Evangeline POV:

The shock on Bennet's face twisted into something dark and furious. The air in the study crackled, growing heavy with the oppressive weight of his Alpha power.

"Do you have any idea what you're saying?" he snarled, his voice a low growl. He crossed the space between us in two long strides and his hand clamped around my wrist. His fingers were like steel bands. "Take it back. Now."

The bite of his grip was nothing. A dull throb compared to the cataclysm unfolding inside me. A bitter, humorless laugh escaped my lips.

I met his stormy, ice-blue eyes without flinching. "I, Evangeline Hess, reject you, Bennet Carlisle, as my mate."

Repeating the words was like driving the knife deeper, twisting it. The bond that connected our souls, the one I had cherished and he had ignored, was now a weapon turned against us both. A wave of nausea and agony crashed over me, so intense it stole my breath. I felt my very essence being torn in two.

A choked grunt escaped Bennet's lips. His face went pale, a stark white beneath his dark hair. The pain was hitting him, too. I could see it in the tightening of his jaw, the sweat beading on his temple. But his disbelief, his outrage at being defied, was stronger.

"You foolish girl! What have you done?" Chanel shrieked from the doorway, rushing to his side, her hands fluttering over his arm as if he were the one about to collapse.

I ignored her. My eyes were locked on Bennet. The laws of the Moon Goddess were absolute. He had to respond. He had to set me free.

He gritted his teeth, the words forced through a clenched jaw. "I... do not accept."

A desolate smile touched my lips. Of course. Of course he wouldn't. Even in this, he had to have the final word. He wouldn't grant me even this one escape.

But my body had already made its choice. The silver poison had done its work over months, hollowing me out, leaving me a fragile shell. This final, soul-shattering agony was more than it could bear.

My vision swam. A violent cough wracked my frame, and I tasted the coppery tang of blood. My knees buckled.

The last thing I saw before the darkness swallowed me was the raw panic, the undiluted terror, that finally broke through the ice in Bennet Carlisle's eyes.

Then, nothing..

Until a light, warm and gentle, wrapped around me. It felt like a mother's embrace, like coming home. It felt like the Goddess herself.

I gasped, my eyes flying open.

Blinding sunlight streamed through a large window, carrying with it the sweet scent of freshly cut grass and blooming roses. I was breathing hard, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird.

I looked around, bewildered. This wasn't the dark, oppressive master bedroom of the Carlisle estate. This was my room. My childhood room in the Hess family home, with its pale yellow walls and white lace curtains.

Slowly, I lifted a hand. It was smooth, unblemished, the skin soft and full of life. Not the thin, pale hand of a woman worn down by grief and illness.

I scrambled out of bed and rushed to the full-length mirror in the corner.

The face that stared back was mine, but not. It was the face of a girl. Fifteen. Cheeks flushed with youth, not illness. Green eyes clear and bright, not clouded by unshed tears. This wasn't the 22-year-old broken Luna.

The door creaked open and a familiar head poked in. My brother, Julian Hess.

"Evie, come on! You're going to be late for the Spring Equinox Festival!" he complained, his brow furrowed in annoyance.

He saw my stunned expression and walked over, ruffling my hair affectionately. "What are you staring at? It's your first time officially attending. You should be excited."

The Spring Equinox Festival.

The words hit me like a physical blow. I remembered. Of course, I remembered. The festival at fifteen. The day I was formally introduced to the eligible Alphas. The day I first laid eyes on Bennet Carlisle.

I was reborn.

The Moon Goddess had heard me. She had given me another chance.

A tremor ran through my body, a violent shudder of overwhelming joy and gut-wrenching terror. I was alive. I was whole. I was free.

Julian's face softened with concern. He steadied me with a hand on my shoulder. "What's wrong? Are you feeling sick?"

I shook my head, my fingers digging into the comforting, solid reality of his arm. Tears, hot and cleansing, streamed down my face. He was real. This was real.

I had a choice.

I looked up, meeting my brother's worried gaze. The vulnerability in my own eyes hardened, replaced by a glint of unshakeable steel.

"I'm not going, Julian," I said, my voice quiet but firm. "I want to stay home today."

He stared at me, baffled. "What? But you've been looking forward to this for months! All the core members of the Alpha Conclave will be there..."

"I don't care," I cut him off, the words tasting of glorious rebellion. "I said, I don't want to go."

I took a deep breath, a vow whispered to my own reflection in the mirror.

"This life, I'm living it for me."

