1. This isn't my face!

Present

~Gabriella's POV~

My eyes went wide open and I was at a loss of breath as I panted heavily, my heart rising and falling.

I had the same dream again about my past life as the memories came rushing like a raging storm.

It began a few weeks ago and I had long come to terms with the fact that the memories were actually mine but from my past.

Those memories always made me long to leave this packhouse I am chained to.

The only thing that made me satisfied was that I managed to save my Alpha.

I touched the necklace around my neck and caressed it. I was once ignorant of how I got it, but now I remember it was given to me by my Alpha.

But I still haven't fulfilled my promise to be back for him.

Why? Because I am locked up here in the packhouse.

I've tried however way possible to get out of this place, but nothing's working.

I shrugged the thoughts off my head and decided to stand up and take a tour round the packhouse to clear my head.

I dressed up and opened the door to leave my house when...

Bang!

The door flew open and hit the wall beside it as it made a big bang.

"Beatrice!" I yelled at my best friend, Beatrice that barged into the house as soon as I saw her face.

She was fuming mad as always, cursing the world like it'd never favored her.

Unlike me, Beatrice was the Beta of a very mighty and powerful pack that even owned a whole town on its own and called themselves The Red Moon pack. Being a Beta was already something to be adorned for but she was the Beta of a very powerful pack like Red Moon.

"Gab, I think I have to cross the line! It's high time I act fast! I can't sit down and watch him slip away like that! No!" Beatrice ranted non-stop, pacing round the room.

I immediately understood her. Beatrice was crazily in love with her Alpha that everyone knows as Alpha Lord but he never cared about her; not just her but everyone. He was rumored to be the only Alpha without a mate to call his Luna but still nobody in the pack dared to confront him— at least, that's all I know.

And Beatrice, being the hotheaded girl she was always wanted to fill both that space in his heart and the space for Luna in their pack's palace. She continued showing him signs but he never threw a glance at her talk more of noticing her, all she ever heard from him was that he was only for his mate.

She once told me that only her Alpha knew who his mate was and her artwork was kept in his closet inside his mansion and only his blood could open the closet.

"Tricie! You need to calm down!" I shouted at her to call her to order.

Beatrice gradually stopped pacing furiously and breathed out loudly.

"I have decided to see the face of my nemesis. The one who is stopping my Alpha from loving me. I must see her. And wherever she is, I will find her and crush her to pieces!" She groaned, grabbed a glass cup and threw it to the floor. "Her fate will be just like that glass cup! Shattered to pieces!"

"Tricie! You need to stop saying such things! You're getting overboard with your thoughts! Must you know who his mate is? How will you even get him to give you his blood to open the closet? Do you want to get killed?!" I reprimanded her for having such foolish thoughts.

Goodness! What has gotten into my friend?!

No matter what I said, she wouldn't listen. She was just too determined and I saw it in her eyes.

Beatrice hissed, seeing that I won't support her.

"Fine, don't support me! I'll do it on my own!" She barged out of the house.

I always knew her for her rudeness and particularly bad temper. If not that she's a Beta, I would have even mistaken her for a rouge wolf given her crazy attitude.

She never listens to anyone, I just love her kind attitude but this..... We are just like light and day; having different perspective of things.

But that's not the issue now.

I have to stop her. But how? I decided to try my luck and sneak out of the packhouse and it worked. I ran out of the packhouse as fast as my legs could carry me.

I have to reach the Red Moon pack town and return before anyone finds out.

I barely reached anywhere when I bumped into someone. She was an old woman, very old woman that supported her bent posture with a walking stick.

It seemed she was blind because her left eye was pure white without any black dot in it and her right eye was purely blue.

I quickly apologized to her and wanted scuttling off when her trembling voice stopped me.

"You... curse!"

"Curse!"

I halted and turned back with a frown, wondering what she was talking about.

"You are cursed!!! You shall suffer doom all days of your life!"

"You did what was forbidden of any descendant of the moon goddess! You misused your powers and made an ageless monster all in the name of love! Now the monster you made shall fail to recognize you! You shall long for him but he'll despise you and you shall live with pain! Sufferings!! You are born with that curse from the moon goddess!"

I thought she will end at that but she continued screaming curse, curse.

Momentarily petrified, I froze at the spot as her words rang in my head. I turned away and ran, hoping to lose sight of the old woman.

Cursed?? What did she mean by I'm cursed?? And what was she saying about an ageless monster?

I turned back to see the old woman again but she was gone; like she was never there in the first place.

Did she disappear? Is she a witch? Or is it only an illusion I experienced? Or a vision?

Despite my confusion, I knew deep down that it was real and she disappeared. I shrugged and decided to treat it as an oversight, then continued my journey.

I barely got to half of the journey when I spotted Beatrice coming back in a fit of anger.

'God! I'm too slow! She has probably done the deed and return!' I mused.

I've seen her angry and annoyed but her aura right now is completely different from what I know.

