The Luna’s Second Chance

4

Elena’s POV

The room fell silent, tension thick in the air as shock etched itself onto both my brother’s and Sabastian’s faces. A shudder ran through me, and I smiled faintly. I had won.

But the triumph was short lived . The room began to swirl, a dizzying storm of motion as fast as lightning. Then, just as abruptly, everything stopped. I found myself back at the moment Sabastian entered the room.

Tears spilled down my cheeks. I hadn’t been given a second chance after all—this was no gift. It was a curse, a death trap meant to make me relive my pain over and over again.

“Why the tears?” Sabastian’s voice broke through my thoughts. He stood a safe distance away, his jaw tightening when I didn’t respond. “Leave us,” he commanded.

Tyrion hesitated before rising. “Don’t do anything stupid,” he mindlinked me, his tone playful. It only made my sobs louder. Concern flickered across his face, but with an order already given, he reluctantly exited, shutting the doors behind him.

Now alone with Sabastian, silence hung between us like a heavy fog. For a few moments, neither of us spoke. Finally, he broke it. “May I?” he asked, gesturing toward the seat by my bedside.

I wanted to scream, to tell him no, to throw him out. But I already knew better. The loop would just reset. Instead, I looked away, refusing to meet his gaze. He didn’t deserve it. He was a monster.

He didn’t sit. Instead, he stood there, strangely subdued, different from how I remembered him in this memory.

“I know you don’t want to marry me,” he said at last, his voice calm, measured. “And neither do I want to marry you. But our union must happen if there is to be peace between our factions.”

“There would have been peace if your people had just left mine alone!” I snapped, my head bowed, my lips trembling. I braced myself, expecting the loop to reset.

“Werewolves always repay kindness,” Sabastian said.

I froze, my head snapping up. My eyes widened in shock. He... he had just uttered the cause of the loop.

“What your people did is unforgivable,” he continued, “and this marriage is only a way to prevent the inevitable. You don’t have to love me, Elena. You just have to perform your duty to your people. And I, to mine.”

I stared at him, my mind racing. Small changes hadn’t disrupted the loop. Maybe there was a way around this after all because this conversation never happened.

“If you fear I won’t hold up my end of the bargain,” Sabastian said, his tone cautious, “then let’s seal it with a blood oath.”

A blood oath. My heart skipped. In the past, we had signed a simple contract to maintain the peace treaty. This, however, was different. A blood oath was almost forbidden, a bond so powerful that breaking it invited the wrath of the Moon Goddess herself.

Sabastian sounded... desperate. Why? It couldn’t be the mate bond—that only worked if both sides accepted each other. So, what was driving him?

Those questions would have to wait. For now, I had a way to punish him in the most brutal way possible.

“I’ll swear the oath,” I said slowly, “but on my terms.”

His gaze flickered, wary, but he nodded and sat beside me, silently accepting conditions he didn’t yet know.

We locked fingers, pressing our thumbs together.

“You start. I’ll follow your lead,” he said.

“I swear to remain devoted to you and never betray you,” I recited, my voice steady as I stared into the eyes that once made my heart flutter. Now, they only clenched it in disgust.

“That…” He hesitated. “That has nothing to do with your people,” he said, suspicion creeping into his tone.

I smiled, the expression not reaching my eyes. “It has everything to do with my people,” I replied, thinking of my brother.

Sabastian didn’t press further. Like most werewolves, he likely didn’t believe the Moon Goddess’s curse would ever come to pass. But I knew the truth—those who broke such oaths suffered dearly.

Not me, though. I had an advantage. I was no longer a child of the Moon Goddess. I was a child of vengeance. The oath couldn’t touch me.

“It’s done,” Sabastian said, breaking our contact and clearing his throat. “You’ll be my Luna tomorrow.” Rising to his feet, he gave me a slight bow. “Rest well.”

I watched him walk out of the room, his presence fading into the shadows.

I didn’t know how to feel about tomorrow. It was the day I would inevitably meet Miara.

My head spun for a moment, causing me to return to bed. Soon after, I drifted into a deep slumber—one I would come to regret.

Memories of my death replayed endlessly. Over and over again, I died. I wanted it to end, but it felt as though I was stuck in a time loop.

Then, amidst the chaos, a sharp, agonizing pain shot through my chest—something I had never felt before. It was as if something inside me was being torn apart, and all the while, I was falling.

A cold whisper, one that was not my own, slithered through my mind. “You cannot escape me, Elena.”

With that, I woke up in a pool of sweat, my blood running cold. Those sickening words echoed in my mind. I didn’t recognize the voice, but I knew it carried great power—powers I had only ever felt with Furia...

My eyes widened at the unwanted realization. The Moon Goddess had found me.

Panicked, I frantically called out for Furia, begging her to answer, but she didn’t. She had never told me I would be haunted by the Goddess of the Moon. I thought I had renounced her. Why did she still have power over me?

Those questions churned in my mind, but before I could contemplate further, a knock on the door echoed through the room, followed by the sound of it opening.

I turned dramatically toward the door, and in came the last person I wanted to see: Miara.

With a wide smile on her face, she greeted me, “Good morning, my Luna.” In her hands, she held a tray of tea—the exact replica of the one she had fed me before my death.