LUNA REBORN ; HOW I MET MY MATE

THE MAN I SWORE TO AVOID

The Blackwood estate looked exactly as I remembered it, and that was what unsettled me most.

Five years ago, I had arrived here as a nervous sixteen-year-old who knew very little about the politics between our packs. I had been excited about meeting the family that would soon become connected to mine through the alliance. I had no idea that the man waiting inside the estate would eventually become my husband, my Alpha, and the person whose silence would haunt me on the night I died.

Now I sat beside my father in the carriage, watching the dark walls of the estate appear beyond the trees. The sight brought back memories I had spent the last several days trying to push away. I remembered standing in this same courtyard years ago, wearing a pale blue dress while Kael had walked toward us with that calm expression that had made him difficult to read. I remembered the first time our eyes met and the strange certainty I had felt that my life had just changed.

This time, I felt none of that certainty.

Instead, I felt the old fear returning.

My father glanced at me. "You've been quiet since we left."

"I'm thinking."

"About the alliance?"

I nodded.

He studied me for a moment before saying, "You don't have to carry the responsibility alone, Luna. You're young, and this meeting is simply the beginning of negotiations. Nothing will be decided today."

I looked out the window. "Are you sure?"

"Of course."

His answer should have comforted me, but it didn't. In my previous life, I had heard almost the same words before everything changed. The alliance had seemed harmless at first. Then the meetings became more frequent. Kael and I spent more time together. Our families encouraged the relationship, and before long, what had begun as a political arrangement became a marriage that I had convinced myself was built on love.

I couldn't let history repeat itself.

The carriage stopped.

A servant opened the door, and my father stepped out before offering me his hand. I accepted it and descended into the courtyard.

The Blackwood guards stood in formation along the entrance, their black uniforms bearing the silver wolf crest of the pack. Several servants waited near the enormous doors, and beyond them I could see members of the council gathering in the entrance hall.

Then I saw him.

Kael stood at the top of the steps.

He was younger than the man I remembered, although the difference was almost impossible to notice. His black hair was slightly longer, his shoulders had not yet developed the commanding presence he carried in my memories, and there was something less guarded about his expression.

He was sixteen too.

For several seconds, I simply stared.

This was the boy I had once fallen in love with.

Not the Alpha who had stood over my dying body.

Not the husband whose silence had destroyed everything I believed.

Just Kael.

Sixteen years old.

Alive.

Unchanged by the years I remembered.

His eyes met mine.

My heart gave an involuntary beat.

I hated that it did.

Kael descended the steps as my father approached his own family. Their conversation was polite, filled with the formal greetings expected between two Alpha families, but I barely heard them. I was too focused on the person standing a few feet away from me.

Kael stopped.

"Luna Ashford."

Hearing my name in his voice sent a strange shiver through me.

I forced a polite smile. "Kael."

His eyebrows lifted slightly.

"What?"

"You usually call me Luna."

"I just did."

"No. I mean..." He paused, studying me. "You said my name."

I realized what I had done.

In my previous life, I had always called him Alpha Kael during our first meetings. I had never been familiar enough to address him simply by his name.

I quickly looked away.

"Forgive me."

Something about his expression changed.

"You don't have to apologize."

Before I could answer, his mother approached us and welcomed my family into the estate. The adults continued talking while Kael remained beside me, strangely quiet.

I expected him to behave as I remembered.

Confident.

Distant.

Uninterested.

Instead, he seemed distracted.

His gaze kept returning to me.

Finally, he asked, "Have we met before?"

The question made my stomach tighten.

"No."

It came out too quickly.

Kael noticed.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

"I thought so."

"You've never met me."

"That's strange."

"Why?"

He looked at me for a long moment.

"I don't know."

Then he turned away.

I followed my parents into the estate, but his words stayed with me.

Have we met before?

He couldn't possibly remember.

Could he?

The meeting lasted nearly an hour. Our fathers discussed trade routes, border security, and the possibility of strengthening cooperation between the two packs. I listened carefully, searching for anything that might explain why the alliance had become so important in my first life.

Then my father mentioned the northern border.

I froze.

In my previous life, a dispute over the northern border had occurred two years after my marriage. It had nearly turned into a war before Kael negotiated a settlement.

