forced me to my knees on the wooden platform. I could see the whole pack from here. Some looked sad. Most looked angry. A few looked satisfied that the "traitor" was finally getting what she deserved.

But I wasn't a traitor.

"Any last words?" Elder Thorne asked.

I lifted my head. Found Derrick in the crowd. He was standing with his back to me, his shoulders tight and tense. Vieve stood beside him, whispering something in his ear.

"I'm innocent," I said clearly for everyone to hear. "And one day, you'll all know the truth. One day, you'll realize what you've done. But it will be too late."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

"Moon Goddess," I whispered. "If you're real. If you care at all about justice. Give me another chance. Let me come back. Let me prove my innocence and make them all see the truth."

The executioner raised his blade.

I heard someone crying. Maybe it was Beta Martin. He'd been my friend since childhood. 

But I didn't hear Derrick voice. 

The blade came down.

Pain exploded through me, then... nothing.

Pitch black. 

---

Cold.

Everything was so cold.

I gasped and opened my eyes. Trees surrounded me, their branches reaching toward a grey sky. Rain fell on my face, mixing with tears I didn't remember crying.

I was alive.

I sat up fast, my head spinning. My hands... I looked down at my hands. They were different. Smaller. The skin was paler than before.

"What..." My voice sounded wrong. Entirely different. Higher pitched than normal. 

I scrambled to my feet and immediately fell back down. Everything felt off. Too light. Too strange. Too new. I looked down at my body and screamed.

This wasn't my body.

I crawled to a nearby stream, my hands shaking. When I looked into the water, a stranger stared back at me.

Green eyes. Not my silver ones. Long black hair with weird silver and green streaks running through it. My face was similar but... sharper. Different.

"No. No, no, no." I touched my face, and the reflection did the same. "What happened to me?"

"You prayed for another chance." 

I spun around so fast I almost fell into the stream. An old woman stood behind me, appearing out of nowhere. She had white hair and eyes that looked like jade stones. Magic crackled around her like electricity.

"Who are you?" I backed away from her.

"Elder Mergan. I'm a witch." She smiled, but it wasn't a friendly smile. It was the smile of someone who knew secrets. "And you, Lora Sinclair, are reborn."

"Reborn?" My voice came out as a whisper.

"The Moon Goddess heard your prayer. She granted you a second chance." Mergan walked closer, studying me like I was an interesting bug. "But there are rules."

"Rules? How?"

"You cannot tell anyone who you really are." Her jade eyes turned serious. "If you directly reveal your identity to anyone from your past life, the magic will break. You'll die. Permanently this time."

My chest felt tight. "But how am I supposed to prove my innocence if I can't tell anyone who I am."

"You'll find a way. Or you won't." She shrugged. "The Goddess gave you the chance. What you do with it is up to you. Get the justice you deserve or live an entirely different life."

She pulled a bag from thin air and dropped it at my feet. "Clothes. Money. A new identity. Your name is Nyx Brooks now. You're a rogue looking for a pack."

"Wait!" I grabbed her arm as she started to fade away. "Why me? Why did the Goddess bring me back?"

Mergan looked at me for a long moment. "Maybe because you died innocent. Maybe because she wanted to give you justice. Or maybe..." Her smile turned sad. "Maybe because your story isn't finished yet."

She disappeared, leaving me alone in the forest.

I stood there for a long time, rain soaking through my hair. My new hair. My new face. My new body.

But inside, I was still Lora.

And Lora wanted revenge.

---

Three months. That's how long I spent learning to be Nyx.

Learning how this new body moved. How this new voice sounded. How to hide every piece of Lora that wanted to break free.

I lived in the woods, hunting and surviving. I watched Shadowmoon Pack from a distance, learning their new patrol patterns. Watching Derrick lead training sessions with a coldness that hadn't been there before.

Watching Vieve smile and laugh like she hadn't murdered me.

Tonight, I would go back.

Not as Lora Sinclair, the executed traitor.

But as Nyx Brooks, a rogue wolf with nothing to lose.

I stood at the edge of Shadowmoon territory, my heart pounding. The border markers were right there. One step, and I'd be trespassing. One step, and everything would begin.

I thought about Derrick's face as he turned away from me. Thought about Vieve's victorious smile. Thought about the ten wolves who died in that ambush.

Then I stepped over the border.

Alarms rang out immediately. Howls filled the air. Within minutes, I was surrounded by wolves, their teeth bared and their eyes glowing in the darkness.

"Rogue!" one of them snarled. "You have three seconds to shift and submit, or we tear you apart!"

I raised my hands slowly. "I'm here to request sanctuary. I want to join your pack."

"Rogues don't join Shadowmoon." A brown wolf shifted into a man I recognized. Beta Martin. He looked a little bit older now, tired. "Alpha Derrick has a strict no-rogue policy."

"Then I guess I'll have to convince him." I smiled, even though my heart was racing.

Martin studied me with sharp amber eyes. Something flickered across his face. Confusion? Recognition? Surprise?. 

"Take her to the Alpha," he said finally. "Let him decide what to do with her."

The other wolves shifted and surrounded me. They didn't chain me, but they didn't need to. I could feel their strength, their readiness to attack if I made one wrong move.

We walked through the forest I used to know like the back of my hand. Everything looked the same but felt different. Colder. Darker. 

Then we emerged into the main clearing, and I saw him.

Derrick stood on the pack house steps, arms crossed over his chest. He looked exactly the same. Tall and powerful, with black hair and those piercing blue eyes. But something had changed. There was a hardness to him now, a coldness that made him look almost cruel.

Our eyes met.

And the world exploded.

The mate bond slammed into me like a physical force. My wolf, silent since my rebirth, suddenly howled with recognition and joy and desperate need.

*MATE!*

Derrick stumbled backward, his eyes going wide. His hand pressed against his chest like he was in pain.

No. This couldn't be happening.

I wasn't supposed to feel the mate bond with him anymore. I was in a diferent body. I was a different person.

But the bond didn't care about bodies or names or second chances.

It only cared that we were mates.

And from the look on Derrick's face, he felt it.