She's glaring at me fiercely, her eyes were almost turning red, unlike how her orange eyes should be as a Beta wolf.

I became scared and wondered what my best friend had become.

I took a step forward to ask her what was wrong but she suddenly muttered something.

"Impossible." Beatrice groaned coldly, or should I say... her wolf groaned?

It looked like she will wolf out any second from now.

"Huh?" I wrinkled a brow, trying to understand her silent groan.

"Tricie is everything alright? What's the matter with you?" I asked worriedly, walking to her.

I would have asked: "What went wrong?" But this is quite different. No matter how her Alpha treated her, she never looked this way.

Suddenly, she smiled. Like hell! She smiled. After all those angry glares like she would feast on me, she just changed!

Confusion is an understatement of what I'm feeling now.

She walked to me and held my hands, still with that smile.

"Life isn't fair." She said.

Okay now, why is she speaking in riddles?

"Tricie, what was all that about? You were..." I started but she cut me off.

"Never mind. Uhm... It's been long we viewed the city from the cliff top, can you escort me there?"

I thought it over a little, then decided to just follow her there. Besides, even if it is dusk, she might use her power as the Beta of Red Moon pack, the most feared one in history, to let me back into the pack house.

So, we started walking in silence until we walked a mile and reached the cliff.

Maybe she wants to have a cool conversation with me, Beatrice can be the nicest lady ever but when it comes to Alpha Lord, she goes crazy.

I turn to face her, with a cute smile and giggle on my face. But unlike I expected, her mood was quite sullen and strict– very strict.

She was staring vacantly at the cliff's end, I looked at the cliff's end too but saw nothing and I shook my head.

Beatrice walked further, almost reaching the foot of the cliff then she stopped. I walked with her too and saw how high the cliff was.

"Woow" I cringed back, feeling scared of the height.

I suddenly stood in front of her, my back facing the foot of the cliff.

And I guess that was the only mistake I made.

"You just made it a lot easier." She said in a low voice with an eyebrow quirkily raised.

I frown at her weird talk. I wanted to say something when she cut me off.

"That..." She said, pointing to my neck. I look down to my neck and saw she's referring to the necklace.

"You said you don't know how you got it, that you were born with it, right?" She asked, that quirky expression never leaving her face even once.

"Oh, this.... Yeah, but my mother... says there's a high chance it's from my past life... You know how... superstitious she can be."

I don't even know why I'm stuttering, but I feel something's not right.

"Can I touch it?" She moved closer to me and touched the necklace, holding the pendant up with her hand as she ogled at it, the pendant was carved into the shape of a heart.

She is now very close to me and we're almost at the foot of the cliff.

"Bye, my dearest Gab," she said as her eyes turned pitch red and her face became dangerous.

I know something is going to happen.

All of a sudden, she cut the necklace from my neck and pushed me off the cliff.

I fell off the cliff as my face hit a large glass that broke into pieces as it came in contact with my face. The last thing I saw was her smirking face as I blacked out.

**

I woke up. I squinted my eyes due to the pain I felt in them as I looked up. I saw a white ceiling and as I moved my eyes round, I notice the walls are white too.

Where am I?

I tried to move my face but the extremely piercing pain I felt in my face made me stop. It felt like my face was burning, even my back and entire body felt stiff and my head was pounding.

I successfully managed to turn my face left and saw a lady dressed in white and a drip connected to my left palm.

Then I realized I was in a hospital. But for how long have I been here?

"Finally!" I heard the nurse squeal with joy seeing that I'm awake. "Please don't stress your body too much; for two weeks now you've been in this hospital and unconscious all along."

Huh? What's she talking about? And how did I even get here in the first place? I can't remember anything!

Panting, I threw the duvet away from my body, tore the drip from my hands and dashed out of the bed.

"Wait! Miss! What did you think you're doing?!! Shit!" The nurse yelled in fear as she hurried after me.

Nothing she said entered me as I was going insane, running out of the ward. Trying to remember what happened was making my head split in pain. I spotted the restroom and barged into it, I need to calm myself down.

I turned on the tap of the sink and washed my face as my heart was palpitating against my chest. I took a few deep breaths and looked up.

The first face I saw in the mirror was Beatrice. As I saw her face, all the memories came rushing back to my head. How the devil I call my best friend tried to kill me by luring me and pushing off the cliff.

Enraged, I turned back immediately to attack her.

"YOU DEVIL....!!!!"

But the only thing I came in contact with was the air. I turn left and right but saw no one there.

"Huh?" Something is absolutely not right here.

I faced the mirror and still saw her face. I turned back again but saw nothing. Repeating it a few more times, my heart sank to the lowest point.

MY FACE!!!!!!

I lift my hands to touch my face slowly and it confirmed my fears.

Tears poured out of my face like waterfalls as I slumped to the floor in disbelief.

"My goodness!!!!! My face.... This.... This.... Isn't my face!!!!!..... BEATRICE!!!"