Chapter four
1043 Words
Ariel
felt like I was alive but there was no pain, no breath, no sound, only silence. I floated in it, suspended like a leaf in the void, numb and fading.
And then I remembered whispering a prayer right before darkness enveloped me.
“Moon Goddess… if you’re there… please… give me justice. Give me one more chance. Let me make him pay…”
A blinding silver light burst behind my closed lids and my chest seized, lungs expanding with a very sharp painful gasp.
I sat up at once with a strangled cry, my eyes flying open to sunlight coming through the curtains.
To my greatest surprise, I was lying on my bed, not the small, cold guestroom I had been exiled to, but the Luna quarters from before the war.
A familiar scent hit me and I wondered if this was a dream.
“My legs,” I whispered, flinging the sheets back in hurry. I stared at them and they still looked very much okay, they were whole, unbroken and strong without scars. I wiggled my toes in stunned disbelief.
“I am alive?”
My heart thundered as I scrambled to the mirror. The reflection that met me wasn’t the broken, gaunt woman with hollow eyes. I was younger, barely twenty, with no bruises, no tear-streaked cheeks, no twisted sorrow in my gaze.
I stumbled back, gripping the table for support.
“This… this isn’t possible.”
But it was. The date on the calendar pinned by my dresser confirmed it.
It was exactly two years before the accident, before the battlefield and before I became Klaus’ mate.
I pressed my hand over my chest, tears gathering in my lashes. The Moon Goddess had heard me.
I’d been reborn.
—
The Council of Alphas ceremony was held only days later, in the grand hall of the Northfang Mountains. It was a prestigious gathering, one that I remembered well. Back then, I had stood beside Klaus, smiling like a fool, proud to be introduced as the Luna of the Stormclaw Pack.
This time, everything was different.
I wore a deep red dress with silver embroidery that shone beneath the chandeliers. My hair was swept up, revealing the mark of the Moon on my neck, a rare birthmark only the descendants of the old bloodline bore.
People turned to look as I walked through the hall, whole and strong. They whispered, not out of pity, but awe.
“Ariel Stormclaw…”
“She looks radiant…”
“Wasn’t she just a soldier before? Why is she being honored?”
“She helped win the last siege on the Eastern borders. They say her strategy saved hundreds.”
I ignored the murmurs, holding my chin high. I wasn’t here for praise. I was here to build the power I would need to destroy Klaus from the inside out.
If fate had given me a second chance, I wouldn’t waste it groveling for love. I would rise, alone if I had to.
I hadn’t expected the mate bond, certainly not here or now.
I felt it before I saw him.
An invisible thread yanked at my heart, taut and electric. My body froze, heat blooming low in my stomach, my breath catching as though someone had knocked the wind from me, then my gaze met his.
He stood at the far end of the grand hall, surrounded by other Alphas. Broad-shouldered, towering, dressed in dark and high-collared armor lined with raven feathers.
His hair was very dark, and he had sharp eyes with a shade of violet that seemed very terrific and commanding.
Alpha Nathaniel Lockhart, the Alpha of the Ravenclaw Pack, who is feared by most and respected by all. He was rumored to be ruthless, unpredictable and deadly.
And now, from this bond that I felt, unmistakably, he was my second chance mate.
The bond hit me so hard that my breath stuttered and my confused and hungry wolf stirred, whining softly in my chest.
I was still staring at him when his eyes narrowed slightly as he walked towards me, ignoring the whispers and greetings from the other Alphas, his gaze never leaving mine.
He stopped only a few feet away, his energy sharp and coiled energy.
“I guess you feel it too,” this was the first thing I heard from his deep, smooth voice, laced with held back tension.
I nodded slowly, trying to mask the war within me.
Of course I felt it, the way my body warmed, my wolf perked up with a yearning I didn’t trust but I wasn’t a naïve girl anymore. I wouldn’t fall just because fate pulled some strings.
“I do,” I said quietly. “But I refuse to accept it.”
A look of surprise crossed his expression, but he recovered quickly.
“I’m not asking you to,” he said, then glanced at my chest, his eyes resting briefly on the Moonmark peeking through the transparent veil. “Yet.”
“Good,” I said, lifting my chin.
There was a pause between us, filled with unspoken energy, then he offered his hand.
“Ariel Stormclaw,” he said with a slight smirk. “You intrigue me.”
I hesitated, then took his hand, just long enough to be polite. The contact sent a shock through me, like lightning under my skin but he didn’t flinch.
I pulled away first.
“Be careful, Alpha Lockhart,” I said, cool and composed. “Intrigue can be dangerous.”
His smile widened. “I love danger.”
Then he winked and walked away, leaving me breathless.
When I was alone, I stood on the balcony overlooking the mountain range, replaying the moment over and over again.
Nathaniel Lockhart was dangerous, powerful and maybe even darker than Klaus.
But the bond felt real, primal and undeniably raw. He also didn’t seem anything like the coldhearted Klaus.
I wasn’t here to find love, not again. I was here for vengeance.
Klaus had taken everything from me in the last life, my dignity, my future, my legs. He’d tried to crush me and almost succeeded.
This time, I would be the one to destroy him.
The pieces were already falling into place.
- Writer
