CHAPTER TWO: REBORN IN TIME
1354 Words
Mira gasped and sat up so fast it hurt.
Air rushed into her lungs like she had been drowning. Her chest rose and fell sharply, her hands gripping the sheets beneath her as if she needed something solid to hold on to. For a moment, she couldn’t think. Couldn’t move. Couldn’t understand why she was breathing again.
She had died.
She knew she had.
Her heart started racing. Mira looked down at herself quickly, her fingers trembling as they pressed against her chest. No pain. No tearing. No burning from the broken bond.
Nothing.
“I… what…” Her voice came out shaky and confused.
She pushed the blanket off and swung her legs off the bed, only to freeze.
Bed.
Not the cold floor.
Not that dark, empty room.
Her eyes slowly lifted, scanning her surroundings. The walls were familiar. Too familiar. The small wooden table by the window. The old wardrobe in the corner. The faded curtain she had always meant to change.
This was her room.
But not the one she died in.
Her breathing grew uneven again, but this time from fear.
“No…” she whispered, shaking her head slightly. “This… this isn’t…”
Her gaze snapped to the mirror across the room.
Without thinking, Mira stood up and rushed toward it, her steps unsteady. She stopped right in front of it, her reflection staring back at her.
Younger.
Her face looked softer. Her eyes clearer. There were no dark circles, no signs of exhaustion or pain. No trace of the woman who had suffered for years.
Her hands slowly lifted, touching her face like she didn’t believe it was real.
“I…” She swallowed hard. “I look…”
Twenty.
She looked like she was twenty again.
A sudden knock on the door made her flinch.
“Mira?” a familiar voice called from outside. “Are you awake? You’re going to be late.”
Her heart skipped.
That voice…
“Mom?” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
There was a small pause on the other side of the door. Then, “Of course it’s me. Who else would it be? Hurry up. Breakfast is ready.”
Mira didn’t move.
Her chest tightened, but not from pain this time. Something else. Something deeper.
Her mother was alive.
In her first life… she had lost her not long after turning twenty-one.
But now—
“Mira?” her mother called again, a bit more impatient this time. “Don’t make me come in there.”
“I’m… I’m coming,” Mira replied quickly, her voice shaking.
Footsteps moved away from the door.
Silence filled the room again.
Mira stood there for a long moment, staring at her reflection. Her thoughts were spinning, trying to make sense of everything.
She had died.
She remembered it clearly. The pain. The rejection. The loneliness.
So how…?
Her gaze slowly shifted to the calendar hanging on the wall.
Her steps were slow this time as she walked toward it, her eyes locked on the date.
She stopped right in front of it.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Five years.
She had gone back five years.
Her knees felt weak, and she dropped onto the chair beside her, her mind going blank for a second.
“This… this isn’t possible…” she whispered.
But everything felt real.
The air.
The warmth of her skin.
The steady beating of her heart.
It wasn’t a dream.
Mira closed her eyes tightly, pressing her fingers against her temples as memories rushed back all at once.
Rhys.
The rejection.
The pain of the broken bond.
The way the pack looked at her like she was nothing.
The way she died… alone.
Her body tensed, her hands curling into fists.
“No…” she muttered under her breath. “No… I’m not doing that again.”
Her eyes snapped open, and this time, there was something different in them.
Not fear.
Not confusion.
Resolve.
She stood up slowly, her breathing finally steadying. “I won’t go through that again,” she said, her voice low but firm. “Not this time.”
Her gaze returned to the calendar.
She knew this date.
She knew exactly what was coming.
The annual mating ceremony.
The day she met Rhys.
The day everything started.
A bitter smile touched her lips.
“Fate must be joking,” she murmured.
But she wasn’t the same Mira anymore.
She wouldn’t walk into that place like a fool again. She wouldn’t stand there and let him choose someone else while she broke apart in front of everyone.
No.
This time… she would never even give him the chance.
“I’ll avoid him,” she said quietly, thinking it through. “I won’t go near him. I won’t talk to him. I won’t even attend the ceremony.”
The plan felt simple.
Clear.
Safe.
As long as she stayed away from Rhys, nothing would happen.
No bond.
No rejection.
No death.
A knock came again, sharper this time.
“Mira! Are you still in there?” her mother called out. “You’ll miss everything at this rate.”
Mira took a deep breath, forcing her expression to calm down.
“I’m coming,” she replied, more steady now.
She gave herself one last look in the mirror.
This time, she didn’t see weakness.
She saw a second chance.
And she wouldn’t waste it.
Mira stepped out of the room and walked into the hallway. The smell of food reached her immediately, warm and familiar. It made something inside her chest tighten again, but she ignored it and moved forward.
Her mother was standing by the table, placing plates down.
“You finally decided to come out,” her mother said without looking at her. “I was about to drag you out myself.”
Mira stopped a few steps away, just watching her.
Alive.
Normal.
Here.
“Why are you staring at me like that?” her mother asked, glancing up with a slight frown. “Did something happen?”
Mira hesitated, then slowly shook her head. “No… nothing happened.”
“Then sit down and eat.”
Mira nodded and took her seat.
She picked up the spoon, but her hand paused mid-air.
Everything felt so normal.
Too normal.
Like the past five years of pain had never happened.
“Mira,” her mother called, pulling her from her thoughts. “You’re quiet today.”
“I’m just thinking,” she replied.
“About the ceremony?” her mother asked.
Mira stiffened slightly.
“Yes,” she said after a short pause.
Her mother smiled faintly. “It’s an important event. You might even meet your mate.”
Mira’s grip on the spoon tightened.
Her chest felt cold for a second.
Meet her mate.
She almost laughed.
“I won’t go,” she said suddenly.
Her mother blinked. “What?”
“I said I won’t go,” Mira repeated, her voice calm but firm. “I’m not attending the ceremony.”
There was a short silence.
“That’s not something you can just skip,” her mother said slowly. “Everyone will be there.”
“I don’t care.”
“Mira—”
“I don’t care,” she said again, this time a little stronger. “I’m not going.”
Her mother stared at her, clearly surprised.
“You’ve been looking forward to it for years,” she said. “Why the sudden change?”
Mira looked down at her plate.
Because it ruined my life.
Because it killed me.
Because I lost everything.
But she couldn’t say that.
“People change,” she replied quietly.
Her mother studied her for a moment, then sighed. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Mira didn’t argue.
She simply nodded and continued eating, though she barely tasted anything.
Her mind was already made up.
This time would be different.
No Rhys.
No bond.
No suffering.
She would live her life on her own terms.
And nothing… no matter what… would make her go back to that path again.
- Writer
