Dad's face darkened like a storm cloud, his Alpha aura pressing against the room like a physical weight."Insolent brat! The Midnight Frost pack doesn't negotiate with slaves!"

His Alpha's dominance rolled over everyone present, but Julian barely flinched. That kind of resistance to an Alpha's command? It meant his bloodline was stronger than Dad wanted to admit.

Julian flicked a glance my way, and I caught his scent shift—disgust mixed with something else. Pity? His voice hardened, but underneath I heard his wolf's reluctance. "I'm not defying you, Alpha. But I'm damaged goods—my wolf's unstable. I won't be suitable for serving Miss Madeline."

I took a deep breath, tasting the tension and testosterone flooding the air.

Yeah, I knew I wasn't Catherine material. Skinny where she was curved, brown hair where hers gleamed like spun gold. Plus, that night three years ago when rogues breached our territory during the blood moon ceremony? Catherine had been caught alone near the sacred grove, and I'd thrown myself between her and a massive rogue's claws. The bastard's strike had torn through my spine, severing something vital—my wolf.

Shy as hell, tongue-tied around other pack members, especially the Alphas. No match for her bombshell glow and natural Luna presence that had every unmated wolf sniffing around.

Last life, Jasper's wolf must have been disgusted by my weakness. No wonder he'd played me like a fool while his true nature yearned for Catherine's strength.

Catherine's wolf was clearly panicking—I could smell the spike of anxiety in her scent as she grabbed Julian's arm, yanking him up with her enhanced strength. "Julian, you can't abandon my poor sister!"

"And if you go back to the slave markets? Those silver collars will destroy what's left of your wolf. I won't let that happen!"

I watched the performance, stone-cold. That "protective sister" act had me in tears in my previous life, my human heart desperate for pack acceptance. Now? Made my stomach churn with its fakeness.

I cut in, my voice flat and emotionless—the tone of someone whose wolf had never come to soften the edges. "No need, Catherine. Julian wants out? Fine. Let him go back to whatever hellhole broke his wolf in the first place."

Dad blinked, his Alpha instincts thrown off-balance. He'd planned to assert his dominance, make Julian submit through sheer supernatural force, then "generously" allow me to keep him, making me grovel with gratitude.

Catherine froze mid-performance, her wolf's distress spiking through her scent. This sob story was designed to showcase her caring nature to Dad while highlighting my inadequacy as a packless disappointment. I'd just burned her script to ashes.

She rushed to me with supernatural speed, all fake desperate pleas. "Madeline, his wolf's just unstable from trauma! Don't send him back to those monsters!"

"The silver poisoning will kill what's left of his supernatural side!"

I met her eyes, slow and lethal, letting my human coldness show—the one advantage of being wolfless was immunity to pack emotional manipulation. "You care so much? Take both Sterling brothers. Keep them as your personal collection."

Her face flushed beet-red, her wolf's embarrassment flooding her scent. "W-what the hell are you implying?!"

But I knew the truth. Inside, her wolf was practically purring with satisfaction. The Sterling twins were premium supernatural genetics—both Alpha-bred and drop-dead gorgeous in that dangerous way that made pack females swoon. She lived for being the envy of every she-wolf in the territory. Parading a matched set of powerful brothers? She'd be the talk of every pack gathering from here to the Canadian border.

Dad stepped forward, his Alpha presence trying to intimidate me into submission. Too bad it only worked half-strength on the wolfless. "Madeline, are you serious about refusing both guards?"

I smirked, ice-sharp and human-cold. "Dead serious. I want neither broken wolf."

Both brothers' faces went slack with shock. Jasper especially—his molten gold eyes hit me with that weird recognition again, like his wolf was trying to remember something impossible. Made me wonder if somehow, some way, he retained fragments of our past life. But that was crazy. Reincarnation wasn't a werewolf thing.

Dad played the concerned father, though his wolf's irritation was bleeding through his scent. "Then who's protecting you? A wolfless Midnight Frost heir is a target for every rival pack and rogue hunter on the continent."

I fired back with the confidence of someone who'd died once and had nothing left to lose. "Let me join the pack company, Dad. Professional guards have kept the CEO alive. I don't need a broken wolf—I need competence."

Dad had no choice but to cave to his wolfless daughter's demands.

