All Chapters of Reborn to Reject the Alpha.: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

The rope was rough against my neck, and the wind carried the smell of wet pine and burning torches across the square.I stood on the wooden platform with my hands tied behind my back, looking at the faces of the pack I had served my whole life. Some of them were crying, some of them were angry, and most of them simply looked hungry for what was about to happen. Not one of them looked like they believed I was innocent.Then I saw her at the front of the crowd, wrapped in a white cloak, her golden hair shining under the torchlight. My little sister Naomi was holding Alpha Darian's arm, and she was smiling at me.It was not a sad smile or a shocked one. It was the smile of someone who had finally gotten exactly what she wanted."Liora Hale," the Elder said, "for the poisoning of Alpha Roderick, the Moon Goddess has judged you guilty."I opened my mouth to say that I had never touched that poison, that I had spent my whole life healing people and not harming them, but the trapdoor dropped

I stood frozen in the lamplight for a long time, staring at the little black vial in my palm.The wax seal had been broken and pressed back together with a careful hand, and the crescent moon on the glass was the same one the Elder had shown the whole pack at my trial. In my first life I never saw this vial until the day it was used to destroy me, which meant someone had planted it here long before anyone knew a crime had been committed. This time I had found it first, and I was not going to waste that.My training as a healer took over before my fear could. I pulled out the stopper, held the vial under the lamp, and let a single drop slide onto a clean white dish. It was thick and faintly silver, and the smell that rose from it was bitter and sweet at the same time, like crushed almonds mixed with old flowers.Moonroot and nightshade. I knew it right away, because my mother had warned me about this exact blend when I was a child. It acts so slowly that the victim feels tired for week

The door slammed against the wall so hard that the candles shook, and I turned around with the old Alpha's hand still clutching my wrist.Elder Veda stood in the doorway with four guards behind her, and Naomi was right there at her side with tears running down her cheeks. She had changed from the white cloak into a pale nightgown and let her hair fall loose, so that she looked like a frightened child who had been dragged out of bed by terrible news. I had to admire how fast she worked."Sister," she cried, pressing her hands to her mouth. "What have you done?"I did not answer her, because Roderick's fingers had suddenly gone tight and strange around my arm. His body arched off the bed, his eyes rolled back, and a harsh, wet sound came out of his throat. The antidote should have steadied his breathing within minutes, but instead I watched his whole body shake as if lightning were running through it."Alpha," I whispered, trying to hold his shoulders down. "Stay with me. Alpha, please.