Chapter 2

My father's Alpha command exploded.

"What is the meaning of this, Liam?" he roared, his face a mask of fury. "This is my pack! How can you humiliate my daughter in my own hall?"

Liam didn't back down. His eyes were filled with disdain. "My apologies, Alpha Richard. But my mate can only be Selene."

"Make me mark Elara? I'd rather stay single for the rest of my life."

Selene turned to look at me. Her face was a mask of feigned sympathy, but she couldn't hide the triumphant smirk playing on her lips.

"Liam, don't be so cruel. Have you forgotten the bond you shared with Elara after that ordeal as children? I still remember how you cried frantically, begging for someone to save her."

She spoke in a soft, gentle tone, stroking Liam's arm intimately.

If she hadn't brought it up, I might have forgotten that foolish moment from my past.

Liam and I were, in a way, childhood friends. We were close in age and had been playmates.

When we were ten, he slipped away from his guards and dragged me on an adventure. We ended up surrounded by Rogues.

To buy Liam time to get help, I released my scent to draw the frenzied Rogues away.

He escaped, but I was caught.

They tore at me, then threw me into a freezing river. I miraculously survived, but the trauma of the attack left me scarred. From that day on, I became cripplingly timid and withdrawn, too terrified to even step outside alone.

Now, Liam gazed at my sister Selene, his expression softening into something tender.

"I will never forget. If you hadn't heard the Moon Goddess's prophecy and brought the guards in time, I would have been torn to pieces. You are my salvation, Selene."

Then, he shot me a look of pure disgust, as if I were something vile.

"If you hadn't been clinging to me, holding that so-called 'debt of gratitude' over my head, I would have fully marked Selene by now."

A smug smile touched Selene's lips. But she quickly hid her ugly expression by burying her face in the intoxicating, masculine scent of Liam's neck.

I took a deep breath, my voice calm once more.

"Since my dear sister is so infatuated with Liam, yet clearly can't stand to break Alpha Damien's heart, why don't you just take them both?"

Selene's face flushed crimson, as if she had been grievously insulted.

"Elara, how could you say such a thing? Have you no shame?"

"Besides, what good would that do you? Who would ever want to mark you after that?"

"I don't know what the future holds," I said, rising slowly to my feet, my voice firm. "But right now, I want neither of them."

Both Liam and Damien stared at me.

Liam's eyes were filled with the condescending amusement one might give a court jester, while Damien's gaze turned dangerously sharp, his brow furrowed as if trying to see right through me.

I looked away from Damien. The thought of my past life's mate, the man who stood by as a deadly spell struck me, sent a sharp pang through my heart.

Father shattered the bone cup in his hand, the shards digging into his palm.

"Enough! You are a daughter of this pack. Your duty is to marry well and elevate our status. You think you have a choice?"

I stood my ground against his overwhelming presence, meeting his furious gaze without fear.

"There are other ways to contribute to the pack besides marriage."

"I know that for three months, the chaotic Borderlands have been plagued by untreatable injuries and dark magic infections, and no healer has found a solution."

"Send me there. I will cure them and restore order to the pack. Consider it the price of my freedom from this mating."

In my past life, Father used pack honor as an excuse to confiscate all the rare healing potions I had painstakingly brewed.

He gave them to Selene, who shamelessly took credit for my work, basking in the fame, wealth, and extravagance that followed.

Meanwhile, I exhausted myself day and night, desperately trying to brew the potion needed to suppress Damien's Moon Sickness.

When I finally ran out of the rare ingredients for his cure, I humbled myself and begged Selene for a few gold coins.

She just laughed, then had her guards crush my fingers before throwing me out into the wilderness like a stray dog.

And for what? Even after all that, I could never fill the void in his heart.

I learned a lesson then: giving your heart to someone whose soul has no room for you will only destroy you.

Now that the Moon Goddess has given me a second chance, I will not repeat my mistakes.

Thanks to that fool Liam's instigation, my father was more than eager to get rid of me.

That, in turn, saved me a lot of trouble.

I severed my mind-link with everyone and set off for the Borderlands without a single look back.

Out there, no one cared about the Silver Moon blood in my veins. To them, Selene was the only pack princess. I wasn't even her shadow.

But that didn't dampen my resolve. I had my own ambitions and the strength to achieve them.

In the past, I was so focused on orbiting Damien that I had neglected my own talent for healing.

