In my last life, my Alpha husband despised me for giving him a “tainted” Omega Black Werewolf. So, he murdered our newborn with his own hands and then tore me apart with silver-quenched claws.

As I lay dying, I cursed him to eternal damnation, and with my own eyes, I watched as his body sank into the frozen depths of Moonshine Lake alongside mine. When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the bonding ceremony—the day he was supposed to choose his mate.

This time, he didn’t hesitate at all. He chose my sister, a Beta Gray Werewolf whose bloodline sat just one step above an Omega’s, and the way he looked at me was nothing but bone-deep disgust. I knew then that he had been reborn, too.

In my last life, my sister was just an ordinary Beta, while I was a Silvermoon Alpha, one of the highest bloodlines, second only to the legendary Golden Lycan. Back then, he chose me without hesitation.

However, my sister later married a regular Alpha and somehow gave birth to a golden pup, earning the envy of the entire pack. Meanwhile, I married him and gave birth to a low-rank Omega Black Werewolf, making him the laughingstock of the Werewolf Alliance.

This time, he thinks choosing my sister will give him that golden pup again, but what he doesn’t know is that a body is only a shell. Blood doesn’t lie. A bloodline tainted by Omega can never forge a true descendant of a Golden Lycan.

A thunderous boom split the sky. Lightning roared, and dozens of enchanted silver chains tore through the storm clouds straight toward me.

They struck all at once, and my skin split open. As the force sent me plummeting, I saw my husband, Damian Blackwood, standing beyond the storm clouds, staring down at me with cold, brutal malice as I sank.

“With the blood of the Silvermoon, may Damian Blackwood be cursed with eternal damnation!”

With the last of my strength, I whispered the spell, and as I watched, Damian’s wolf form cracked under the curse. His body collapsed, and he fell into Moonshine Lake alongside me.

“Elara. Elara, quit spacing out.”

Someone nudged me. I slowly opened my eyes and saw my father. However… wasn’t I just killed? Didn’t those silver chains pierce straight through my heart?

I blinked hard, looking around, trying to shake off the impossible vision, but everything felt too terrifyingly real. I had been brought back to life and sent back in time. Most importantly, I was back on the very day Damian was supposed to choose his mate during the bonding ceremony.

“Damian,” my father, the Alpha of the Silvermoon Pack, said, “I have two daughters. Which one will you choose?”

I met Damian’s gaze. I remembered how, in my last life, he had looked at me with tenderness and had gifted me the Blackwood token—a wolf fang—without hesitation. Yet now, all I saw in his eyes was disgust.

“Chloe, my youngest daughter, may only be a Beta Gray Werewolf by blood,” Father continued, stroking his beard, “but she has a loyal heart and a gentle nature. She’s admired you for a long time. If you would return her feelings, I would gladly give my blessing.”

Chloe stood beside him, sneaking shy glances at Damian.

The mate-selection of a Golden Lycan was a major event in the Alliance—one that determined bloodline inheritance and required the Alliance council elders to witness it. Everyone knew the unspoken truth: as a high-ranking Silvermoon Alpha, I was the one Damian should choose. Instead, Damian took the wolf-fang token of the Blackwood family and placed it into my sister Chloe’s hands.

The entire hall gasped. Even Chloe stared at him in disbelief. However, it was at that moment that I knew my husband from the previous life had also been brought back to life and sent back in time.

In the last life, everything had unfolded as expected. Damian had chosen me, and Chloe had used Father’s connections to marry into another high-ranking Silvermoon Alpha family.

Damian cherished me at first as our marriage was praised across the Alliance. That was until I gave birth to a child with the bloodline of a low-rank Omega Black Werewolf. From then on, everything shattered.

A mighty Golden Lycan producing an Omega? The whole Alliance mocked him, whispering that his bloodline wasn’t pure. Meanwhile, Chloe gave birth to a pup with pure golden fur, and suddenly her home was overflowing with admirers praising her husband’s powerful bloodline.

Humiliated, Damian turned vicious. He berated me constantly, furious that he hadn’t chosen Chloe instead.

In the Alliance, werewolf bloodlines fell into four ranks: Omega Black Werewolves, Beta Gray Werewolves, Alpha Silver Werewolves, and Golden Lycans. Each rank was divided further into low, average, and high categories.

The higher the rank, the rarer and stronger the werewolf, so families married with bloodlines in mind, hoping for powerful offspring. Exceptions existed, of course, where a high rank could produce a low rank, and a low rank could produce a high rank. Only after reaching adulthood could a werewolf shift perfectly between human and wolf forms.

