MY SECOND LIFE: The Rejected Luna's Revenge

Chapter 4

*CHAPTER 4: THE EXCURSION PT.2*

The bus was too quiet.

No music. No talking.

Just the hum of the engine and 40 wolves pretending not to watch us.

Damien sat next to me. Still on earphones.

His arm was on the seat behind me. Close.

Contract said separate.

His body didn’t get the memo.

My phone buzzed again.

_D.B: You okay?_

I looked up. He was staring out the window.

Like he hadn’t sent it.

I typed back.

_Me: I’m fine._

_D.B: You’re lying._

I almost smiled.

Across the aisle, Celia saw it. Her nails dug into the seat.

The bus slowed.

Alpha Marcus stood up at the front.

"We have one more stop," he announced. "The Memorial Grove. To honor the wolves we lost to rogues."

The air shifted.

The Memorial Grove.

Where I was killed in my past life.

My chest tightened.

Damien felt it.

I knew because his arm dropped to the seat between us.

Not touching.

But there.

---

The Grove was all white stone and black trees.

Names carved into every pillar.

Including mine.

_Lyra Hale. 18. Killed in service to the pack._

Except I wasn’t.

I was killed by the pack.

I stopped walking.

"Lyra?"

Damien’s voice.

"I’m fine," I whispered.

"You’re not."

Alpha Marcus clapped his hands. "Everyone, moment of silence."

60 seconds.

60 seconds to stare at my own gravestone.

Celia stood next to it. Crying. Fake tears.

Damien Vance had his arm around her.

"She was such a sweet girl," Celia whispered. Loud enough for everyone.

"So weak. So... wolf-less. I wish we could have saved her."

Gasps.

My vision went red.

The old Lyra would have run.

The new Lyra stepped forward.

"Don’t talk about me like I’m dead," I said.

The silence broke.

Marcus turned. Slow. "Excuse me?"

"I’m right here, Alpha." I met his eyes. "And I’m not wolf-less. Not weak. And not dead."

Celia’s tears stopped. "Lyra, I was just—"

"You were lying."

"That’s enough," Marcus snapped. "You will show respect."

"Respect?" I laughed. It sounded wrong. "You want respect? Then stop letting people speak for the dead to hurt the living."

Damien moved.

In one step he was between me and Marcus.

"She’s right," he said. Flat. "Let it go."

Marcus’s eyes went gold. "Step aside, boy."

"No."

The word hung in the air.

An Alpha’s son defying the Alpha.

Over me.

The bond in my chest jerked. Hard.

Like a rope pulled tight.

Pain shot up my arm.

Damien’s too.

I saw it. His jaw clenched.

He reached back without looking.

His hand found mine.

Fingers laced.

Heat.

Blue light flickered between our palms.

Just for a second.

Then gone.

He let go immediately.

But the whole Grove had seen it.

"What was that?" Marcus demanded.

"Static," Damien said. "From the trees."

Liar.

My hand was still burning.

Marcus stared at us. At our hands. At me.

Then he smiled. "Interesting. Very interesting."

He walked away.

The moment was over.

But everyone knew.

Something happened.

---

On the bus ride back, no one sat near us.

Damien stared at his hand like it betrayed him.

I stared at mine.

"Did you feel that?" I whispered.

"Don’t."

"Damien—"

"I said don’t." His voice was sharp. "It was nothing."

The contract said no feelings.

The bond said otherwise.

We didn’t talk for 20 minutes.

Then his phone buzzed.

He read it. Cursed.

"What?"

"Marcus wants to see us. Again. Tonight."

My stomach dropped. "Why?"

"Because of that." He gestured to our hands. "Because of what people saw."

Celia was taking pictures. I saw her.

Posting to the pack group chat probably.

_Did you see Damien and the wolf-less girl???_

The bus pulled into the academy.

Everyone scrambled off.

Except us.

Damien stood. "You go first. 10 minutes. Then I’ll come."

"Why?"

"So it doesn’t look like we came together."

Right. Contract.

I nodded and got off.

The whispers started the second my feet hit pavement.

_Did you see their hands?_

_Is the bond forming?_

_She’s not wolf-less._

I kept walking.

Head high.

Like Damien told me to.

---

Marcus’s office at 9 PM was worse than 9 AM.

Darker. Colder.

Celia and Vance were already there.

"Close the door," Marcus said.

Damien did. Then stood next to me.

Not touching. But close.

"Explain the light," Marcus said.

"What light?" Damien asked.

"Don’t play stupid with me, boy." Marcus slammed his hand on the desk. "I saw it. Blue. Between you and her."

Damien didn’t flinch. "Must have been a reflection."

"Bullshit." Marcus looked at me. "You. What are you?"

I could lie.

I could say nothing.

But the bond was pulling again.

And Damien was looking at me.

Not at Marcus.

At me.

"I'm Lyra Blackwood," I said. "Your daughter-in-law."

Marcus laughed. "By contract."

"By law," I corrected. "Signed. Sealed. Legal."

Celia stepped forward. "Uncle, she’s manipulating him. She’s—"

"Quiet," Marcus and Damien said at the same time.

Celia flinched.

Marcus studied us. "If there’s a bond forming, I need to know. Now. Before the Ceremony tomorrow."

"There’s no bond," Damien said.

"Liar."

Damien’s eyes flashed gold. "Watch your tone with my wife."

My wife.

Again.

Marcus leaned back. "Fine. No bond. Yet."

He looked at me. "But tomorrow, at the Wolfing Ceremony, we’ll see. Won’t we?"

Threat.

Clear as day.

"We’ll see," I said.

"Dismissed."

---

Outside, Damien stopped me.

"That thing," he said. "In the Grove."

"What about it?"

"It can’t happen again."

"Why?"

"Because if Marcus thinks the bond is real, he’ll separate us. Permanently."

My chest hurt. "So we pretend."

"Yes." He nodded. "We pretend."

But his eyes said something else.

They said _I’m scared_.

"Damien," I whispered. "If tomorrow I shift—"

"I know." He cut me off. "Then we deal with it tomorrow."

He walked away.

Leaving me with burning hands and a bond that wouldn’t listen to contracts.

My phone buzzed.

_Unknown: Cute trick with the lights sis 💋

But the Moon Goddess doesn’t lie.

See you at the Ceremony.

-C_

I deleted it.

Tomorrow.

Wolfing Ceremony.

The day I died.

The day I was reborn.

And Damien Blackwood would be watching.

Even if he pretends not to.