But now, according to the records I had reviewed, there had never been any serious dispute.

At least, not yet.

I looked at Kael.

He was listening to the discussion with unusual concentration.

When my father suggested that our packs establish a joint patrol route, Kael spoke for the first time.

"We shouldn't."

Everyone turned toward him.

His father frowned. "Why?"

"Because the northern forest isn't safe."

The room became quiet.

Kael continued, "Three of our scouts disappeared there last month."

I stared at him.

That had never happened in my previous life.

Not once.

His father looked irritated. "You haven't mentioned this."

"Because I haven't confirmed what happened."

My attention sharpened.

"What do you mean?"

Kael looked at me.

For a moment, his expression became distant.

"I found something there."

"What?"

He hesitated.

"A symbol."

My heartbeat quickened.

"What kind of symbol?"

Kael's eyes remained fixed on mine.

"A crescent surrounding a broken crown."

Everything inside me went still.

I had seen that symbol before.

Not in this life.

On the night I died.

The woman who killed me had worn a necklace beneath her cloak. I had barely noticed it while lying on the marble floor, but now the memory returned with terrifying clarity.

A crescent.

A broken crown.

I looked at Kael.

"Where did you see it?"

His expression changed.

"Why are you asking?"

"I was curious."

"You look frightened."

"I'm not."

He didn't seem convinced.

Before he could question me further, one of the council members interrupted and called him back into the discussion.

I lowered my gaze.

My hands were cold.

The symbol couldn't be a coincidence.

Someone had been wearing it when I died, and now Kael had found the same symbol in the northern forest five years earlier.

That meant whatever happened on the night of my death had begun long before I knew anything about it.

The meeting eventually ended, and my father joined Kael's father for a private discussion. I stepped outside into the courtyard, needing air.

I had barely reached the fountain when I heard footsteps.

Kael.

I didn't turn around.

"You've been avoiding me."

"I've been here for less than two hours."

"You've avoided me for most of them."

I finally faced him.

"What do you want?"

He stopped several feet away.

"I want to understand something."

"What?"

"Why do I feel like I know you?"

My heart pounded.

I forced myself to remain calm.

"You don't."

"Then why have I dreamed about you?"

The words left me speechless.

Kael looked just as confused as I felt.

"I don't know what the dreams mean," he continued. "But for the past few nights, I've seen the same place."

"What place?"

"A castle corridor."

My blood ran cold.

"There's a woman there."

I couldn't breathe.

Kael's voice became quieter.

"She's lying on the floor, and I'm holding her hand."

He looked directly into my eyes.

"She's dying."

I took a step backward.

"Who is she?"

"I don't know."

"Then how do you know it's me?"

His expression tightened.

"I didn't say it was you."

Silence fell between us.

He was right.

He hadn't said it.

I had assumed it.

And that frightened me more than anything else.

Kael stepped closer.

"The strange thing is that every time I wake up, I remember her voice."

"What does she say?"

He looked away.

"She asks me why I didn't save her."

A chill passed through me.

I remembered the marble floor.

The silver blade.

Kael's voice.

His bloodied hands.

His broken expression.

I had believed his silence meant he didn't care.

But if he was dreaming about my death before we had even met, then perhaps there was something about our future that neither of us understood.

I turned away from him.

"I can't help you."

"Luna."

I stopped.

His voice sounded different now.

Not like an Alpha speaking to the daughter of another Alpha.

It sounded almost desperate.

"Have we really never met?"

I looked back at him.

For a moment, I considered telling him everything.

I almost told him that I had already loved him once.

That he had married me.

That I had died believing he betrayed me.

That the woman in his dreams was me.

But I couldn't.

Not yet.

Because I still didn't know whether Kael had been my enemy or my protector.

And until I knew the truth, I couldn't afford to trust him.

"No," I said quietly. "We've never met."

Then I walked away.

I didn't see the way Kael watched me leave.

I didn't see his hand tighten around the edge of the fountain.

And I didn't know that later that night, when he finally fell asleep, he would dream of the same corridor again.

Only this time, the woman on the floor would open her eyes.

And before the dream ended, she would whisper his name.