Pressured by shame, Damian spiraled out of control. To salvage his reputation, he spread lies that I had slept with a rogue Omega, claiming that was why my pup was born with a “lowly” bloodline.

Then, he crushed our newborn with a single claw before the pup’s eyes even opened, summoning the enchanted silver chains that eventually executed me. I died without ever exposing his true identity.

Damian Blackwood wasn’t a high-ranking Golden Lycan at all. He was just a low-rank Omega Black Werewolf pretending to be one.

Father was clearly shocked by Damian’s choice, but my stepmother lit up with joy. She rushed to Chloe’s side, practically dragging her forward as she began praising Chloe endlessly in front of Damian.

“I know everyone must be curious why I didn’t choose Elara,” Damian said, bowing politely to the Alliance council elders.

My eyelid twitched.

Then, his voice turned sharp. “I will never marry a woman as unfaithful as her.”

Gasps rippled through the hall. Confusion followed like a wave.

“What nonsense are you spouting?” Father spoke first, anger rising. No matter what, I was still his daughter.

“Alpha Thorne,” Damian said, addressing him politely yet coldly, “let me finish. I’ve seen her more than once getting handsy with rogues outside our territory, and I refuse to marry someone like that.”

“You accuse me of this, but do you have any proof?” I kept my tone like my younger self, not wanting him to sense that I, too, had been brought back to life.

“Do you think a Golden Lycan would lie about something like this?”

Father hesitated, glancing at me. Stepmother shot me a vicious look, as if I had disgraced the entire family.

Before I could speak, Damian continued, “With such poor character, even if she’s a high-ranking Silvermoon Alpha, she’ll only ever birth low-blooded mutts. Just wait and see whether my prediction proves true.”

Golden Lycans could indeed make prophetic declarations, but it cost them their own blood, so most werewolves avoided doing it.

The moment he said this, the council elders and pack members began whispering, pointing at me from all directions.

“Fine,” I said, forcing myself to stay calm. “Let time prove who truly has the lower bloodline.”

When his so-called “golden pup” is born, I'll expose him for the fraud he really was.

Chloe married gloriously. Damian gave her a grand ceremony, turning it into one of the Alliance’s favorite love stories.

As for me, my name was dragged through the mud. Thanks to Damian’s accusations, the suitors who had once come seeking my hand in marriage no longer dared show their faces. To them, my “infidelity” wasn’t even the main problem. What terrified them was the possibility of producing offspring with a lower bloodline.

In the Alliance, a Golden Lycan’s prophecy wasn’t something anyone took lightly. With Damian fueling the rumors, the stories grew more absurd by the day. They claimed I had slept with three rogues in one night, each tale more vulgar and detailed than the last. They even described the scenes as if they had witnessed them firsthand.

Stepmother said I was a disgrace and refused to show me kindness, while Father looked helpless. But me? Honestly, I didn’t care. My previous life had already exhausted any interest I had in marriage.

Three days after the wedding, Damian returned to our home with Chloe. The moment he saw me, he sneered.

“Elara, I suppose no one wants to marry you now, huh?”

“Thanks to you, I finally have some peace.”

Damian gave me a slow once-over before laughing coldly. “Without a mate, your heat cycles will only get worse. Forget rogues. At this rate, you’ll be so desperate you’ll end up with any beast in the forest. Imagine birthing some kind of monster that doesn’t even belong to a proper species. Now that would be a historic joke.”

“That’s right, Elara,” Chloe chimed in sweetly beside him. “You should lower your standards and find an Omega Black Werewolf. Otherwise, think about how pathetic the outcome would be. Not just the Alliance, but even the other species would laugh themselves sick.”

They had been married just a few days, and Chloe already acted like Damian’s perfect partner, her voice aligning with his like it was second nature.

Of course, Chloe and I were never close. She was my father’s daughter with his second wife. We shared a father, nothing more.

“You don’t have to worry about me,” I said calmly. “What you should worry about is your belly instead. Let’s see how you’re going to give birth to a pup of a higher bloodline. After all… bloodlines don’t lie.”

I lowered my gaze to Chloe’s abdomen and let out a small smile.

Damian’s expression darkened instantly, a killing intent flickering in his eyes.

“What trash are you spouting? Damian is a rare Golden Lycan. His offspring are guaranteed to be golden werewolves. You’re just jealous he didn’t choose you, so you’re trying to disgust us.”

Chloe lifted her hand, ready to slap me. Just like before, married woman or not, she still acted like she could bully me publicly. I stepped back, unwilling to waste breath arguing with her, preparing to leave.

“A useless woman who can’t even give birth to a proper pup.”

