Chapter 2

Lyra

The sight of Kael standing over me made me gasp, my body moving away from him on instinct. I scrambled backwards on the bed, chest heaving.

“What are you doing here?” I blurted out.

Kael’s face pinched. “I heard you crying out, so I came in to check on you. Sue me.” He sighed and glanced at his watch. “Anyway, you overslept. Hurry up and get ready. We have to drive to Ravencrest.”

Ravencrest.

The word shot through me like claws shredding the fabric of reality as I watched Kael’s tense form stalk away. Blinking rapidly, I looked around the room I now found myself in—a small but cozy space with soft pastel yellow walls and polished hardwood floors, one corner dominated by the twin-sized bed that I now sat on.

There was a small writing desk under the window, lace curtains gently billowing in the breeze. Posters of various bands and books and movies lining the walls. A dresser with a mirror above it.

And in the reflection of that mirror, staring back at me, was a face I hadn’t seen in years.

With shaking fingers, I lifted my hand to touch my cheek. My fingertips touched soft, freckled skin. Blue eyes blinked, widened in shock. Chestnut hair was frazzled, partially undone from its braid from a night of restless sleep.

I was alive.

And not only that…

I was seventeen again.

It didn’t make any sense, and yet somehow, I knew it was true. I recalled the past six years with sickening clarity, too much clarity for it all to be a dream. I remembered the five years of our marriage, my twenty-third birthday, and finally, my death.

All of it.

And yet, somehow, here I was—seventeen again, wide-eyed and a face full of baby fat.

My eyes flicked over to the calendar that hung above my desk, and I noticed the date: it was the last day of summer. And there, on the eleventh of August, was a big red X.

My first day of school at Ravencrest University.

Despite the shock of it all, I couldn’t help but let out a little breath of relief. I wasn’t dead. I had somehow been reborn six years before my death; a second chance.

But with that relief also came an overwhelming sense of pain that had nothing to do with the physical pain I’d felt during my final moments in my past life. My heart ached at the memory of how cruel Kael had been to me, and how naive I had been to believe that he would care about me.

I remembered my vow: I would never love him again.

At least I could change things now. And I wouldn’t let this miracle go to waste.

It didn’t take long to find where all of my things were—everything was still exactly where I’d kept it in my past life as a teenager. I found a simple skirt and blouse, perfect for a first day of classes, then brushed the tangles out of my hair and tied it into a loose braid over one shoulder.

Once I was dressed, feet slipped into new loafers, I headed downstairs. I found Kael sitting at the breakfast table, and beside him sat Cassidy.

Cassidy.

She was the daughter of a Beta family close to the Dravens, and also happened to be Kael’s newest bed partner during this time. She loved calling herself his girlfriend.

I recalled her face with a fresh wave of bitterness. Of course she would still be here in the mornings, just as she always had been when we were this age; nothing had changed for them in this life.

Cassidy’s sparkling hazel eyes snapped up to meet mine the moment I stepped into the room. Her lips twisted into that familiar sneer that I knew all too well.

“Good morning, Lyra,” she said, and the way she said my name was as if it were acid on her tongue. “Looks like someone overslept. You’ve still got drool crusted on your cheek.”

I resisted the urge to wipe my face and simply crossed to the coffee pot, pouring it into a thermos for the car ride to Ravencrest. “Good morning.”

Kael cleared his throat. “Cassidy will be riding shotgun this morning.”

Of course she would. It was their second year at Ravencrest, my first. We would be attending together for the first time.

Cassidy tilted her head. “So she’s coming with us after all? I thought a wolfless wouldn’t bother going to university.”

“Well, I was accepted with flying colors, so I don’t see why I wouldn’t,” I retorted.

Cassidy’s mouth puckered as if she’d sucked on a lemon. We all knew that she hadn’t gotten into Ravencrest because of her grades in high school—she had spent more time worrying about the cheer team and which boy’s heart she was going to break—but because of her status as the daughter of a Beta.

As for me? Wolfless rarely attended university, especially not the prestigious werewolf school of Ravencrest.

But I had worked my ass off throughout high school, staying up late studying every night and never having a social life—not that anyone really wanted to be friends with a wolfless orphan anyway—and I wasn’t about to let Cassidy’s cruel remarks get to me.

In my past life, I had let her ruin my self esteem. I had let her boss me around, treat me as lesser, because I thought I didn’t deserve any better.

Not now. Not anymore.

“Well,” she said, recovering, “I suppose they need people to work in the cafeteria, don’t they? Maybe you can get some practice for your future life and fetch me a jar of jam from the cellar for my toast.”

My fingers tightened around my thermos as I recalled what had really happened when I had gone to “fetch the jam” from the cellar.

Cassidy had locked me down there, shutting off the lights and leaving me in that dark, creepy place.

I recalled my tears. The claustrophobia clawing at my insides. The helpless and pathetic way I had begged her to let me out. And when they had finally let me out, after I’d nearly pissed myself with fear, Kael had simply accused me of deliberately making him late for school.

Not this time.

“Get it yourself,” I replied curtly. “I’m not your maid.”

Cassidy looked like I’d just sprouted a second head. “Typical wolfless,” she muttered, turning away. “Can’t even be bothered to help with something so small as getting jam.”

I opened my mouth to respond, but before I could, Kael’s mother, Celene, stepped into the kitchen. The sight of her after all this time made my chest loosen as if a weight had been lifted off of me, and the moment her kind silver eyes—so much like Kael’s, and yet so much warmer—met mine, I nearly burst into tears of joy.

“That’s enough,” she snapped at Cassidy, then turned to Kael. “I hope you’re not planning on letting your adoptive sister be bullied like this at school. You’re supposed to protect her, not idly sit and watch as she’s insulted over things she can’t control.”

Kael groaned. “It’s not my fault she can’t stand up for herself.”

“She’s your adoptive sister. She’s family. And you know she’s been through hell, so you’d better not make her endure more.”

I managed a small smile at my adoptive mother’s words. She had always been kind to me, knowing that I had suffered so much at the age of thirteen when my family had been killed.

She was the only one who treated me like a person. To her, I wasn’t just a wolfless freak, but rather the daughter she never got to have.

“I just want her to stay away from me at school,” Kael grumbled, shoving his chair back so hard it scraped loudly against the tile floor. “I don’t need everyone to know I have a wolfless foster sister on my first day. It’ll give me a reputation.”

My heart clenched, but I kept my face neutral and lifted my chin. No. I would not let his cruel words hurt me in this life.

“It’s fine,” I said. “I can handle myself.”

Celene didn’t look convinced, which I couldn’t blame her for. In my past life, I always crumpled easily under the discrimination that others threw my way. But not this time. This time—

“This time, you will be stronger.”

The familiar voice that ripped through my mind was like a silver-tipped blade and a gentle caress all at once: my wolf. I froze, heart pounding as I felt her comforting presence wash over me, as if a warm blanket had been wrapped around my shoulders.

“Jade. You’re here.”

“Once you become an adult, you won’t have to hide me anymore,” she said softly. “And then they’ll all learn who you truly are.”

I pressed my lips together, silently vowing to keep our little secret until the right time in this life.

No one knew it yet, but I wasn’t just a wolfless nobody.

I was a hidden Alpha wolf.