Cassandra’s POV

Suddenly, a roar erupted from deep in the forest, followed by Ethan's blood-curdling scream.

The sound tore through me like a blade straight to the heart.

I scrambled to my feet and stumbled toward the forest, but the Alpha guards grabbed me and held me back.

Asher said he'd set up a barrier—so why was this happening?

My phone buzzed. A text from Vivian lit up the screen: [Cassandra, surprise! I hid heat scent in your brother's clothes. Those feral wolves can smell it from miles away, and an Alpha's scent won't stop them. They'll rip through anything for mating rights. This is what you get for crossing me.]

My blood turned to ice.

The phone slipped from my fingers and shattered against the ground, the screen splintering like a spiderweb—just like my heart.

Thirty minutes later, the search team dragged Ethan back. Blood poured from a gash on his head, and his body was covered in wounds.

"Sandra..." His voice was barely a whisper. "I'm cold..."

I hauled him to the pack hospital with everything I had left. The ER lights burned my eyes, but the nurse's expression was even colder than the fluorescents.

"Sorry, all the healer got pulled away." The young nurse lowered her voice, sympathy flickering in her eyes. "They're treating a kitty."

"What?" I thought I'd heard wrong.

"Alpha Asher's girlfriend's kitty went missing and needs a checkup," another nurse chimed in, sarcasm dripping from every word. "So they called in our best surgeon."

"Hey! Keep it down! That's the Alpha—"

I didn't wait to hear the rest. I bolted from the ER.

Ethan was hanging on by a thread, and if we waited any longer, he'd die.

The VIP room was just upstairs. I shoved the door open and found Vivian perched on Asher's lap, the two of them wrapped up in each other. Her fingers traced lazy circles over the Alpha mark on his chest.

Any other time, seeing them like that would've gutted me, but right now I was too empty to feel anything. I didn't have the energy left for jealousy.

I rushed over and grabbed Asher's arm. "Something happened to Ethan. He's dying. Please, you have to help him."

Asher shook me off, irritation flashing in his amber eyes. "I already told you he'll be fine."

The seconds kept ticking by, and tears started streaming down my face. I felt so helpless.

"I'm not lying to you. Ethan's really hurt. Vivian hid heat scent in my brother's clothes, and he just got attacked by feral wolves. He's barely holding on right now—he's at the pack hospital. Please, just send the doctors to check on him!"

"Cassandra, what are you trying to say?" Vivian's voice cut in, trembling with fake hurt. "How could I possibly hurt your brother? You tried to kill my kitty and I let it go, but now you're making up lies about me?"

Asher's expression darkened the moment he saw what had happened. Those eyes that had been so gentle when looking at Vivian turned ice-cold when they landed on me.

"Apologize." His voice dropped low, and I could feel the Alpha command pressing down on me.

Ethan was still fighting for his life, so I had no choice but to swallow my pride.

"I'm sorry, Vivian. This is all my fault. Please, Ethan's just a kid—please save him!"

Something smug flickered in Vivian's eyes, but before she could say anything, Asher cut in with that same cold tone. "Good. Now the wolf cub."

He pointed at the kitty behind him and said mockingly, "You almost killed it, so I think it's fair you apologize to it too, don't you?"

The blood drained from my face, and I stared at him in disbelief.

"You want me to apologize to a kitty?"

Asher actually looked amused. "What, feeling wronged? You want me to send people to save your brother, right? Just apologize to it, and I'll do it."

I thought of Ethan's deathly pale face and the mark spreading across his neck. I realized I didn't even dare to choose death.

I stared at Asher in silence for a long moment, and then I gave in.

I walked over to the kitty and left my dignity on the ground where I stood.

I closed my eyes in despair. "I'm sorry."

Cassandra’s POV

Vivian's laughter echoed through the hospital room, but I barely heard it anymore.

Ethan had spent an entire week in the ICU, fighting his way back from the edge of death. When the nurse finally told me he was out of danger, something inside me just... gave out. All those days of holding myself together, and my body decided it was done.

Next thing I knew, I was the one in a hospital bed.

I opened my eyes to find Asher sitting beside me. There was worry in his expression—faint, but unmistakable. I didn't care anymore, and he could tell.

His jaw tightened, irritation flashing across his face. "What's with that look? You blaming me for this?"

I turned away. "I wouldn't dare."

He moved fast, grabbing my wrist with both hands. His eyes had gone red around the edges, and his Alpha presence pressed down on me like a physical weight. "Cassandra, we're barely getting started here." His voice dropped low and dangerous. "After everything I've sacrificed for you, this is how you react? You said you'd be my Luna. Was your loyalty really that fragile?"

Ever since I'd been reborn, Asher had been different with me. I'd assumed it was because events had unfolded differently this time around—butterfly effect, altered timeline, changed feelings. Simple cause and effect.

But now I wasn't so sure.

"Asher," I heard myself say, "did you come back too?"

He froze, surprise flashing across his face. Then he yanked his hand away, his expression turning ice-cold.

"What the hell are you talking about? You've lost your mind!"

He stormed off without looking back.

I stared at his retreating figure, my thoughts churning. In three days, we'd be done. Completely done.

The nurse took me through a whole battery of tests—Asher's orders, apparently. I didn't fight it. What was the point anymore?

