Reborn and Engaged To My Ex's Alpha Rival

Chapter 3

Polly’s POV

My heart stuttered painfully.

“No…” I whispered, trying to crawl backward even though my body was too weak to move far. “Please…no...not yet…”

They didn’t speak. They never did.

Rough hands grabbed my shoulders and yanked me up into a sitting position. I struggled, but it was useless. My arms felt like rubber, and every movement sent sharp spasms through my chest.

“Hold her still,” the taller one grunted.

The second enforcer gripped my jaw hard, forcing my mouth open. I tasted blood where my teeth cut into my lip.

The liquid was poured down my throat; thick, bitter, and burning like fire. I choked and gasped, trying to spit it out, but they clamped my mouth shut until I had no choice but to swallow.

It hit my system almost immediately.

"Arghh..." a scream tore from my throat as terrifying pain exploded through every vein in my body. It felt like my blood had turned to acid. My back arched violently as convulsions took over. I collapsed onto the floor, twitching uncontrollably.

Why does it hurt so much?

Tears streamed down my face as flashes of my life played before my eyes like a cruel movie on fast forward.

All the nights I stayed up until dawn working on Noah’s contracts.

The way I smiled through the pack’s cruel whispers about my weight, my looks, my “unsuitable” bloodline.

The illegal surgery.

The times I ignored Mira’s warnings because I truly believed love would be enough.

“I was so stupid…” I gasped between convulsions, my voice barely a whisper. “So… damn… stupid…”

The pain intensified. My vision started to blur at the edges, dark spots dancing across my sight. My heart was beating wildly, then slowing, then skipping beats entirely. Every breath felt like knives in my lungs.

Noah’s face appeared in my mind; not the cold one from earlier, but the one I fell in love with. The one that used to smile at me after games and call me his good luck charm.

All lies.

Regret crashed over me heavier than the poison.

“I gave you everything…” I sobbed weakly. “My youth… my health… my future… and you threw me away like garbage.”

My fingers scraped uselessly against the concrete as another wave of agony ripped through me. I could feel my body shutting down, organ by organ.

But deep in my chest, beneath all the pain and heartbreak, something else ignited, a burning, icy resolve.

“If the Moon Goddess gives me another chance…” I whispered through gritted teeth, my voice cracking, “I will ruin you, Noah Hale. I will take everything from you. I will make you feel exactly what I’m feeling right now. And I will never… ever… be weak again.”

The world spun violently.

Then everything went black.

***

I gasped sharply, my eyes flying open.

The cold concrete was gone. Instead, my back was pressed against a familiar wall. The distant roar of the celebrating crowd filled the air once more. Bright lights. The smell of the arena. My phone was warm and solid in my trembling hand.

I looked down at myself. Clean clothes. No bruises. No poison burning through my veins. My body felt…normal. A weak heart still fluttering, but alive nonetheless.

What… what is this?

My legs nearly gave out as the realization slammed into me.

I was back.

Back in the exact same hallway. The same moment just before I dropped my phone the first time. The night of the championship finals.

A broken sob escaped me before I quickly covered my mouth. Disbelief crashed over me like a tidal wave. Was this real? Had I really died? Was this some final hallucination before death? Or had the previous things just been a nightmare?

I pinched my arm hard. The pain was real.

I was alive. Reborn. Given a second chance.

The voices from inside the locker room drifted out again; the same conversation, word for word.

“…shares have already been transferred,” Noah was saying. “By tomorrow, Polly’s company will be completely under my name.”

Seraphine’s mocking laugh followed.

I stood there frozen, listening to every poisonous word again. This time, they didn’t shock me. They just further fueled the cold fire for revenge now burning in my chest.

My hands stopped shaking.

I didn’t drop the phone, didn’t burst in. I didn't even scream or cry or beg.

Instead, I quietly stepped away from the door, my movements calm. Confronting them would only lead to the same ending. I refused to be that pathetic girl again.

My mind raced with new clarity.

Noah wanted to destroy me.

Seraphine wanted me erased.

The entire Hale Pack had already marked me as disposable.

Fine.

If they wanted to play this game, I would play it better.

I turned and started walking down the hallway, my thick curls bouncing with each determined step. My plus-sized figure moved with a confidence I had never felt before. Every person I passed blurred into the background.

I knew exactly where I was going.

My heart pounded harder and harder as I approached the opposite end of the arena, the section reserved for the rival team.

Draven Pack territory.

The hallway leading to their locker room was insanely intimidating. The air itself felt heavier, charged with raw power. No one dared linger here.

I stopped right outside the door, my pulse thundering in my ears.

This was it.

The biggest risk of my entire life.

Kieran Draven, the ruthless Alpha Noah feared most. The man whose name they had planned to use to frame me. The captain of the rival hockey team and leader of the most feared pack in the league.

I was about to walk straight into the lion’s den.

My hand hovered near the door.

'This is insane,' a small voice whispered inside m

e.

'It's also my only chance,’ the new me answered coldly.

I took a deep breath, squared my shoulders, and stepped forward.