My grandfather sat behind his oak desk. Two silver daggers gleamed between us. One for me. One for my sister Jessica. "One of you goes to the Werewolf Council and help me with pack politics." Grandpa's voice was gravel. "Be my heiress. The other deploys to the Northern Pack. Rogue territory. Fighting from the ground up." Pack tradition. When fate couldn't decide, we let the daggers choose. But I'd lived this before. I rebron. In my first life, I'd won. I'd taken the Council seat. Be an Alpha heiress. I'd married Alpha Carter. I thought I had everything. While my sister Jessica deployed. The memory hit like claws through flesh. Jessica's broken body in that intelligence photo. Hands shattered. Tongue severed. Brutalized by Rogues because of bad intel. And the letter she'd sent Alpha Carter before she died. My husband, Alpha Carter, looked at me with those ice-blue eyes. Told me it was my fault. That my selfishness killed her. Then he made me pay. His contacts feeding me false coordinates. Sending me into a Rogue ambush. Two shattered femurs. Months of interrogation in darkness so complete I forgot what sunlight looked like. But that wasn't enough. He used his father's power to fabricate treason charges against my grandfather. Falsified reports. Planted evidence. My grandfather died of a stroke in a prison. Branded a traitor. "I want you to know what it feels like," Carter whispered, standing over my hospital bed. My legs held together with silver pins and prayers. "To lose everyone you love." Then he pulled out a blade. Ninety-nine stab wounds. The healer counted. I didn't make it to one hundred. But somehow, impossibly, I woke up six months earlier. Standing in this same den. Staring at these same daggers. I reborn. And not this time. "Grandpa." I dropped to one knee before he could finish. "Permission to speak." His eyebrows rose. "Granted." "I volunteer for deployment. Send me to the Northern Pack. Let Jessica take the Council position and be Alpha heiress." Silence crashed through the room. Jessica's mouth fell open. "June, what are you—" "I've made my decision." I locked eyes with my grandfather. Read the confusion there. The concern. He knew I'd been obsessed with Carter since our first shift. Knew the betrothal was my idea. "I want to serve Pack. Earn my reputation." Grandpa studied me. Then slowly nodded. "So be it." Relief hit so hard I nearly collapsed. I'd saved her. Jessica would be safe at the Council while I fought Rogues. Carter couldn't use her death against me. She wouldn't die. I was standing when the door slammed open. Alpha Carter filled the doorway. He looked past me. "Jessica!" Three strides and he crushed my sister against his chest. His hands shook on her shoulders. "You're alive. God, you're alive." What? "I thought—" His voice cracked. "They said you were dead. The mission failed and I thought—" Then he dropped to one knee before grandpa. "Grandpa, I'm asking—begging—you to release me from my betrothal to June." The words tumbled out like confession. "I know our families arranged it. I know what it means. But I don't love her. Never have. It's always been Jessica." Ice water flooded my veins. He'd been reborn too?! In his timeline, Jessica died on that mission. Now, finding her alive, he was making a different choice. The choice he'd wanted all along. I should have felt devastated. Heartbroken. "Carter—" I reached for his shoulder. He slapped my hand away. "Don't touch me." His lip curled. "Don't you dare. You think I don't know? You think I don't remember? Everything you did. Everything you cost me—" His voice dropped to lethal quiet. "I loved her. And you took her from me!" In his timeline, he blamed me for Jessica's death. Nothing would convince him otherwise. Grandpa's voice cut through. "June has already volunteered for the Northern Pack. The betrothal is dissolved. You and Jessica are free to mate." Carter's head whipped toward me. Shock replaced rage. Then his arms tightened around Jessica. Triumph flickered across his face. "Finally," he breathed into her hair. "Finally, I get to mate the woman I actually love!" Jessica's eyes met mine over his shoulder. I saw it then. The small, satisfied smile. She'd known. Somehow she'd known exactly what this would do. But I was done. "Congratulations," I said flatly. I walked out without looking back.
