Silver chains bit into my wrists, a cold, unyielding grip that sent waves of pain through my body. My breath hitched as I glanced at the crowd, a sea of faces, all watching, waiting. Their jeers blurred together, a dull roar that echoed in my ears, mixing with the thudding of my heart. I could feel my pulse racing, but my mind refused to accept what was happening.

Above me, a voice, sharp and final, broke through the chaos. “For the murder of Duke Alpha Lucian of the Southern Territories, you are sentenced to death.”

My heart stuttered. Lucian? The name struck me like a punch to the gut. I didn’t even know him. I barely knew him. And yet, I was accused of his murder. The crowd's shouts grew louder, but they faded into the background, and all I could hear was the deafening ring of betrayal.

Darius stood beside Selene. His face was emotionless, cold—like a mask of stone. Selene, my cousin, standing by his side, wore that smug, knowing smile. Betrayal twisted like a knife in my chest. It was as if everything had been ripped away in an instant. I had loved Darius—had chased after him for years, despite everything. The promises, the vows we shared when we finally married—it all felt so meaningless now. He had chosen her. He had always chosen her.

Why, Darius? Why am I the one you threw to the wolves? The thought clawed at my insides, burning with an anger that made my chest tight. I had trusted him, had believed in us.

But it was never enough.

And now, as I stood in front of them, accused of something I didn’t do, I finally understood. I was just a pawn in their game.

I never even had the chance to know Lucian. He was nothing to me, and yet they claimed I had killed him. How could they even believe that?

The blade above me glinted in the sunlight, its cold edge promising the end. I closed my eyes, bracing for the final blow. I didn’t kill him, I thought, desperately trying to hold on to some semblance of truth in a world that had turned upside down.

The moment the blade descended, my vision blurred, and everything went dark.

---

I gasped, my body jerking upright. My breath came in ragged gasps as I blinked into the harsh morning light. My fingers trembled as they pressed against the cool, unscarred skin of my wrists. I blinked again, disoriented. The air was thick with a familiar scent—the earthy, comforting smell of the Shadowhound pack.

No. This couldn’t be real.

I looked around, my pulse hammering in my ears. The bed beneath me was too soft, the room too familiar. The walls, the furniture—all of it was the same as the room I had once called mine. It felt like waking from a nightmare only to realize you were still trapped inside it.

Was I... dead?

But how could I be? The memories of my execution, of the cold steel blade about to end my life, were still fresh. My chest tightened as I fought to make sense of it. The past—my past—had been filled with darkness, betrayal, and loss. And now, this.

I couldn’t breathe.

I stumbled out of bed, clutching at my head. What was happening? Was this some cruel joke, some trick? I staggered to the window, pulling the heavy curtains aside to let the light spill in. My heart skipped a beat as I looked at the calendar on the wall—Year 39, Day 11.

It was five years ago. Five.

I blinked. No. This couldn’t be right. I looked at the calendar again, then checked the date on my phone—same thing. This was before everything had gone wrong. Before Darius had turned his back on me. Before I had been sentenced to death.

I had been given another chance. But why? How?

The air in the room felt too still, like everything was waiting for me to figure out what had happened. My breath caught in my throat. Could it be possible? Could this be a second chance?

I shook my head, trying to clear the confusion swirling in my mind. It felt like a dream—a cruel, twisted dream. But no. I wasn’t dead. I was alive. I was here.

Suddenly, a knock on the door pulled me from my thoughts.

“Aria, are you awake?”

The voice was smooth, soothing, deceptively gentle. Darius.

I froze. No. Not now. Not him.

I couldn’t face him right now. Not when my heart was still raw from the past, from the betrayal I had suffered.

The door creaked open, and there he was. Darius, standing in the doorway, a faint smile on his lips. He looked exactly the same—like nothing had changed, like the years hadn’t passed. Like we weren’t both carrying the weight of a broken bond.

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said, his voice soft, teasing.

I felt my chest tighten.

I met his eyes, my gaze sharp, my voice colder than I intended. “Maybe I have,” I replied, my words cutting through the silence like a knife.

I was back—before everything went wrong, before Darius and Selene had torn my life apart. But I couldn’t forget what had happened. I couldn’t forget the betrayal, the lies.

And now, I was here, again, in the same place, with the same people, with the same man who had shattered me.

But things would be different this time. I wouldn’t chase after him. Not again. Not when I knew the truth.

