Reborn:the tyrant Alpha's beloved

The sharp stench of disinfectant flooded Leia's nose, and her eyes snapped open. Her vision sharpened slowly. The dull ache in her chest where blood had been forcefully drawn still pulled at every nerve. White ceiling. Cold light. A thick transparent tube ran from the back of her left hand, dark red blood crawling slowly toward the collection bag at the bedside. A woman's manufactured sobs drifted from nearby. "Alvin, does it hurt Leia-sister a lot? Maybe we should just stop. I'd rather die myself than let my sister suffer..." The man's low, impatient voice followed. "You're too soft-hearted, Ella. Providing her heart's blood for you is an honor she doesn't deserve." "The Winters went bankrupt. She's less than a stray dog now. Strip away that rare werewolf bloodline, and what else is she good for?" "You're my destined mate. For you, draining her blood is nothing. If I had to take her life, that'd be exactly what she deserves." Leia's stomach churned. She knew these words by heart. In her past life, in this very private underground medical room, the fiancé she had loved for ten years had pinned her to this bed and drained the last drop of her heart's blood. Before dying, she had begged Alvin to spare her for the sake of their years together. All she'd gotten was cold watching and laughter. Now she was alive again—back to two hours before her death. The first bag of ordinary blood had just started. The fatal cut to her heart's blood hadn't happened yet. Leia turned her head toward the two pieces of trash at her bedside. Alvin wore a tailored suit, blond hair combed to perfection. Heir to the Grey family, the powerful young Wolf King of the East District. Ella nestled in his arms, face pale with effort, milking every ounce of fragile innocence she could fake. A nurse in sterile scrubs approached with a thicker needle, aiming for the spot above Leia's heart. "Get away." Leia ripped the tube out of her hand. Blood spattered across the white sheets, blooming into a glaring red stain. The nurse stumbled back. Instruments rattled across the tray. Before the woman could make a sound, Leia sat up and drove her foot into the nurse's stomach. Clean. Fast. Nothing like the cowering, fawning woman she used to be. "Leia, what the hell is wrong with you now!" Alvin's face darkened. He strode over and reached for her shoulder. "Lie back down like a good girl. Ella's body can't wait. Save your crying-and-screaming act for someone who buys it." "Touch me with hands that have handled garbage, and you'll disgust me." Leia snatched the surgical scissors off the edge of the bed and pressed the cold metal tip against her own carotid artery. The sharp blade dented her skin. A single red bead welled up. Alvin's outstretched hand froze midair. Four bodyguards stepped forward to seal both sides of the bed—then stopped dead at Alvin's sharp command when they saw the scissors against her artery. The medical room went dead silent. No one had imagined that Leia, the woman who had loved without a single bottom line, would gamble her own life today. Alvin stared at the scissors and let out a cold laugh. "You think a pair of blunt scissors scares me? The Winters are finished, Leia. Leave Grey Manor tonight and you won't even know where to sleep." "Cooperate with the blood draw, and I might show mercy—give you a mistress's position. Keep making a scene, and I'll make you beg for death and be denied it." He looked down at her from above. He knew his fiancée too well—the woman who had clung to him like ivy for a decade. This defiance was just another pathetic bid for attention. Ella seized her moment and crept forward, tears brimming, tugging at Leia's sleeve. "Leia-sister, I know you hate me for taking Alvin. But we're destined mates. No one can change fate. Put the scissors down—what if you hurt Alvin..." "Destined mates?" Leia laughed, looking at Ella the way one looks at a clown. "You mean the two million you spent on black-market pheromone perfume, sprayed on your neck every day to fake a scent?" "Industrial-grade garbage like that can only fool a brainless i***t like Alvin. And you actually believed it made you something special." The blood drained from Ella's face. She swayed, then clutched both hands over her neck. She had covered her tracks perfectly. Leia was never supposed to know. Alvin's gaze cut between the two women. He fixed it on Ella. "What is she talking about?" "She's lying! Alvin, don't listen to her!" Ella's tears fell harder. She clung to his arm. "She's jealous of me. She made it up to drive a wedge between us. The Moon Goddess herself can witness my heart for you." Leia couldn't be bothered with the performance. In her past life, she'd never understood why her childhood sweetheart had turned into a madman the moment Ella appeared. Only after dying had she learned the truth: black-tech perfume. Even more laughable—Alvin had eventually figured it out too. But to protect his pathetic pride, he'd