C2

Gorgo Lykaon POV

"Lock the outer door and make sure the camera is ready to take the photos," Artemisia Lykaon says outside.

I shake my head hard. My brain feels full of heavy fog. I look at my hands. I look down at my long dress with the bad cuts that show too much skin. I look at a big mirror on the wall. My face has thick, ugly paint all over it. Why am I here? I remember the giant truck. I remember my bones breaking on the road in Sparta Moonhaven. But now I look at the small magic clock on the wall. It says 7:48 in the evening.

This is the night of my big mate ceremony from three years ago. I am eighteen winters old again. The Moon Goddess brings me back to the start.

"Do not worry, False Luna Candidate," a man says outside the room. "We will tell the whole pack that the rejected moonborn heiress forced us to touch her."

"Good," Artemisia says, and her voice sounds very cold. "If you do this right, I will give you more pack resources. If you fail, the Fang Sentinels will feed you to the wild beasts."

I bite my lip until it hurts. I use my sharp fingernails to poke my own skin. The pain helps me think. In my first life, I never knew my sister was so evil. I think she loves me. But she is the one who puts the bad fire potion in my water. She wants the whole Lykaon Moonfang Pack to think I am a bad female wolf. In my old life, Leonidas stopped them, but everyone still laughed at me. He only took me to the Argyros Citadel because his old grandmother made him do it. He never wanted a broken mate.

My skin starts to feel like fire. The potion is moving fast inside my blood. I need to run away right now. If those two male wolves come inside, my wolf will be too weak to fight them.

I see a small door that goes to the washing room. I look around the table and find a small, sharp silver blade used for cutting hair. I hold it tight in my wet hand. I run into the washing room and shut the door with a quiet click. One second later, the big front door swings open.

"Where is the girl?" a man shouts.

"She must be in the back room! Check it fast!"

I do not wait. I open the small side window and climb out into the long stone hallway of the Eclipse Moon Lodge. My feet are heavy. I run toward the moving, lifting box. My heart goes so fast.

"She is gone!" a man screams from the hallway behind me. "The female wolf ran away! Catch her!"

The big lifting box opens, and I jump inside. The noble pack members are all down in the grand feast room waiting for the big ceremony. I cannot go there with my body feeling so hot and crazy. The box stops at the dark bottom floor where the territory riders keep the cars.

I see a big black car with an open door. I run as fast as I can. I jump into the back seat and pull the door shut with a loud bang. I put my sharp silver blade right against the neck of the man sitting there.

"Drive the car!" I scream, and my breath is very hot. "Take me away from this lodge right now! Fast!"

The man does not move. He turns his head slowly. The air inside the car gets super cold and heavy. He has big shoulders and a face like a dark moon god. He looks down at my tiny blade on his skin. He is not scared at all. His alpha power makes my inner wolf want to hide.

I look out the window and see the two bad male wolves run out of the lifting box. They are looking for me in the dark.

"Do not look at them!" I yell at the man, pressing the silver blade harder. "Tell your rider to move the car right now!"

"Master..." the territory rider says from the front seat. His voice is shaking.

The rider looks back at us through the glass. His eyes are wide and round. He cannot believe a small female is holding a blade to his alpha's neck.

I am so shaking and hot from the potion that my hand slips. The sharp silver cuts into his skin. A small drop of red blood comes out.

My heart stops. I look at his face clearly now. Oh no. The Moon Goddess is playing a bad game with me. Out of all the cars in Sparta Moonhaven, I pick this one. The man in the seat is Leonidas Argyros. He is the supreme alpha king I am supposed to bind with tonight. He is the same wolf who made my first life full of sadness. He is the man I promised to never love again before I died.