CHAPTER ONE — I DIED HATING MY MATE
POV: Mira
The lock turned in the door, and the guards dragged me toward the window of the execution cell, holding my arms so tightly that my wrists bruised immediately.
I leaned my forehead against the bars, and when I looked down into the courtyard, I saw Cassian standing beside the walls, wearing his Alpha cloak while another woman stood beside him, resting her hand on his arm.
That woman was Elena, the same person who had entered my life as a friend three years ago, yet now she wore the Luna ring on her finger, taking everything that used to belong to me.
"Look at them," one of the guards sneered behind me, pushing my head closer to the bars, "your Alpha doesn't care about you anymore, and he won't save a murderer from execution."
"I didn't kill anyone," I said, my voice dry from months of shouting in the dark, "I never betrayed the pack, and I never touched that dagger."
"Save your breath for the executioner," the guard laughed, shoving me away from the window, "the Alpha signed your sentence himself, so stop lying to yourself."
I stared down into the courtyard, and for a second, Cassian raised his head, his dark eyes locking onto mine, but there was no warmth in his gaze, no affection, and no memory of the promises he had made to me when we were young.
Three years ago, he had stood in the middle of the pack house, throwing accusations at me while the elders yelled, claiming I had sent pack secrets to our enemies, and even though I begged him to check the records, he refused to listen, rejecting me as his mate on the spot and driving me out into the cold.
When I left the territory, I didn't know I was carrying his child, and two months later, masked men attacked my small house in the human city, beating me until I bled, causing me to lose the baby before I could ever tell him the truth.
After that, my life became a series of disasters, culminating in the murder of the pack elder last year, a crime someone carefully pinned on me while I was trying to find work in the territory.
"Bring her out," a voice called from the hallway, and two more guards opened the heavy cell door, grabbing my chains to pull me into the central chamber where the stone platform was waiting.
Cassian walked into the room, stepping past the guards, his eyes fixed on my face, looking calm and detached as if he were inspecting a routine business deal instead of watching his former mate die.
"You brought this on yourself, Mira," Cassian said, stopping two steps away from me, his voice flat, "if you had just accepted your banishment and stayed away from the pack lands, you wouldn't be standing here today."
"I didn't kill Elder Thomas, Cassian," I said, staring directly into his eyes, "you let Elena lie to you, you let your council fabricate evidence, and now you're going to execute me just so you can clear your conscious."
"The evidence was clear, the dagger had your scent, and three witnesses saw you leave his house that night," Cassian replied, shaking his head slowly, "I tried to give you a second chance three years ago, but you kept coming back to destroy my pack."
"You never gave me a chance, you rejected me because you were too weak to investigate the truth," I spat back, stepping as close to him as my chains allowed, "and you broke your vows the second another woman smiled at you."
Cassian shifted his feet, his jaw tightening slightly, though his tone remained cold, "I wish things had been different between us, Mira, but a leader has to protect his people from traitors."
I burst out laughing, the sound echoing off the bare walls, harsh and broken, "You don't get to regret me now, Cassian Drake, you don't get to stand there and pretend you care about justice."
"Execute the order," Cassian told the guards, turning his back on me without waiting another second, walking straight toward the door where Elena was waiting for him.
The executioner stepped forward, raising the long silver blade, and before I could even draw another breath, the metal sliced through my throat, sending me collapsing down to the floor, my blood spilling out over the carved stone symbols beneath my body.
Pain burned through my chest, blinding and absolute, but as my vision started to turn black, the stone beneath me began to glow, and a strange heat rushed through my veins, pushing away the numbness of death.
"You were never meant to die here," a woman's voice whispered directly inside my head, loud and clear, echoing over the sound of my failing heartbeat, "take your life back, child, and rewrite your fate."
I closed my eyes, expecting the void, but instead of cold darkness, a warm breeze hit my face, and the smell of fresh linen filled my nose, making me gasp for air as I sat upright in a bed.
I reached up to touch my neck, expecting blood and open wounds, but the skin was entirely smooth, without a single scratch or scar on my throat.
I pulled back the blanket, looking down at my body, seeing my thin summer nightgown, free of the prison dirt, ragged clothes, and old bruises that had covered my skin for months.
I threw my legs over the edge of the bed, standing up on feet that didn't hurt, running toward the desk where a small paper calendar was lying beside my lamp.
The date printed on the page read June 15th, exactly four years before the day of my execution, making my hands shake as I stared at the numbers.
"This can't be real," I murmured to myself, looking around the room, seeing my old posters, my neat bookshelf, and the clothes I used to wear before Cassian cast me out.
Then the memory of what happened last night hit me, reminding me that four years ago, on the evening of June 14th, I had gotten drunk after finding photos of Cassian sitting close to Elena at a pack banquet.
I had run to his apartment late that night, crying and demanding answers, leading to an argument that ended in a desperate, foolish night together in his bed, the very night that created the baby I would later lose in the dark alley.
I had crept out of his apartment at dawn, returning to my room only an hour ago, meaning the intimacy of last night had already happened, and the seed of my child was already set in motion.
I touched my flat stomach, knowing that right now, Cassian was waking up in his empty apartment, expecting me to text him or come running back to him like I always did after our fights.
I looked at the window, seeing my own reflection in the glass, no longer weak, no longer broken, and no longer willing to play the part of the victim in his story.
"This time, Cassian Drake will never get the chance to destroy me.”
