One
CHAPTER ONE: Catherine's POV
I knew I was going to die again but I couldn't remember why.
Luna Anderson stood in the doorway of my honeymoon suite, backlit by the hallway's golden light. Behind her, Dr. Selene carried a leather bag that clinked with the sound of metal on metal. Chains, I knew without looking that the bag held chains.
Because I'd seen them before.
My heart slammed against my ribs as they stepped inside and closed the door with a soft click. Every instinct in my body screamed danger, screamed run, screamed that this moment had happened before and it ended badly.
"It's my honeymoon night," I said, backing toward the bathroom. My voice shook. "What are you doing here, Luna?"
"What needs to be done." Luna's smile was cold enough to burn. "Where's Anderson?"
"He went to smoke. My asthma—" The excuse died in my lips as I realized that he had also left the scene the last time, was this planned or just coincidence?
Or was it because he knew.
"Good." Selene set the bag on the bed and began pulling out items: silver knives, wolfsbane in glass vials, ritual candles, iron chains. "We can get started."
"Started with what?" I pressed against the wall, my size-eighteen body trembling. "Dr. Selene, you're the pack healer. You're supposed to—"
"Time for the fat liability to fulfill her purpose." Selene's beautiful face twisted with hunger that made my stomach drop. "This won't take long."
The words punched through the fog in my mind. Something about this moment felt wrong, felt familiar, like déjà vu but sharper and more visceral.
But I couldn't grasp why.
"No." I shook my head, trying to push past them toward the door. "No, I don't understand—"
Selene's palm cracked across my face with enough force to snap my head sideways. Blood filled my mouth, sharp and metallic. Luna's laughter followed, delighted.
"Grab her."
Selene lunged for me. This time—this time—I fought back. I shoved her hard, surprised by my own strength, surprised by the voice in my head screaming ‘’not again not again not again.’
But Selene was impossibly strong for someone who'd fainted at my wedding ceremony hours ago, who played the delicate damsel for Anderson. She slammed me onto the bed and Luna's magic crashed over me like ice water, pinning my limbs.
I couldn't move. I watched helplessly as they chained my wrists to the bedposts, my ankles spread wide, chained to the nearest furniture, my white nightgown riding up my thick thighs.
"Why?" I gasped. "What are you doing to me?"
"Just relax, Catherine." Luna began arranging candles in a circle around the bed. "It'll be over soon."
It'll be over soon.
The words detonated in my mind and suddenly I wasn't on this bed anymore. I was somewhere else, somewhen else, and the memory hit me with devastating clarity:
I was on this same bed, in this same nightgown, chained exactly like this. Luna arranging the same candles while Selene's hands pressed against my chest.*
"Please," I had begged, not understanding what they wanted, why Anderson had left me alone on our wedding night, why his mother and the pack healer were doing this to me. "Please, I don't know what you want from me. I'm just—I'm nobody. I'm just a useless fat and broken and—"
"Shut up," Selene had hissed, and heat built beneath her palms. it was Uncomfortable against my skin that started burning, the agony as something inside me began to tear loose. Something vital and something that belonged to me.
I screamed, begged but I still died confused and believing I was too worthless to matter, that I probably deserved this anyway.
"Why?" I had sobbed as the pain became unbearable, as my life bled away into Selene's greedy hands. "Why would you want anything from someone like me?"
Luna's face had swum in my darkening vision. "Because you have what we need, you stupid girl."
I died not understanding what they meant and thinking I was nothing
But then—
Then I woke up on my wedding day, the same horrible day where my mother in law and the pack doctor successfully killed me but I couldn't quite grasp the terror of my rebirth till now..
The memory snapped back to present and I was on the bed again, chained again, Luna chanting in that same ancient language while Selene's hands pressed against my chest.
"No!" I thrashed against the chains with everything I had. Not again. I wouldn't die confused this time, I wouldn't die quietly.
"You killed me!" I screamed. "You killed me and I came back and you're trying to do it again?!”
“Awww.. but you're yet to die, be patient you'll soon die anyways” Selene said smugly
Luna didn't pause her chanting or react at all, as if my words were just the desperate ravings of a terrified bride. Selene's hands pressed harder against my chest, her expression focused, hungry and completely unbothered by my accusation.
They didn't know, They had no idea I'd lived this before.
"Stop!" I bucked against the chains, tears blurring my vision. "I know what you're doing! I remember! You drain me and I die and—"
"Hysterics won't help you, dear." Luna's voice was almost kind and pitying. "Just breathe. Let it happen."
Selene's hands burned hotter. The tearing sensation inside me intensified, that same horrible feeling of something vital being ripped from my core. Something bright and warm and mine being stolen.
I screamed as my strength began to fade, as whatever they were taking poured out of me into Selene's greedy hands.
My vision blurred and the world began to spin and fade to grey.
Not again, I thought desperately as darkness closed in. ‘’Please, not again. Next time—next time I'll be stronger. Next time I'll run sooner.
Next time I'll—’
"Not again!" The scream tore from my throat as the last of my life bled away.
Everything went black.