Over the next three months in the Borderlands, I buried myself in research and used my healing knowledge to cure the packs of a deadly plague that had ravaged them for years.

Soon after, I single-handedly developed an antidote that neutralized the lingering dark magic in the region.

Those scarred wanderers, who had known nothing but pain and slaughter, bowed their heads to me in profound gratitude.

In the chaos of the Borderlands, my name became a symbol of new life, a master Healer.

Finally, I was no longer living as Selene's backdrop. I had had enough of that in my last life.

Unexpectedly, just as I had completely stabilized the Borderlands, my father, who had assumed I would come crawling back to accept the arranged mating, forced his way into our mind-link.

The moment our minds connected, however, his tone was unusually magnanimous.

"Elara, you've made your point. Come back to the pack. Your birthday is coming up, and I've prepared a grand banquet in your honor."

Deep down, a foolish sliver of hope for my father's love urged me to return.

I made the journey back, only to find the banquet hall completely empty.

A servant informed me that everyone, including my father, was at a lavish party Selene was hosting on the other side of the estate.

I spent my birthday utterly alone with a single slice of cake, unable to stop my tears.

As I finally left the empty hall, I ran straight into Selene and her entourage, dispersing from their own celebration.

Her smile was sweet, but her eyes were filled with thick jealousy and hostility.

"Elara, I heard that in the Borderlands, you actually touch the bodies of those lowly, baseborn wolves. How shameless."

She covered her mouth in mock horror. "They say there's a filthy method to cure mysterious diseases, one that involves mating with a high-ranking she-wolf. Is that how you healed them? You're a disgrace to our family."

She glanced at the tall, brooding Damien beside her, a sudden, cruel thought seeming to strike her.

"Oh, I see. You're debasing yourself like this just to get men's attention, aren't you? Well, you won't have to worry for much longer. Father has already arranged a new mate for you."

"Although I've heard your new Alpha has beaten several she-wolves to death, he is still an Alpha, at the very least."

"Starting today, you can forget about the Borderlands. I will be taking over the healing camps there. It's time you stopped using those... methods that tarnish our pack's reputation."

My face was impassive, but I was fighting to contain the inferno raging within me.

"I poured my heart and soul into building those clinics in the Borderlands. You don't know the first thing about healing, yet you think you can just waltz in and reap the rewards? Why should I hand over my patients and my life's work to you?"

"Can't you stand that I'm out of your control, that I'm no longer your shadow? I owe you nothing. Touch what I've built, and I promise you, you'll regret it."

Selene, shocked that I was no longer the timid girl she remembered, surprise flickering in her eyes.

But she recovered quickly, and a second later, the tears began to fall again.

"Elara, I'm just worried about you. How can you accuse me of such things?"

"I know you're jealous of my talent, jealous that I'm better than you, but I truly just want you to suffer less..."

I couldn't even be bothered to roll my eyes. I turned to leave.

A strong scent of dark pine suddenly closed in, and Damien's large hand clamped down on my arm.

"You're being insolent," he said.

I looked at the way he stood like her absolute protector and gave a bitter, silent smile.

"Apologize to Selene." His tone was that of an unchallengeable Alpha, domineering.

He used his other hand to lift my chin, forcing me to meet his eyes.

I pried his fingers off one by one, and after breaking free, I took a pointed step back.

"Save your heroics. Your protectiveness is worthless to me, especially when you couldn't even be bothered to attend the banquet held in my honor."

His hand remained suspended in mid-air, frozen. My cold rebuttal had left him speechless.

He had probably never imagined I could look at him with such detachment.

"You..." His throat worked, but he struggled to form words for a long moment.

I didn't bother to give him another glance. I gathered my things and prepared to return to the Borderlands that night.

A few days later, however, just as I was preparing to leave, Liam and Damien intercepted me.

Liam grabbed me by the neck, slamming me against a rough stone wall.

"You did this, didn't you!" he roared like a madman.

I was completely bewildered. For a moment, I wondered if he was the one with "Moon Sickness."

"Selene went to a black market auction to buy a legendary book of healing magic, trying to prove she was a better healer than you so she could take over the Borderlands!"

"Someone maliciously outbid her, and she couldn't pay the exorbitant price she promised. Now the black market thugs are holding her hostage! You're not going anywhere until we get her back!"