Chapter 2

Scarlett’s Pov

When I opened my eyes again, the sunlight was so bright I had to squint. I looked around and realized I was back in Silver Moon’s Alpha residence, Killian’s house.

My head was pounding inside with an intense headache. I reached for my phone on the bedside drawer mostly to check the time but the moment the screen lit up, it was the date that caught my attention and I froze immediately.

I had been reborn. Exactly two years in the past.

My heart was hammering against my ribs, a wild, erratic rhythm that felt violently alive. I gasped, clutching my chest as the phantom sensation of cold, suffocating death still lingered in my throat. I was breathing. I was actually breathing.  A disbelief so sharp it cut like glass washed over me. I collapsed back against the mattress, staring at my own trembling hands. It wasn't a dream. The agonizing pain of the poison, the coldness creeping into my bones—it was all gone. "Thank you," I whispered, my voice cracking as tears stung my eyes. "Thank you, Moon Goddess..." 

I jumped out of bed. The Moon Goddess had actually done it. I remembered my last seconds on that hospital floor, how I had whispered and begged her desperately for a second chance with whatever little breath I had left, never really believing she would answer. But she did.

I walked to the mirror and my skin was glowing, healthy, no trace of anything wrong. Which meant the poisoning by Tiffany had not started yet. I had only just begun working on the silver poison antidote and Killian was still desperately trying to figure out how to pass the council’s test.

I stared at my reflection and made myself a promise. This time Killian and Tiffany would not get a single thing from me, I will take back everything that belongs to me and even what belongs to him and he won’t see it coming.

I’ll not be deceived by that cheating scumbag and his side hen. Not at all, I won’t be the…..

A knock came at the door and disrupted my thoughts.

“Luna Scarlett, someone is here to see you, the maid said.”

I hurriedly went downstairs and opened the door and my chest tightened immediately. Usher was standing right there in front of me, alive and well, looking at me with a warm smile.

The last time I felt his presence he was dying. I moved without thinking and pulled him into a hug.

“I am so glad you are alive,” I squealed in excitement.

He went completely still and was surprised.

“I am sorry?” He stepped back and looked at me carefully like he was trying to assess if I was stable or not. “What do you mean by that?”

I caught myself, pulled out from the hug and immediately cleared my throat. Shit, it’s two years back. He did not know me yet, to him we are just meeting for the first time.

“I am sorry, ignore that,” I said quickly. “Long morning please come in.”

He did not look fully convinced but he continued anyway.

“I won’t take up much of your time, are you Miss Scarlett? We have been looking for you for a very long time.”

“Yes, yes.” I nodded. “I am Scarlett.”

He introduced himself as Beta Usher of the Moonlight Pack, my uncle, brother to Alpha Arther. He told me gently that my father had passed, that I was the Alpha heir they had been searching for for years and that everything in Moonlight was waiting for me. He asked if I was willing to return and claim the position.

“Absolutely,” I said. “I will come back.”

He nodded and pulled out a small notepad. “Thank you. I will take my leave now and we can arrange a proper meeting to go over the details of the inheritance.”

He turned and began to gather himself to leave. I stood there waiting to hear a particular question, just the way it played out in my last life…… He paused and turned back around.

“I apologize, I almost forgot. Are you currently married or have a mate? If so, your mate would also be entitled to…..”

I remembered in my last life I had smiled at this exact question and called Killian into the room. I readily gave my position as the heir to him and gave him access to Moonlight, its resources, its warriors. That got Usher killed and led to my own tragic fate. No, I won’t make the same mistake in this life again.

“No!!!” I raised both hands, cutting him off before he could finish. “Absolutely not. I am completely single and I have no mate.”

Usher stared at me for a moment and cleared his throat. “Understood. We will keep things straightforward then.”

Before he left I asked him to keep my identity hidden for the time being. He agreed, he left and I closed the door behind him.

When I turned around Tiffany was already watching me from the sofa, Killian’s arm in both her hands, her head resting on his shoulder. Leo sat beside them quietly performing his role as the innocent child. The perfect little family.

The three of them looked like a complete family and the sight of it turned my stomach. All those years I spent thinking I was building something real, working myself to the core and this was always what was underneath it.

The moment Killian saw me, the fake smile appeared immediately.

“Ohh my Scarlett, there you are. I was looking for you this morning. Are you feeling okay, did you eat?” He stood up and started moving toward me.

I turned my head away and walked past him like he was furniture.

He was in disbelief, I could tell from the look on his face.

Tiffany untangled herself from Killian and came toward me, grabbing my arm with both hands, with her annoying raspy creaky voice.

“Scarlett, I was thinking maybe I could come to the lab with you today. I really want to learn about drug development, and other related stuff, maybe I can actually be useful to you, plus you know I’m your best friend.”

I stopped. I looked down at her hands on my arm and then I removed them, one finger at a time.

“Do you have any experience with medicine?” She shook her head, but before she could say anything else I cut her off.

“Then you are not qualified.”

Tiffany was too stunned to speak. In the old days I would have found a gentle way to let her down, apologized twice, maybe offered something else instead. The confusion on her face told me she was expecting exactly that.

I turned to leave without waiting to hear anything else from her.

Leo flew off the sofa. “You are such a hypocrite and you’re so mean! Aunt Tiffany is only trying to help and you treat her like rubbish. You are wicked and selfish!”

Leo snatched the hot coffee from the table and launched it directly at my face.

I slapped it out of his hand before it reached me. The mug hit the floor and shattered, coffee spreading across the tiles.

Killian immediately rounded on me. “Scarlett? What are you doing! He’s just a child!

Tiffany rushed over and pulled him into her arms, stroking his back and shushing him like he was a wounded animal.

“If that liquid had touched my hands,” I said calmly, “how exactly would I continue working in the lab?”

Killian opened his mouth, closed it, then turned on Leo immediately. “You do not behave like that in this house. Go to your room, no dinner, you’ll have an extra two hours of combat training tonight and you will write a full apology letter before bed….” Then his voice dropped and he reached for my arm.

“Scarlett, can we talk for a minute.”

“Do not touch me,” I said. “I am going to the lab.”