Darius’s presence lingered in the air long after he left my bedroom, his absence suffocating, as if the walls themselves were holding their breath. I stared at the door, my mind swirling with a mix of anger and regret. I had spent too many years chasing after his affection, only to be left behind—betrayed by him, by Selene. Never again.

I leaned back against the wall, my eyes closing for a moment. Selene could have him. For all I cared.

The decision was clear. I would no longer be the one to chase after him, to beg for scraps of his love and attention. I would take control of my life. I would not be the fool I was before. And the first step? Leaving this place behind—without Darius knowing.

I packed my things swiftly, quietly. I didn’t need him to know where I was going. I had to leave before the same things that happened in my previous life occurred again. I would change this damn fate, even if I had to take my sweet revenge.

A year ago in this timeline, I had used my position as the sister of the powerful Duke Alpha of the North, my brother, to enter Darius’s pack. I had thought it would give me some leverage, some way to win his heart. But now, I regretted it all. Darius never cared about me. He never truly did.

It’s hard to explain how things had been back then—how I had chased after a man who would never return my feelings. I had been so blind to everything else, even to my own brother’s plea for me to come to him, to visit his territory. I hadn’t listened. But now? Things were different. I couldn’t afford to make the same mistakes again.

I made my way to the Northern Territories, determined to escape the suffocating web Darius had cast around me.

There were two dukes in the empire ruled by the Wolf King. One was my brother, Orin, and the other, from the Southern Territories, was Lucian. They held the most powerful titles after the King.

My brother’s power was immense, rivaling even that of the Wolf King. But unlike what others thought of him—dangerous, tyrannical, a villain—he wasn’t any of those things.

I knew that now.

I stepped onto the grounds of my brother’s fortress, the air crackling with the energy of warriors preparing for battle. The walls hummed with barely restrained power. My brother’s domain was formidable. It had always been, even when I had failed to see it in the past.

"You finally listen, huh?" My brother’s voice cut through the tension in the air as he stepped toward me, a smirk tugging at his lips. "Took you a while."

I met his gaze, my lips quirking slightly. "I was too focused on other things."

"Too focused on Alpha Darius," he said, his tone light but laced with an edge of something deeper. "You know, you always could’ve come sooner. But I guess you’re here now."

I nodded, feeling a sense of something like relief wash over me. My brother was no villain. His methods might have been harsh, his demeanor intimidating, but there was a part of him that was still my brother—someone I could trust.

But then, my eyes fell on a figure in the distance.

At first, I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. But as I blinked and focused, I felt a jolt run through me.

Lucian.

Lucian was here—how could he be here? In my past life, I was accused of killing him. Yet here he was, standing in front of me, training with my brother’s elite wolf knights. His presence was commanding, his strength undeniable, and I couldn’t tear my eyes away. My mind was still processing the sight of him. Why was he here?

I took a few hesitant steps forward, my voice barely above a whisper. "W-Why is Duke Alpha Lucian here?" I didn’t know what else to say. I didn’t know why it hurt to see him, why my heart raced in my chest.

My brother turned to me, his expression unreadable. "We're discussing alliances between the Southern and Northern Territories," he explained simply, as if it was nothing more than a typical meeting. "He’s here for talks."

Alliance talks. That made sense. Lucian was the Duke Alpha of the Southern Territories, a man of great power. But still, it didn’t explain the swirling confusion inside me. Why would Darius and Selene frame me for Lucian’s death? Why would they target him?

I stood there, a thousand questions rushing through my mind, when a sharp pain seared through my wrist.

I gasped, my hand flying to my wrist, and I looked down to see something glowing, etched into my skin. A glowing, golden "99."

My breath caught. The number pulsed with an eerie light, and panic flooded through me. What was this? What did this mean?

I tried to scratch it away, to rub it off, but it didn’t erase. It stayed, glowing brighter the harder I tried to remove it.

“What the hell—” I murmured under my breath, my heart racing as fear took root in my chest.

But before I could do anything else, my attention was drawn back to Lucian. My breath caught in my throat. The moment I laid my eyes on him again, something changed. The air around me felt heavier, and a warmth spread through my chest. My heart started to pound faster, almost painfully.

It was a sensation I couldn’t explain, but it was undeniable.

Mate.

I froze. The word echoed through my mind like a thunderclap. Mate? I’d never met my mate. Not in this life, not in my past. I would have remembered, wouldn’t I?