Damian’s low, icy voice sounded behind me. With one arm wrapped possessively around Chloe, he shoved past me and left first.

At the dinner table, he doted on her relentlessly, serving her food, wiping the corner of her lips, and treating her with tenderness. Even Father, who had been upset by Damian’s earlier behavior, gradually softened when he saw the two of them acting so “in love.”

In my last life, Damian had treated me gently enough, but he had never done this. In his eyes, my status was beneath his, so I was the one who should serve him. Now, he was flaunting all this care for Chloe just to spite me.

Whatever. There were plenty of Golden Lycans in the world besides him. If I really wanted a pup of a Golden Lycan bloodline, all I had to do was find a donor.

In fact, finding a donor wasn’t a bad idea. There’d be no marriage and no strings attached. I could give birth to a Golden Lycan pup, infuriate Damian, and maybe even make up for the regret of never becoming a mother in my last life.

However, right now, every Golden Lycan in sight was either too old or far too young. Where was I supposed to find a young one in his prime?

“You’re looking for a young Golden Lycan?”

I nearly jumped and slapped my hand over Lilith’s mouth, saying, “Not so loud!”

Lilith, a tree spirit born from a thousand-year-old oak, was my non-werewolf friend.

“Mm– Let go, let go!” she protested.

I removed my hand, and she lowered her voice dramatically.

“Actually, I do know an absolutely extraordinary Golden Lycan.”

“You do?”

“Legend says that in Moonshine Heart on Silent Peak, there lives a Primordial Golden Lycan, the purest bloodline your Werewolf Alliance has seen in a hundred years. Even your council elders would bow to him.”

“That’s how strong he is?”

I wasn’t sure whether to believe her. After all, Lilith loved exaggerating.

“Of course! They say any werewolf who’s ever seen him was blinded by his golden aura. But ever since he went up Silent Peak, he’s never come down, and no one can go up either. The mountain basically became forbidden.”

I frowned, deep in thought. It was true. Since childhood, the council elders had always warned us to stay far from that mountain.

“How do you know more than me, and I’m the werewolf here?”

“I’ve lived nearly a thousand years. How could I not know?” She rolled her leafy eyes at me.

“So… let’s say, hypothetically… hypothetically I want him to be my donor. Is that possible?”

“Huh? What!”

There came another scream, and I had to slap a hand over her mouth again.

“Quiet! Don’t let anyone hear you!”

“You can’t be serious,” she said as soon as I released her. “First of all, no one can even get up that mountain. Second, no one knows what the situation is up there after a hundred years. And you want a Primordial Golden Lycan to be your donor? Do you have a death wish?”

“How would I know unless I try? And what if I get lucky? I could use a little moonpetal pollen, sleep with him for one night, and by sunrise, he’ll forget everything.”

Lilith stared at me, her jaw on the floor. However, I wasn’t joking. I knew exactly how to enter the mountain.

In my last life, Damian had spent years searching for forbidden rituals to hide his Omega identity. He had collected countless ancient texts, and one of them described how the golden-glow herb on Silent Peak could be crushed into juice and applied to fur to make one’s entire body shimmer gold permanently.

To search for that herb, Damian had searched through hundreds of ancient scrolls to find a way into the mountain. There was a rune stone at the mountain’s southwest base, unbreakable and ancient. It was only by using the blood of a high-ranking Alpha and a specific sigil that one could unlock the barrier.

I could still remember the sigil clearly. Back then, Damian had drained half a bowl of my blood to draw it, but he returned empty-handed and with severe injuries. When I asked what happened, he never answered.

“You’re insane,” Lilith whispered, waving two leaf-hands dramatically. “That’s a Primordial Lycan! If he finds out a lowly werewolf like you dares set your sights on him, he’ll tear you apart.”

“Lowly? I’m a high-ranking Silvermoon Alpha, thank you very much.”

“Are you actually serious?”

“I am.”

Lilith resigned. “Fine. I’ve heard all about what happened to you in the Alliance. And since you’ve watered me with so much spirit spring water, I can help you… but only a little.”

She reached into the center of her oak trunk and plucked her most tender leaf, handing it to me.

“I’m actually a ‘fertility tree’. Eat this, and you’ll definitely get pregnant.”

“So that’s your real function. And all this time you lied, telling me your leaves would double my strength and grant eternal youth.” I couldn’t help laughing as I took the leaf.

“Don’t make fun of me!”

“Okay, okay.” I stifled another laugh.

“You'd better come back safe,” she said seriously. “I’ll be waiting for you to water me.”

“I know, I know.”

Waving over my shoulder, I began walking toward Silent Peak.