Receiving Gifts

The shewolves in Shadow Pack all said I was lucky. Alpha Erwin Keller had doted on me alone for eight years. However, the same werewolf who swore he would only ever want to be with me gave me two 'gifts' the day I brought him home to meet my mom, Katie Spencer, to discuss our marking ceremony. The first gift was tying Katie to a chair and having his Beta rip her clothes apart right in front of me. The second gift was deliberately opening the door and letting my dad, Felix Spencer, who had already lost his wolf spirit, run outside. There was pouring rain outside. Felix ran to the edge of a cliff and fell over. Katie was still tied to the chair. She watched Felix die right in front of her. She snapped the ropes like a mad wolf and jumped off the cliff to die with Felix. In a single night, I lost both my parents. I kneeled in a pool of blood and asked Erwin why he did all this. He pinched my chin and sneered. "Lara, did you really think I loved you? I came for revenge!" It turned out that during the territorial war ten years ago, his dad died saving mine, and his mom took her own life afterward. Erwin spent eight years carefully weaving a lie of love. It was all so I could experience what it felt like to lose my entire family. Later, Erwin kept me trapped by his side and tortured me. I tried to kill myself 99 times. He saved me all 99 times. He said we would torture each other until we grew old. What he didn't know was that ten years ago, when his wolf spirit was completely destroyed and he was barely alive, I was the one who begged an Alpha from another pack to place a curse on me so that he could live. In return, I only had eight years left to live. Now, I was seven days away from my own impending doom!

On the day I'm set to go into labor, I plead to my husband, Timothy Langford, to take me to the hospital when I'm two centimeters dilated. However, a pissed-looking Timothy orders his men to lock me up in a sauna room that's heated to 356 degrees Fahrenheit. This is all because my estimated labor date is one day earlier than my widowed sister-in-law, Natalie Thornton. Since Timothy is bent on making Natalie's baby the oldest grandson of the Langford family, he instructs his men to inject me with 100 labor-suppressant injections. No matter how much I beg Timothy to spare our baby, he remains unmoved. Having received 99 injections, I feel a world of pain crashing down on me, seeing as I'm already suffering from contractions to begin with. But Timothy is the one who injects the final labor-suppressant injection into my huge pregnancy bump. As he gazes at my agonized and writhing form, he says coldly, "It's already difficult for Natalie to survive in this world after losing my older brother. As her brother-in-law, I'm merely fulfilling her wish to become a mother. "Still, you refuse to spare her. It's not enough for you to force her to survive overseas on her own; you even plan on receiving labor-induction injections just to give birth to your baby on an earlier date! "It seems that I've spoiled you far too much for you to have the guts to pull this stunt off! The doctor already told me that once I've given you the labor-suppressant injections and leave you somewhere extremely hot, it can stop you from giving birth. You're only allowed to give birth once Natalie is out of labor." At that moment, I've completely given up on life. The moment Timothy witnesses Natalie's baby being born, his eyes are filled with tears of happiness. He sets off firework after firework to celebrate the grand birth. Later on, as Timothy gazes at Natalie's newborn, he finally remembers me and our unborn baby. When he's about to order his men to take me to the hospital, he receives a phone call from his assistant. "The hospital has called to inform you to take Mrs. Langford's body away."

My mom has been brainwashing me with her "quid pro quo" rule. Apparently, I must work hard in earning money just to get whatever I want. A round of doing the dishes earns me 50 cents. Mopping the floor once grants me one dollar. If I get a full score in my exams, that'll be five dollars. In order to buy a pair of white sneakers that I had had my eye on for a long time, I spent three months picking up trash from the streets. I lived like a maid who was paid on one-time services in this home. When I was a high school senior, I fainted during my homeroom period due to long periods of malnutrition. Even though my doctor suggested to my mom to pay attention to my nutrient intake, she began calculating the costs in front of my sick bed instead. "Your hospitalization costs 300 dollars. On top of that, you have a 200-dollar medical bill to settle. All of these costs will be reflected on your wedding gifts in the future, Emily." But when I turned my head, I saw a student sitting on the bed being fed chicken noodle soup by her own mother. Said mother was so heartbroken by her daughter's illness that she kept shedding tears as well. At that moment, my outlook on the world, that I had been maintaining for 18 long years, finally crumbled into dust. It turned out that not all children needed to work hard just to feel their parents' love. After getting discharged from the hospital and returning home, I finally sobered up the moment I noticed the sneakers that my younger brother, Arnold Baird, wore that cost several thousands of dollars. Then, I tore the family portrait into pieces and didn't hesitate to fill in the university that was located the furthest from home when it was time for me to submit my post-graduation details. Ten years later, my mom calls me on the phone. She starts crying to me how Arnold has swindled her out of her pension. Apparently, he's even sold the house just so he can elope with his girlfriend. Not only is my mom alone now, but she doesn't have a place to stay as well. I just smile as I throw her a piece of rag. "You want to live with me, huh? No problem. You'll earn 50 cents for every window you wipe. You can earn your rent like this."

