My Second Life Novels & Stories

"Yvie!" I frowned and shook him off, snapping coolly, "Please watch yourself, Mr. Grant. If you came to apologize for Susie Grant, then you don't have to—I'm not interested." My coldness stung him, but he smiled wryly. "No, I didn't come for her." Then, taking a deep breath as if to steel himself, he looked at me with his bloodshot eyes as he said, "I came to apologize about what I'd done in our past lives. I know you reincarnated too, Yvie."

"Lucky for me, I was born with a silver spoon, unlike some people, born to parents who abandoned them." I couldn't help but think back to when Freddie had sat next to me on my bed in my past life, sipping from the bowl of nourishing soup that was supposed to help me recover. He had sneered, "Tyler, you're going to die anyway. Drinking all that soup won't change a thing. I'll just enjoy it for you; no need to thank me." I wanted to rip him apart right then and there—just the thought of him made my skin crawl.

“ Alisha. I've had a baby before.” Tears dropped down her cheeks. Antonio wrinkled his face in surprise. “ What are you talking about? No, you haven't, I was your first, remember?” “ In this lifetime.” “ Hm?” “ This is my second life. My first life—I had a child with me.” Everywhere was still for a few seconds. She searched his face for a response or reaction. Anything at all but she got none. When she finally got one, it was the obvious one.

“The Goddess has granted us another life, but I fear we will start this journey only to have everything play out the same.” I froze, taken aback. She had not spoken since awakening to my second life, except for the present moment. "They won’t," I vowed, not just to her but to myself. Then, Sheena retreated once again, going back into silence. But that was okay. At least I could tell she had been born again with me this time. This time, things had to be different, and I was going to make sure of it. I would get the loan that Jay owed me back. His life.

The second heartbeat was still there, beating beneath his own. I knew that rhythm, not the exact sound perhaps, but the feeling of it. The presence of another soul that had always lived beside mine, moved with mine, and answered when I called. My wolf. The thought frightened me so badly that I almost pulled my hands away. For a year, I had forced myself not to hope. After the altar, after the dagger, after waking in another woman’s body with no understanding of how I had survived, I had searched for her in every dream and every quiet moment.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back ten years earlier. Maybe the pain had been too much. Or maybe, before I died, I really had seen Jace run into the flames. I convinced myself it had all been a dream. But now twenty-eight-year-old Jace was cruelly reminding me— It had all been real. And if that was true, then in this second life, I only wanted the people I loved to stay alive and safe. So I looked at the boy in front of me and gave him a faint smile. "I heard you." But this was where we ended.

And they are close enough to see me breathe. I am not the only one who remembers something I was never supposed to know. And whoever sent those messages is already inside my second life.

“Okay. I’m listening.” It took a while. Even now, there were some things I just couldn’t share, and the fact that this was my second life was one of them. My rebirth was such a strange and miraculous thing, such an unparalleled gift from the Goddess, that it seemed sacrilegious to put it into words.

They were expecting me to cry and cause a scene, waiting for me to fall apart like a jilted woman. In my past life, I had indeed done the same. I lunged forward to pull them apart, only to be shoved away by Luca. My head struck the edge of the table. I also ended up marrying him, after which I spent three years living in hell. I took a deep breath, my lungs still feeling the suffocating weight of being smothered in my past life. I suddenly remembered the weight of the pillow on my face, the crazed look of envy in Lia's eyes, and the persistent ache that followed the miscarriage.

A screen appeared on the wall. My face appeared on it. Then another image. Me lying dead in the street. Then another. Me waking up six days before the apocalypse. My breathing stopped. Marcus stared at the screen. Daniel looked away. The voice continued. “You thought your second life was an accident.” I stepped closer. “What do you want?” “To see how far you’ll go.” The screen changed. Six women appeared. Sana. Lily. Priya. Maya. Nia. And Elena. They were unconscious.