The Alpha’s Silver Arrow

In my past life, I lost my wolf protecting my Alpha mate from a poisoned arrow. For thirty years, he kept our bond out of guilt, and his last words to me were that I shouldn't have saved him.

When I opened my eyes again, he was the one who had taken the silver arrow for me, vowing to protect me in this new life.

The moment I regained consciousness, my ears filled with the excited chatter of werewolves. Someone was shaking my shoulders forcefully.

"Elara! Elara! It's time to vote! Are we going to the Moon Summit or not? You're the last one."

I blinked, my vision slowly coming into focus.

Before me were familiar, wild faces, their energy making the air feel thick and restless.

The seven of us were the pack's most promising young warriors.

But the assassination at the peace summit changed everything.

My best friend, Clara, was brutally killed helping us escape, and I lost my wolf.

The pain of having my soul torn away was so profound that the memory alone made my fingertips tremble.

"Are you going or not? Say something! The Alpha is waiting for the count."

Seeing I was still dazed, Clara, who was sitting to my left, smacked the back of my head.

It was a hard smack. It stung.

Seeing her vibrant, living face before me again, my eyes welled with tears.

The Moon Goddess had truly heard me.

I was really back. Thirty years in the past, right before the tragedy began.

"What are you spacing out for, Elara? Did you hear Alpha Kaiden is joining us? Are you so happy you can't think straight?"

Hearing Kaiden's name, my heart clenched as if squeezed by an invisible hand.

It was the deep, soul-deep pull of our Mate Bond, the source of all my pain in my previous life.

In my last life, Kaiden, the pack's Alpha, suddenly decided to join our mission.

Our designated safe house had been claimed by a rival pack, so our original plan was to camp in the wilderness for the night.

But with our pampered Alpha in tow, we ended up at a hotel on neutral territory.

That night, rogues attacked without warning, and the hotel was engulfed in unnatural flames.

Seeing a fatal silver arrow flying toward Kaiden, I instinctively shoved him aside, only to be struck in the spine.

The silver poison seeped into my bones, and my wolf died inside me.

And Clara, to draw our pursuers away, led them off on her own. She never opened her eyes again.

Afterward, Kaiden took meticulous care of me. Once I recovered, he knelt before the entire pack, proposed, and marked me as his.

I accepted.

In our thirty years together, we lacked the wild passion an Alpha and Luna should share. All that was left was endless courtesy and restraint.

I tried so hard to win his heart, filling crystal after crystal with memories of every moment he made my heart flutter.

On my deathbed, I found all 199 of those crystals tossed in a corner of the storage room.

And locked in his safe were another she-wolf's crystals.

As I lay dying, the last thing he said to me was,

"Next time, don't take the silver arrow for me."

So our thirty years together were nothing more than his way of repaying the debt he felt he owed me for my wolf.

A debt that suffocated him, one he was desperate to escape.

Since I have a second chance, I will not get entangled with him again.

But before that, the damned ambush is still waiting for us.

This time, I will change all of our fates.