The next morning, the nurse burst into my room, practically glowing with excitement.

"Cassandra! Congratulations—you're pregnant!"

I froze.

"What?"

"Your test results came back, and you're almost two months pregnant!" The nurse beamed at me. "You've been wanting a pup for so long, and now it's finally happening!"

My whole body went rigid.

"But the healer said I couldn't get pregnant again."

That night during the storm, Asher had left me stranded outside the city because of Vivian. I'd walked through the rain for hours until I slipped and fell into the lake. I lost the baby. The healer told me the damage meant I'd probably never conceive again.

And now they were telling me I was carrying Asher's pup?

"There are always exceptions," the nurse said gently. "Maybe the Moon Goddess meant for you to have this pup. Just be extra careful this time, okay?"

I sat there in a daze for the rest of the day.

By evening, I'd made my decision—I was keeping this baby.

Whatever was happening between Asher and me, the pup was innocent. This was my blood, my cub.

But I never expected what came next. Someone injected me with a sedative and dragged me into an operating room.

I couldn't move, but I was completely aware of everything.

I heard voices talking.

"Guess the Alpha cares more about Vivian after all. His own Luna and Vivian both get pregnant, and he's making his Luna get an abortion so Vivian won't be upset!"

"Right? The actual Luna can't even compete with a single hair on Vivian's head. How pathetic is that?"

Tears slid silently down my face.

Cold metal instruments moved inside me, and the heart that used to beat for Asher finally shattered into pieces too broken to ever fix.

I regretted everything.

Regretted ever loving Asher.

When the torture finally ended, they wheeled me out of the operating room. The anesthesia started wearing off, and through my haze, I sensed someone standing beside me, watching.

It was Asher.

I kept my eyes closed and played unconscious. I didn't want to deal with him.

Then something warm and soft pressed against my forehead.

He'd kissed me. "Cassandra," he murmured, his voice thick with restrained emotion. "This is the last time I'll ever hurt you. Just get through this one test, and I swear—I'll love you the way you deserve from now on."

Cassandra’s POV

My wolf recoiled inside me.

Asher kept going, his voice cold and measured. "In our past life, I died for you in that siege, but you refused to mark me even as I took my last breath. Now in this life, you suddenly claim you love me." His eyes bore into mine. "Tell me, Cassandra—how am I supposed to believe that?"

His fingers clamped down on my jaw, the pressure so brutal I could feel my bones grinding together.

"I took a wolfsbane bullet for you, so now I want to see exactly how far you're willing to go for me."

He released me, and his gaze turned calculating. "Once I'm sure this mate bond is real, I'll claim you completely. No holding back."

Then he paused, and his following words came out with a chilling indifference that made my blood run cold. "As for those two pups—if you want them so badly, you can just regenerate new ones later."

Ice shot up from my feet and flooded through my entire body.

My wolf howled inside me, mourning for those two lives that would never even get the chance to form.

I never saw it coming—that this would be the reason he'd drag me into hell.

It was so absurd.

After Asher left the hospital room, I broke down completely. Tears streamed down my face, but I was laughing too—hysterical, unhinged laughter that scared even me.

A nurse burst through the door, her face pale as death.

"Cassandra! Your brother—something's happened!"

Two hours ago, Vivian had fallen down the stairs at the packhouse. She was hemorrhaging badly, and they had her in emergency surgery right now.

She had a rare blood type, and in the entire pack, there was only one compatible donor—my brother Ethan.

By the time I made it to the medical center, they'd already drained 2000cc from him.

His face was ghostly white, his body looking like a shell that had been completely emptied out.

Asher stood next to the healer, his Alpha command sharp and merciless. "Keep going."

"No—!"

I charged forward like a wild animal and shoved the nurses away with everything I had. "Stop! Stop right now! If you take any more, Ethan will die!"

Asher turned to look at me, and his brow furrowed. "What are you doing out of bed? You haven't recovered yet." Irritation crept into his voice. "Go back to your room."

"Are you even listening to me?!" My voice cracked. "I said stop!"

Asher's expression darkened, and his voice dropped to a dangerous low. "Cassandra, don't start with me. Vivian's carrying my pup—you want me to just stand here and let them both die?"

I screamed back at him, my voice breaking. "Her life matters, but Ethan's doesn't?!"

But he didn't stop. He didn't even hesitate.

I watched them draw another 1000cc from Ethan's body, and my hands went numb. The monitor beeped slower and slower until the line went flat.

"I'll get the best healer to work on Ethan," Asher said, already turning away. "He'll be fine."

But it was too late.

Ethan had barely survived the last rogue attack, and his wolf was still recovering. Now he'd lost too much blood, and his body couldn't take it.

An hour later, they told me he was gone. He died in that ER, and there was nothing anyone could do.

Before Ethan died, he held my hand, and his voice came out so weak I could barely hear him.

"Promise me," he said, and tears rolled down his face. "Stop letting him treat you like this. Leave the pack. Leave him."

I couldn't stop crying, but I nodded hard.

Ethan had paid back the life I owed Asher in my past life with his own. And on top of that, I'd lost the two pups in my belly who never got the chance to see this world.

I no longer owed Asher anything.

The next afternoon, I held Ethan's urn close to my chest and boarded a plane out of the country.

I muttered, "Asher, we're done."