Seraphina?!
“Please…”
My voice cracked so badly it barely sounded human anymore.
“I—I don’t want to die.”
Nobody moved.
Nobody looked at me with pity.
The alley smelled like rain, blood, and gasoline. My knees burned against the pavement as I tried to crawl backward, my hands shaking so hard I could barely hold myself up.
The man in front of me lifted the gun slightly.
Calm.
Like this was routine.
Like my life meant nothing.
Panic clawed up my throat so violently I thought I might throw up.
“I swear I won’t say anything,” I choked out desperately. “Please—please just let me go home.”
Home.
God.
I wanted home.
I wanted my bed. My phone. My stupid unfinished novel sitting open on my laptop.
I wanted tomorrow.
Tears blurred my vision.
The safety clicked off.
And something inside me shattered.
“No—”
The gunshot echoed louder than my scream.
Then—
Nothing.
No pain.
No cold.
Just darkness swallowing me whole.
…
…
A voice cut through the silence.
“Lady Seraphina?”
Soft.
Distant.
I frowned slightly.
My body felt heavy.
Wrong.
“Lady Seraphina,” the voice said again, gentler this time. “You’ll be late if you don’t wake up soon.”
My eyes opened slowly.
Gold.
The first thing I saw was gold.
Gold curtains.
Gold sunlight spilling across marble floors.
Gold embroidered sheets tangled around my body.
For a second, I just stared blankly.
This wasn’t my room.
My heartbeat slowed.
Then sped up violently.
I sat up too quickly, the room spinning around me as panic hit all at once.
“What—”
My voice stopped me cold.
It wasn’t mine.
Too soft.
Too elegant.
Too unfamiliar.
A maid standing near the bed blinked at me in surprise.
“Lady Seraphina…?”
Seraphina.
The name hit me like a blade through the chest.
No.
No no no.
I stumbled out of bed before I could think, ignoring the maid calling after me as I rushed toward the mirror across the room.
My reflection stared back at me.
Long dark hair.
Pale skin.
Sharp eyes rimmed with exhaustion.
Beautiful.
And completely unfamiliar.
My stomach dropped.
Because I knew that face.
I knew it too well.
Seraphina Valeheart.
The villainess Luna.
The woman hated by every reader.
The woman betrayed by everyone.
The woman killed by her Alpha mate beneath the black moon.
My breathing turned uneven.
“No…” I whispered.
I remembered the final chapter.
I remembered her death.
The execution.
The blood.
The way she begged him not to do it.
And the worst part?
I remembered exactly who killed her.
Alpha Malakai.
My hands started shaking.
Because this wasn’t a dream.