Last life, I'd been glued to Jasper's ass like a lovesick pup, clueless about the family's supernatural business empire. Ended up alone and fucked when the wolves turned on me. This time? I was grabbing the reins with both hands. Learning the company was step one to never being powerless again.

He dragged his feet, his Alpha pride wounded, but I bulldozed through his resistance. Shoved me into marketing—bottom rung, grunt work designed to break my spirit. Figured I'd bail in a week, tail between my legs like a beaten omega.

Fat chance. I went beast mode: days shadowing veteran executives, nights devouring business textbooks, and supernatural commerce law. All in, no wolf instincts to guide me—just pure human determination.

The results hit fast and brutal. Coworkers who'd sneered at the "broken Midnight Frost heir"? Now trying to kiss my ass as I closed deals they couldn't touch. Then rumors spread through the pack's business network—I was the new hotshot, the wolfless wonder who could negotiate with human corporations better than any supernatural.

I was lapping Catherine, Dad's golden heir-in-training, and her wolf was not handling it well.

She choked on that shit like silver poison.

Sabotage went into overdrive: fucked with my client files using her enhanced speed, twisted my pitches in meetings with her Luna charm, tried to turn other pack members against me with whispered lies about my "unnatural" success.

Not this fucking rodeo. I'd learned to fight dirty in my first life's death. Backed up evidence of her digital hacks, recorded her lies, nuked her manipulations with hard data—clean, brutal, and utterly human in its calculated coldness. Left her sputtering while her wolf's frustration bled through her scent.

Home that night, she blocked my path.

"Madeline's really killing it at the office, huh? Even Dad's singing your praises to the other Alphas."

Fake-sweet smile, but her eyes held that predatory gleam that made unmated wolves submit. Too bad I was immune to the pack hierarchy now.

"Marketing's such a grind, though. You look exhausted—your human stamina can't keep up. Let me sweet-talk Dad into finding you an easier position?"

I sidestepped with my awkward limp, refusing to be cornered. "Hard pass."

She tailed me with fluid wolf grace, laying on the syrupy bullshit thick enough to choke on. "I'm not trying to compete—honestly, your recent 'wins' are just dumb luck. Humans eat that underdog story up."

"But one major flop, and the Midnight Frost reputation is mud across every supernatural territory."

"Plus with that limp and no wolf? No male's ever going to want to mate you anyway."

I caught her pointed glance at the Sterling twins lurking in the shadows, their enhanced hearing picking up every cruel word.

I snorted, ice-cold and utterly unimpressed. "Scared your baby sister's gonna steal your spotlight, Catherine?"

Her practiced grin cracked like a broken mask—busted kid caught red-handed in her manipulation. Her voice spiked higher, her wolf's anger bleeding through the fake concern. "What the fuck, Madeline? I'm trying to help you!"

Crocodile tears welled up on cue. Pure Oscar bait for any watching pack members.

I laughed, the sound colder than a winter hunt. "Helping? Really?"

"You know damn well how I actually got this limp."

"You were the one cornered by those rogues during the blood moon ceremony. I threw myself between you and those claws to save your perfect ass. Then, when the pack warriors arrived, you shoved me directly into that rogue's final strike—let him tear through my spine and sever my wolf connection to cover up your own cowardice."

Her tears exploded like a burst dam, her wolf's guilt and rage creating a chaotic scent storm. "Madeline, I... I never meant for you to lose your wolf! It happened so fast—"

The Sterling twins immediately lost their shit, moving with supernatural speed to shield their precious Catherine from the "cruel" wolfless sister. "Miss Madeline, back the fuck off!" Julian snarled, his damaged wolf still responding to a distressed female.

But Jasper? Jasper glared pure daggers, his molten gold eyes blazing with protective fury. "Apologize to her! Right fucking now!"

That smug, self-righteous prick face—the same expression he'd worn while betraying me in my past life? It snapped my very last nerve.

Crack—my palm connected with his cheek hard enough to echo through the hallway.

His head snapped sideways from the force, pale skin immediately blooming angry red.

He turned back slowly, those golden eyes wide with shock and something else—hurt? Confusion?

"You..." he breathed, voice strangled.

I cut him dead with words sharp enough to slice supernatural hide. "A slave daring to order around his owner? Learn your fucking place, Jasper."

I turned and walked away with as much dignity as my limp allowed, leaving the trio stunned into absolute silence.