Three days later I was at the pack market. Getting Grandpa's favorite coffee when I saw them. Carter and Jessica. Standing in the home goods section. Surrounded by shopping bags and new-mate bliss. I should have left. But Carter was holding up a mating dress. Couture. Thousands of marks. Jessica clung to his arm. Pointed at an expensive sound system. "Babe, I know we're supposed to keep it low-key." Her voice carried. "But it's our mating ceremony. We can't show up looking like Omegas, right?" In my first life, I'd begged Carter to go dress shopping. Begged him to help plan. To give a damn about our ceremony. He'd blown me off every time. Training exercises. Border patrols. A hundred excuses. I'd picked my dress alone. Paid for everything alone. Carried it all alone while he couldn't be bothered. Now he grinned at Jessica like she hung the moon. Credit card already out. "Whatever you want, baby. You deserve everything." The coffee suddenly weighed a thousand pounds. I turned to leave. Jessica's eyes locked on mine. "June!" She waved. All sunshine. "Oh my God, what are you doing here?" She threaded her arm through Carter's. Pulled him toward me. "We're picking up things for the ceremony." She chirped. "It's in two days! You're coming, right? You have to. You're my sister." Poison honey. "I'll be busy," I said carefully. "Prepping for deployment." "You can spare a few hours." Jessica's smile sharpened. "Unless you want me to tell everyone how you feel about Carter. How pathetic that would look." Carter's jaw tightened. Said nothing. Jessica's gaze dropped to my jacket pocket. Where the corner of our father's locket was visible. My father's locket. The only thing left after he died fighting Rogues. Old. Scratched. Worthless to anyone but me. Inside was a tiny photo. Me, Mom, and Dad. "Actually," Jessica said, voice going syrupy. "We're short on the sound system. June, that locket looks vintage. Why don't you contribute it? As a gift for us mating?" My blood turned to ice. "No way." "Come on, sis. It's just a locket. You're not even coming, so you owe us a present." "It's not for sale." Carter stepped forward. Expression dark. "Jessica asked nicely, June." "And I said no." Jessica's face crumpled. Tears springing instantly. "Oh my God. You're doing this because you're jealous. Because I'm mating Carter and you can't stand it. Everyone in pack know you have a crush on Carter!" "That's not—" "I just wanted one thing from my sister. And you can't even do that? You'd rather hoard some old broken locket than support my happiness?" People stared. Carter's hand shot out. Grabbed my wrist. "Give her the locket." "No." His boot caught my stomach. I went down hard. Air punching out. Coffee exploding across the floor. Before I could recover, Carter's hand was in my pocket. Yanking out the locket. "Carter, don't—" He tossed it to Jessica. She caught it with a smile that made my skin crawl. Popped it open. Pulled out the photograph. "Oh, how sweet," she cooed. "A family photo." Then she tore it in half. The ripping sound cut through me like silver. "Jessica! No!" I lunged. Carter shoved me down. She kept tearing. Until father's face was confetti on the market floor. Something inside me snapped. I surged up and slapped her across the face. The crack echoed. Jessica stumbled back. Hand flying to her cheek. Eyes wide. Then her expression shifted. Calculating. When she spoke, her voice carried. "I was trying to take out the picture so it wouldn't get damaged! June, you can't give me a death photo as a mating gift! That's sick! Are you trying to curse us?" Murmurs rippled through the crowd. "Trying to steal her sister's mate..." "Death photos as gifts..." "Shameless..."
Then her expression shifted. Calculating. When she spoke, her voice carried. "I was trying to take out the picture so it wouldn't get damaged! June, you can't give me a death photo as a mating gift! That's sick! Are you trying to curse us?" Murmurs rippled through the crowd. "Trying to steal her sister's mate..." "Death photos as gifts..." "Shameless..." I knelt. Gathering torn pieces of my father's face with shaking hands. Vision blurring. Carter stood over me. Voice cold. "Don't think I'll ever pity you again, June. You have no idea what I'm capable of." I looked up at this man I'd loved for eight years. This man who'd murdered me in another life. "I know exactly what you're capable of," I said quietly. Then I stood. Brushed past them both. Walked out. Behind me, Jessica called sweetly, "See you at the ceremony, sis!" I didn't look back. I went to the pack healer. Got my wounds cleaned. Started packing for the Northern Pack. I had a war to win. This time, I'd survive it. --- I returned to the pack house just after sunset. Medical tape tight around my ribs where Carter's boot connected. Grandpa was at the Carter's Pack. Finalizing ceremony arrangements. The house was empty. Except it wasn't. Jessica sat at the dining table. Picking at leftover venison. Looking like she hadn't just destroyed the last piece of my father I had. "Hey," she said brightly. "Dinner's in the kitchen if you want some." I stared. Then walked past toward my room. My door was open. I never left it open. Drawers pulled out. Clothes scattered. Papers everywhere. The locked box where I kept Mom's things—her pack medallion, the diary she kept during pregnancy— The lock was broken. The box was empty. "No." The word strangled out. I tore through the room. Throwing clothes aside. Checking under the bed. In the closet. Anywhere she might have hidden it. "No, no, no—" I found Jessica in the kitchen. Humming. I grabbed her