Yet, here I was, feeling the pull of something ancient, something destined.

I couldn’t be—could I?

I thought I was merely brought back to the past, but this? This was something I didn’t understand. What was happening?

The confusion spiraled inside me as my mind raced. Why did I feel this pull toward him, this connection that shouldn’t exist?

My heart hammered as I stepped closer to Lucian. The weight of what I had just felt—the pull, the bond—tugged at me like an invisible chain. I couldn’t understand it. It didn’t make sense. But I couldn’t deny it either. The way my heart raced, the way the air seemed to hum when he was near. It was undeniable. I felt it, deep in my bones.

“D-Duke Alpha,” I finally said, my voice barely more than a whisper. "I’m Duke Orin’s sister..."

His blade slipped into its sheath with a smooth motion, and his gaze shifted toward me, cool and detached. There was a certain distance in his eyes that unnerved me, like I was just another face in the crowd.

And yet, I felt the pull.

“We’re mates,” I blurted out, my voice trembling.

His eyes narrowed, and for a long moment, he said nothing. He just stared at me as if I were a puzzle he couldn’t quite solve. “Mates?” he repeated, his voice flat. “I don’t feel anything. It’s impossible.”

The words sliced through me like a blade. Rejection. Already?

Pain shot through my chest, sharper than anything I had ever felt before. I couldn’t breathe. The air around me felt thick, suffocating. The way his words echoed in my mind... it was like the world had just shifted on its axis.

I swallowed, forcing my throat to work again. "Please. I really feel it. The pull. Can’t you sense it? Could you at least—" I paused, the words catching in my throat.

His eyes hardened, narrowing as he regarded me with something akin to irritation. "Do you even have proof?" he asked, his tone cold, dismissive.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. What proof could I show him? I had nothing except this bond, this connection that felt too real to ignore. But it didn’t make sense. How could he be my mate? I didn’t even know if I wanted him to be my mate. After everything… this was the last thing I had expected.

They had accused me of killing this man in my previous life, and now he was my mate? This messed-up change of fate!

"Can you walk with me? Please." The words tumbled out before I could stop them. My heart ached, desperate for his attention, even as my mind screamed at me to stop.

His gaze softened, just slightly, but he didn’t answer me immediately. After a long pause, he simply nodded and began walking, his long strides effortless. I followed at a distance, my mind spiraling with questions, confusion, and hurt.

The 99 on my wrist... the glowing number that wouldn’t go away. I tried to rub it again, but nothing happened. It was still there, pulsing faintly under my skin, mocking me.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. I wasn’t supposed to feel this bond. Not in this lifetime. Not with him.

What’s going on?

As we walked along the fortress grounds, the weight of silence pressed down on me. His scent filled the air around me, rich and intoxicating. I couldn’t help but inhale deeply. It was comforting, in a way, even though I was terrified of what it all meant.

“Can you see this?” I finally asked, lifting my wrist so he could see the glowing number.

He glanced at it quickly, his expression unreadable, and then looked away. “What do you mean? If you’re going to waste my time with this nonsense, do it next time. I’m busy.”

I flinched. “Wait! No, I mean... never mind.” I bit my lower lip, forcing myself to look away, to swallow down the hurt that bubbled up inside me.

The rejection stung, sharper than I expected, but I kept walking.

Why the heck was I the only one feeling this mate bond? Why couldn't he feel it too?

We continued walking, my thoughts a chaotic mess. Everything I thought I understood was crumbling around me.

Suddenly, the air shifted. My instincts screamed at me, a primal warning I couldn’t ignore. I froze, my heart pounding in my chest. I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.

“Duke, look out!” I shouted, my voice rising in panic.

Without a word, Lucian shifted into his wolf form, his body moving with lethal speed, just as claws streaked through the air. He deflected them effortlessly, his body a blur of motion. The sound of claws and teeth clashing against each other filled the air, and I watched in awe as his wolf guards, who had been hiding, sprang into action, engaging wolves who appeared from the shadows.

The battle was swift, brutal. The wolves didn’t stand a chance against Lucian’s elite knights. I could see the power in every movement, the way Lucian commanded the battlefield like a force of nature.

My heart raced in my chest, adrenaline pumping through my veins as I watched him fight. But even as the dust began to settle, something felt off.

The wind shifted, and I caught a familiar scent in the air—one that made my blood run cold.