All Chapters of REBORN BEFORE THE MOONLESS NIGHT : Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

The cold bit into my skin like teeth.I slammed my fists against the iron gates of Blackthorn Pack until my knuckles split open. Blood smeared across the frozen metal. Behind me, the forest screamed. Feral wolves tore through the darkness, their howls closer with every breath.“Garrick!” My voice cracked. “Open the gates!”He stood on the other side, tall and unmoved, the Alpha who once swore I was his everything. Isolde stood beside him, her hand resting lightly on his arm like she already belonged there. Torchlight painted their faces in gold while I shivered in the dark.“Please,” I begged, pressing my forehead against the bars. “I healed your warriors. I bled for this pack. I am your Luna—”“You were useful,” Garrick said. His voice carried no warmth. “That time has passed.”Isolde’s soft laugh cut through the wind. “Look at her. Still begging. How pathetic.”I stared at my husband. The man I had given everything to. The man who once held me like I was precious. Now his amber eyes

The box was gone.I stood in the center of my room and forced myself to look at the space again with colder eyes. The chest near the window had been opened carefully. Nothing else appeared disturbed at first glance, but the more I studied the room, the clearer the truth became. Whoever had searched it had known exactly what they wanted and where it was kept.In my previous life, that small wooden box had sat untouched for years. I had been too busy healing wounds, settling disputes, and trying to be the Luna everyone expected. I had never opened the sealed document inside. I had never studied the old pendant or the fragile pages written in my grandmother’s hand. I had treated it like a sentimental relic instead of a warning.Now it was missing, and the timing was too precise to be accidental.I dropped to my knees and ran my fingers along the floorboards near the chest. Dust clung to my skin. The wood was smooth from years of use, except for one small section that felt slightly uneven

~ Anya ~I couldn’t stay here.The thought had been circling since I found the symbol under the chest, but now it sat solid in my chest. Blackthorn was a cage with familiar bars. Every hour I remained gave Garrick more time to tighten them.Mira sat on the edge of my bed, arms crossed, watching me pack. I wasn’t taking much. A change of clothes. The few coins I had kept separate. Nothing that would slow me down.“You’re actually doing this,” she said.“I have to.”“He already restricted you to the territory. If you leave without permission, he’ll treat it like a challenge.”“I know.”She dragged a hand through her hair. “Anya, listen to me. Whatever’s going on with you… this isn’t like you. You’ve always been the one who stayed and fixed things. Now you’re ready to walk into open hostility over a missing box and some old family mark?”I stopped what I was doing and looked at her. Mira had been the closest thing I had to real loyalty in this pack. In my first life, she had tried to war

I couldn’t stop looking at the photograph.The scratches across the man’s face were deep enough that the paper beneath had started to fray. Whoever did it hadn’t been in a rush. They had taken their time erasing him. My grandmother still stood clear in the image, younger than I ever remembered her, but the space beside her was ruined.Elias.I said the name quietly under my breath, testing the shape of it. I hadn’t spoken it in years. In my first life I had accepted the story everyone repeated — that he preferred solitude, that some people weren’t built for pack life, that he had simply chosen to leave. I never questioned it. I had been too busy trying to be useful.Mira sat on the floor near the window, knees drawn up. She had been quiet since I showed her the damaged photo.“You really don’t remember much about him?” she asked.“Fragments. He came around a few times when I was small. My grandmother always seemed tense when he was near. Then one day he was gone, and no one talked abo