dumped all the blame on Leia and kept the lying woman by his side. Leia dropped the scissors, stepped barefoot onto the cold tiles, and met Alvin's eyes. "West District harbor. Warehouse three." The careless mask on Alvin's face shattered. Panic spread through his eyes. Leia kept throwing down her chips. "Second row in the basement. A red safe. The passcode is your little lover's birthday." "Shall I report to your bodyguards exactly what's inside?" The room went so quiet only breathing remained. The bodyguards wisely dropped their heads, not daring to draw a full breath. In wealthy families, hearing one word of a fatal secret meant losing your head. Alvin glared at her, his earlier arrogance smashed to pieces. "You investigated me?" Leia answered with a contemptuous sneer. Ten years of intelligence from her past life—her biggest card. Inside that safe: two sets of falsified contracts and cooked books, records of the Grey family secretly shorting a rival family behind the High Council's back. A thirty-billion drain. Half a word leaking out, and the Council's enforcement squad would storm Grey Manor and skin his father alive. His inheritance would vanish with it. "I have no interest in investigating you. Only in staying alive." Leia pulled a black coat off the rack and draped it over her shoulders, covering the blood on her chest. Ella understood none of it, but she kept fanning the flames anyway. "Alvin, Leia-sister is bluffing! She can't even leave this room—what secrets could she possibly know? Don't fall for it. My body really can't wait. The transfusion has to happen today—" "Shut your mouth!" Alvin's roar made Ella's legs give out. She crumpled to the floor, mouth half-open, making no further sound. He turned back to Leia, eyes narrowing. He had handled that warehouse personally. Nobody knew besides his most trusted finance director. Where had this useless woman—who once orbited him like a satellite—gotten the information? He forced himself calm, but the steel had leaked out of his voice, leaving only hollow threats. "Since you know about the warehouse, you know what happens if you talk." "Leak one word outside, and I can make you vanish without a trace—Winters name or not." "Oh, really." Leia picked up her phone from the bedside and spun it across her fingers. "Too late." "If I don't walk out of Grey Manor intact today, then ten minutes from now, a secret email goes out to every elder on the High Council." "Care to bet the Grey family's survival on whether your knife is faster than an internet upload?" There was no scheduled email. She'd been reborn barely ten minutes ago. She hadn't even unlocked the phone. But Alvin wouldn't dare gamble. A man who valued his inheritance over his own life would never test thirty billion in fake ledgers. Cold sweat slid down his temple. His hands clenched and unclenched at his sides. "Get out of the way." Leia jerked her chin toward the wall of men blocking the door. Alvin's back teeth ground audibly. "You'd better pray you can run far. Cross the Grey family, and not a soul in the entire East District will take you in." "No need to worry about me. Move them." Leia stared him down. In a suffocating standoff, Alvin finally raised his right hand and waved. The four bodyguards stepped aside, opening a straight path to the door. Leia walked out without sparing a glance at Ella on the floor. Just before she crossed the threshold, Alvin's voice came from behind, low and venomous. "Even if you escape the manor, so what? Without my protection, a fallen she-wolf alone out there will be chewed down to the bone. You'll crawl back and beg me eventually." Leia's steps never slowed. "Don't worry. I'd rather dig through garbage cans than return to your reeking dump." The words had barely landed before she broke into a run, plunging into the dimly lit corridor. Fueled by her past life's memory, she slipped past several hidden camera blind spots and sprinted for the nearest side door. Back in the medical room, Alvin swept his arm across the table, smashing every sterile instrument to the floor. Glass shattered against the wall. Played. Even if the scheduled email were real, releasing her had been a mistake. He should have detained her and interrogated her accomplices out slowly. Letting her go was releasing a tiger back to the mountain. "Sound the alarm!" He roared at the bodyguards, the dark-gold pupils of a high-tier werewolf surfacing in his eyes, raw killing intent burning through them. "Seal every exit on the estate! Tear up the ground if you have to—bring that woman back!" The shrill red alarm split the rainy night over Grey Manor. Leia had just reached the side door when the sirens screamed behind her. She kicked open the loose iron door and threw herself into the pouring rain. Her time was running out. Before the hunting parties closed their net, she had to find a backer even Alvin feared. In this entire city, only one man—the tyrant of the West District—would dare take on a job this deadly.