collar. Slammed her against the wall hard enough to rattle frames. "Where is it?" My voice didn't sound like mine. "Where's my mother's diary?" Jessica's eyes were bright. Almost giddy. "Oh, that old thing?" "WHERE IS IT?" She smiled. "I burned it. In the stove. About an hour ago." Her head tilted toward the wood-burning stove. "Your mom made great kindling. Really got the logs going." The world tilted. I was on her before I knew it. Fist connecting once, twice, three times. Her blood tasted like copper and rage. My hands found her throat— "Why?" I was screaming. Shaking her. "I gave you everything! The Council job! Carter! What more do you want?!" Jessica shoved me off. Gasping. When she looked up, her expression was transcendent with hate. "You want to know why?" She laughed. Broken and raw. "Because I've been reborn too, you stupid bitch. And in my first life, I was the one at the Northern Pack. I was the one captured. Do you have any idea what they did to me, June?" Ice flooded my veins. "They broke my hands. Shattered every bone. Used silver on me until I couldn't shift. Raped me until I forgot what it felt like to be whole." Tears streamed down her face. Voice steady. "And I was there for six months before they killed me. Six. Months." "Jessica—" "You did this to me!" She screamed. "You and Grandfather rigged that dagger throw! You wanted the safety. So you made sure I'd be sent to hell!" "That's not true! The throw was random—" "LIAR!" She lunged. Grabbed my hand. Slapped herself with it. Hard. Before I could process, something massive hit me from behind. I went down face-first. Skull cracking against hardwood. Stars exploded. A boot crushed into my spine— Then a chair smashed across my shoulders. Pain erupted everywhere. I couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. Could only hear Carter's voice roaring above me. When my vision cleared, he was kneeling beside Jessica. Cradling her face. Checking her injuries with tenderness he'd never shown me. In his other hand, he held a broken plate shard. Edge sharp enough to cut. He pressed it against my throat.
"Carter, no—" Jessica grabbed his wrist. Not to stop him. To slow him. "Not yet. Not here." The pressure eased. But the hatred in his eyes didn't. "Touch her again," he said quietly, "and I won't hesitate to kill you. Not again." Again. He remembered killing me. And he'd do it again without losing sleep. They left me bleeding on the kitchen floor. I lay there. Staring at the stove. At gray ashes visible through the grate. Somewhere in that dust was my mother's handwriting. Her thoughts. Her love. Gone. When I could move, I crawled to the stove. Opened it with shaking hands. Sifted through ashes. Nothing left. Just carbon and grief. I didn't wait for Grandpa. I packed my gear. Wrote him a note. Left for the Northern Pack with ribs screaming and blood crusted in my hair. I couldn't stay another second. And I had an Omega to find. --- The Northern Pack was exactly as miserable as I remembered. I arrived two weeks early. Skeleton crew. The guard at the gate checked my orders. Gave me a long look at my bandaged head. Directed me toward the healer's tent. I made it halfway before my vision grayed out. I collapsed. When I woke, I was on a bed. And someone enormous sat beside me. Not tall. Enormous. Three hundred pounds maybe. Packed onto a six-foot frame. His gear stretched tight across chest and belly. His face was round. Boyish. Dark eyes watching me with cautious intelligence. "You're awake," he said. Voice surprisingly soft. "You've been out six hours. Healer says concussion and two cracked ribs. Maybe internal bleeding. But they won't know until they get you to a real facility." I sat up too fast. Immediately regretted it. "I'm fine." "You're definitely not fine." He held out a canteen. "Drink. You're dehydrated." I took it. Studying him. "Who are you?" "Shane." He smiled slightly. "I work the kitchens. They asked me to sit with you since medical's short-staffed." Shane. Shane, who in my first life had been mocked as "the fat Omega" until he quietly disappeared three months before the northern pack was overrun. But Jessica had mentioned him once. With unusual venom. Called him a "useless waste". "Shane," I said slowly. "What's your last name?" His expression shuttered. "Why?" "Because I had a vision about you." That got his attention. Eyes narrowed. "What kind of vision?" So I told him. Not everything. But enough. The attack coming in six weeks. The one that would slaughter half the pack if we weren't prepared. I knew things I shouldn't. I'd lived this before. And I knew his bloating was from an elixir. That because his father wanted to keep him safe after a combat injury. That he was wasting away when he should be fighting. Shane stood abruptly. "I need to report this." "Wait—" "You're either a spy or mentally ill. Either way, you need to be detained—" I rolled off the bed. Grabbed his arm. "My name is June Reeves. Three generations of pack leaders. My father was Alpha James. KIA fighting Rogues. Posthumously awarded the Silver Fang. My mother was Luna Sarah. Field healer. Died in a training accident when I was twelve." I pulled out my pack medallion. Threw it at him. "I trained as a combat healer before leadership academy. I know the elixir you're on. A kind of dote. Probably for spine damage. It's causing fluid retention and metabolic changes. I can help you manage it. Get you back to active duty." Shane caught the medallion. Staring. Then at me. "Why would you help me?" Because I wanted to survive. And I wanted revenge.
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