My mate, Alpha Alex, had a wolf cursed at birth by a witch—unable to catch the scent of any she-wolf, doomed never to find his true mate. He spent five long years searching for her, only to be met with nothing but disappointment. In the end, broken and exhausted, he gave up. That was when he claimed me. On the night of our bonding, he told me the truth. "Fiona," he said quietly, "I had no choice. If the pack knew their Alpha couldn't even find his true mate, I'd become a disgrace in their eyes. So I chose you. You are my selected mate—but I swear, no one will ever take your title. You are my Luna. Even if I one day find my true mate… that will never change." But then he added, his voice distant and heavy: "Even though I'm cursed… I must still try to find her. I need to search every corner of the pack." From that night onward, she-wolves began appearing at our den one after another—every day, without fail. Some were shy, some bold. Some came bearing gifts, others with longing in their eyes. But all of them came for one reason: to see if they were his mate. And I? I could only watch in silence—his Luna in name, but never truly in heart. Because I knew there was nothing I could do to change his behavior. I had lost count of how many times I cried and begged him to stop—but still, every night, he brought different young she-wolves into our den. I once thought he'd eventually grow tired of it, that he would stop one day. Until he brought home three young she-wolves from the werewolf club. He paid far more than other alphas for their first night. Why? Because a witch told him that only sharing a night with more than two virgin she-wolves from the same bloodline could awaken his wolf's dormant sense—and help him find his true mate. I let out a bitter smile because what he didn't know was— The true mate he had searched for all these years… was me. But I would never return to him again. And by the time he finally found out the truth— It was already too late.

I've been reborn back to the day my husband, Logan Lane, cheats on me. The first thing I do is request my colleague, Emma Kerr, to switch shifts with me at work. In my previous lifetime, Logan slept with my best friend, Yvonne Colton, behind my back. Since the toys they had used in their session were far too intense, their bodies ended up getting stuck together, so they had to be sent to the ER. Emma performed a surgery on them. Logan and Yvonne were fine after that. Upon receiving the news, I couldn't accept reality at all. I cried so much that I ended up fainting. When I woke up, Logan sent me a document. The document stated that if I were to demand a divorce, I couldn't take a single cent with me. That meant I had to give up on all of my assets. I refused to do so. But Logan merely chuckled coldly in return. "Mariella, Yvonne and I are just friends with benefits. You're the one who insists on getting a divorce, which makes you the one ruining our family. It's only natural that you can't take a single cent with you." I tried to go to the court to prove that Logan was the one cheating on me in our marriage. I even tried to file for a divorce there as well. But then, I found out that someone had already deleted the security footage in the hospital during my collapse. This left me without any solid evidence at all. On the day I lost the court case, Logan didn't hesitate to rub salt into my wound. "Just give up already, Mariella. So what if you have evidence and videos of my infidelity? You're just a regular doctor in the ER, whereas I'm the CEO of Lane Group. I'm the one who earned all of the assets. In fact, I have to give you extra money every month because that meager salary of yours can't sustain you at all. Who would rule in your favor anyway?" I couldn't do anything about Logan's underhanded ways at all. In order to stay with him, I had already cut off all ties with my dad and my family, who happened to be the only support I had in my life, a long time ago. Feeling extremely defeated, I wandered on the street in a daze. That was how I got run over by a speeding truck. When I open my eyes again, I've gotten reborn. The first thing I do is to switch shifts with Emma.