I thought being reborn would let me avoid all the dangers if I just stayed careful enough.

Turns out fate had other plans—I still ended up kidnapped by Dad's rival pack.

When cold steel pressed against my neck, I didn't struggle. Instead, my fingers quietly found my phone's emergency beacon, sending a silent distress call to every Midnight Frost wolf in range.

I closed my eyes as the terror from my past life's kidnapping crashed over me. But this time, my heart remained strangely calm. I already knew how this would play out.

The rogue leader toyed with his silver blade, voice dripping with cruel amusement. "Miss Collins, think your daddy will save you first, or that golden bastard daughter of his?"

I stayed silent, just listening to the sounds outside the abandoned warehouse. My human hearing might be weaker than a wolf's, but I could still catch the distant rumble of approaching motorcycles.

Sure enough, within minutes, the heavy iron doors exploded inward. Two figures burst through in perfect synchronization—Julian and Jasper, their wolves' fury making the air crackle with supernatural energy.

Their eyes immediately locked onto Catherine, who was curled up in the corner, playing the perfect damsel in distress. Her scent was carefully modulated—just enough fear to trigger their protective instincts, not enough to seem weak.

Jasper's voice carried an urgency I'd never heard before. He rushed to Catherine's side in three powerful strides. "Don't be afraid. We're here now."

Julian followed immediately, and they positioned themselves back-to-back around Catherine, forming an impenetrable supernatural barrier. Their combined Alpha presence made even the rogues take a step back.

Through the entire rescue operation, neither of them so much as glanced in my direction.

The rogue leader's laugh was harsh and mocking. "Looks like the Midnight Frost pack really doesn't give a shit about their second daughter."

He suddenly pressed the silver blade to my throat, and I felt my skin burn where it touched. "Move another step and the wolfless bitch dies!"

I saw Jasper's movement pause for just a heartbeat. But instead of looking at me, he turned back to Catherine and whispered, "Keep your eyes closed, sweetheart."

The next second, he grabbed a metal pipe from a nearby rogue and carved a bloody path through our captors, his enhanced strength and speed making him nearly unstoppable. His target was always the exit near Catherine.

Julian was even more direct—he kicked the iron door clean off its hinges with supernatural force, his voice a commanding growl. "Move! Now!"

They swept Catherine between them toward safety. As they passed my position, she lifted her eyelids just enough to meet my gaze. There wasn't a trace of guilt in those blue eyes—only a flash of secret satisfaction.

The silver blade pressed deeper, burning my throat, but I closed my eyes with strange peace settling over me.

So this was their choice. No matter how many times I lived this life, it would never change.

Just then, police sirens wailed outside the warehouse.

The rogues panicked, shoving me aside as they fled toward a hidden passage in the back. Their supernatural speed made them blur in my peripheral vision.

Jasper's group was already escorting Catherine to safety when they passed the passage entrance. For just a moment, Jasper seemed to hesitate. He glanced back toward the warehouse interior, his golden eyes searching.

But Catherine's soft whimper drew his attention back, and they disappeared into the night.

The sirens grew louder. Soon I was alone in the empty warehouse, surrounded by the lingering scents of fear, blood, and supernatural fury.

The Midnight Frost pack, Jasper, Catherine—all these people and obligations that had tangled around me for two lifetimes. It was time to end it all.

While the police secured the crime scene, I slipped through the same passage the rogues had used, emerging in a narrow alley behind the warehouse.

I changed into the plain t-shirt and jeans I'd hidden in my bag, pulled a baseball cap low over my face. In the shadows of the alley sat an unremarkable old sedan, engine running.

The window rolled down to reveal Tom's weathered face—my mother's most trusted driver before her death. He'd returned to his hometown after the funeral, but he was the first person I'd contacted after my rebirth.

Tom's voice was thick with emotion. "Miss Madeline, everything's arranged just like you asked."

As we drove out of the city, I looked back one last time at the Midnight Frost territory sprawling under the twilight sky. The Collins family mansion sat like a fortress among the trees, its windows glowing with warm light that had never been meant for me.

From this moment forward, Madeline Collins was dead.

In her place rose someone with a single purpose: reclaiming everything that had been stolen from my mother.

The wolfless daughter was gone.

What emerged from those shadows was something far more dangerous—a woman with nothing left to lose and two lifetimes of betrayal to repay.