When My Mate Chose Her, I Chose Freedom

Two days before the festival, Kyle Grayson decided he was taking his little healer assistant to the Southern Hot Springs territory for the holiday.

"Serena, Lina has no family in Blackthorn Pack. What is so wrong with me taking her away for a few days?" His anger crashed over me before I was fully awake inside my own body.

I stared at Kyle, then at the girl standing beside him with red-rimmed eyes and her fingers twisted in his sleeve. Lina Hart had been a low-ranking Omega when Kyle brought her back from the border. Somehow, she had gone from being a rescued stray to the one woman he protected in every room she entered.

She tugged his cuff and spoke in a voice soft enough to melt butter. "Alpha Kyle, please don't talk to Serena like that. If she doesn't want me to go, I won't. I'm used to spending the Full Moon Festival alone anyway. It's fine. Really."

She said it was fine, but tears were already shining in her eyes.

Kyle's face darkened at once. When he looked back at me, his familiar impatience was already there. "What are you thinking now? Running to my father again? Trying to drag the Pack Council into this so they can force me to stay? Serena, Lina has suffered enough. She only wants to leave this cold pack house before the festival. If you make her cry again because of your jealousy, I won't let it slide."

I said nothing, not because he scared me, but because I had finally understood what was happening.

I had come back.

Back to the day everything went wrong in my last life.

That night, Kyle had insisted on taking Lina beyond Blackthorn territory. I stopped him and asked both pack elders to force him back to our ceremony preparations. Lina left alone, crossed the southern border, and died under a rogue attack near Shadow Marsh.

Kyle acted as if he did not care. I believed him, until our bonding ceremony, when he pushed me beneath a rogue-tainted altar and whispered, "If not for you, she would still be alive."

I died there knowing the truth. He had blamed me all along.

Now he stood in front of me again, shielding that fragile little Omega, waiting for me to break down, to fight, to prove I was the unreasonable one.

Not this time.

This time, I would not stop him.

He could choose whomever he wanted. He could protect whomever he wanted.

I lowered my head, opened his suitcase, and calmly packed his cloak, combat boots, and border permit.

"Fine."

Kyle stopped mid-sentence. He frowned, as if he had misheard me. "What did you say?"

I folded his black warrior cloak and laid it on top. "I said, fine. Take her."

The room went quiet.

Kyle stared at me, angry and confused. In the past, Lina's name alone could start a fight. Now he was taking her to another territory before the festival, and I had not asked why.

Lina clearly had not expected it either. For a split second, disappointment flashed through her eyes before she put on that wounded look again. "Serena, don't force yourself. I know you're Kyle's future Luna. I shouldn't make you unhappy."

She reached for the suitcase in my hand, then deliberately let her fingers slip. The case crashed to the floor, and a silver-buckled belt rolled out.

Kyle caught her at once. "Are you hurt?"

Lina shook her head, but her tears fell harder. "I'm fine. I'm just clumsy."

Watching them, I felt none of the old tearing pain, only a cold clarity. Once you had truly died, the things that used to break you became almost laughable.

Kyle grew more irritated when I still did not react. "You had better mean this. If you treat Lina well from now on and stop targeting her, I will complete the ceremony with you as promised." He added it like a favor. "You know not just anyone can become Blackthorn Pack's future Luna."

I smiled faintly.

In my last life, I had spent all my dignity chasing that title and died in his hatred.

This time, I did not want it.