Bennet POV:

I stood on the top floor of the Starlight Tower, a glass of champagne in my hand, the low hum of conversation a meaningless buzz in my ears. Alphas from every major Pack milled about, their Lunas and daughters preening at their sides. Prince Caspian Dotson himself had just clapped me on the shoulder, congratulating me on my speech about trade routes.

I smiled, nodded, said all the right things.

But my eyes kept flicking to the grand entrance.

My insides were a knot of raw, impatient nerves.

I was back. By some miracle of the Goddess, I was back. I had died not long after her, my own soul unable to bear the severing of our bond, my last breath a curse on my own name. I had woken up here, seven years in the past, with the crushing weight of my regret as my only companion.

And today was the day.

The Spring Equinox Festival. The day I first met her.

I remembered it perfectly. She had been wearing a pale green dress that made her eyes shine like emeralds. When our host introduced us, the world had narrowed to just her. The scent of vanilla and wildflowers, the jolt of electricity when our hands brushed, the immediate, soul-deep certainty that she was mine.

I had been captivated. But I was a Carlisle. I was an Alpha on the rise, surrounded by enemies. I had treated her like a political asset, a 'suitable' Luna. I had crushed the beautiful, vibrant thing between us with the cold weight of my ambition.

It was the single greatest mistake of a life filled with them.

This time would be different. This time, I would cherish her from the very first moment. I would protect her. I would earn the love I had once taken for granted.

Silas, my most trusted warrior, materialized at my elbow. His expression was impassive, but I knew him too well. Something was wrong.

"Alpha," he murmured, his voice low. "The Hess family has arrived. But... Miss Evangeline is not with them."

The delicate stem of the champagne flute threatened to snap between my fingers. I forced my hand to relax, my voice to remain level."The reason?"

"They say she is feeling unwell, Alpha."

Unwell? My brow tightened. No. That wasn't right. I remembered this day with perfect, painful clarity. She had been the picture of health, vibrant and full of life.

A cold dread, sharp and unfamiliar, slithered into my gut. Something was wrong. Something had already deviated from the path I knew.

I scanned the room, the faces of the pretty, simpering debutantes blurring into a meaningless tapestry. The entire glittering affair felt hollow, pointless. Without her, it was just an empty room.

My mind raced. Why would she reject the bond in our last life? I had always assumed it was Leo. The shock of seeing Chanel's child, my callous decision... it had been the final, unforgivable straw.

But that hadn't happened yet. I hadn't done anything yet. So why was she already off-script?

A wild, terrifying thought struck me. A thought so impossible I dismissed it almost as soon as it formed.

Could she... also remember?

No. It was absurd. The Goddess would not be so merciful to us. Not after how I had failed. It had to be a coincidence. A simple, random ripple in the river of time.

I would not be deterred. If I missed her today, I would find another way. I would go to the Hess estate tomorrow. I would create a reason.

First, I had to deal with the vipers in this very room. The men who had smiled to my face in our last life while plotting my family's downfall. My priority had to be securing my position, eliminating the threats that had distracted me, that had allowed me to neglect what was most important.

I forced a cool, detached smile to my lips as an old ally approached. I would deal with politics first.

And then, I would find my Evangeline.

Evangeline POV:

I sat on the swing in my family's garden, my face tilted up to the warm sun. A gentle breeze stirred the leaves in the trees, carrying the scent of roses. I closed my eyes, just breathing. In and out. Feeling the simple, profound peace of being alive and whole.

Iris, who was just a cheerful, round-faced girl of fourteen in this timeline, brought me a tall glass of lemonade.

"You're missing everything, my lady!" she chirped, setting the tray down. "I heard the young Alpha Carlisle gave a speech that had everyone mesmerized!"

I just smiled. "I'm sure he did."

I knew exactly what I was missing. I was missing the moment my fate was sealed. The moment I was introduced to the handsome, brooding Alpha and felt the jolt of the Fated Mate bond. The moment I mistook a curse for a blessing.

The memory was a bitter pill. That dizzying sense of completion, the feeling that I had found my other half. What a lie it had all been. The bond had brought me nothing but a gilded cage, a slow-withering death of the soul.

This time, there would be no bond. No fated mate.

Only freedom.

As evening fell, I sat at the small writing desk in my room. I pulled out a fresh sheet of paper and a pen. For the first time, my future was a blank page, and I was the one holding the pen.

I would study. I would learn about Pack management, about finance, about everything they never bothered to teach the Lunas-in-waiting. I would find a purpose that was my own, not an extension of someone else's. I would build a life so full and rich that no man, Alpha or otherwise, could ever be its center.

Outside my window, the first stars began to appear in the twilight sky.

I knew, with a certainty that settled deep in my bones, that my life had just begun.