My Killer Calls Me Mate

Chapter 4

Anatoria's POV:

"Earth to Ana! Did you seriously forget the date of your own eighteenth birthday?" The sound of Lauren’s playful, teasing voice dragged me back to the present and I immediately yanked my scattered thoughts together.

This was absolutely not the right time to break down and tell my parents that in a future they hadn't lived yet, they had died in a week, and that I had married a man who ultimately abandoned and executed me for a woman I may or may not have brutally stabbed in a blacked-out rage.

So, I cleared my cracked voice and offered a weak, apologetic smile to my parents. "I... I think I may have just been a little too excited." I murmured, my voice trembling slightly as I looked at them. "I guess I'm just forgetting things."

My mother smiled warmly, smoothing down a stray lock of my hair. "You woke up pretty late because you stayed awake all night talking with Lauren. We came to wake you up so Lauren could help you get dressed. But if you need anything at all, just call me."

"I will, Mom. Thank you." I whispered and both my parents stepped out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind them while Lauren remained, turning toward my closet with an enthusiastic grin.

“Alright, birthday girl! Let's get you looking absolutely beautiful for your party. We have a lot of people to impress today!"

A wave of pure disgust rolled through my stomach as I watched her reach for my hand, and the moment her fingers brushed mine, I pulled my hand away, pretending to smooth down my pajamas.

I just stared at her, my mind screaming at me to scream at her, to throw her out of my house, to claw the fake innocence right off her face.

But then, I had read rebirth and regression tropes in plenty of web novels during my university days; the leads who survived always played along seamlessly while secretly plotting their revenge and rewriting their fates.

If I acted hostile now, I would look insane, and I would lose the element of surprise. So, I forced a bright, seamless smile onto my face. "Actually, Lauren, I think I'd like to take a long bath first to wake myself up completely. Then we can help each other get dressed. How does that sound?"

Lauren nodded cheerfully, completely oblivious to the war raging inside me. "Sounds perfect! I already had my bath while you were snoring away, so I'll just wait for you right here in the room."

"Great." I held the fake smile until my cheeks ached, gathered my clothes, my towel, and my toiletries, and rushed into my bathroom.

The moment the door shut, I locked it, leaned my back against the frame, and slid down to the floor as my thoughts began to spiral wildly.

If the Moon Goddess truly had performed a miracle and sent me back to my eighteen-year-old self, that meant Lauren and I had only been friends for a mere two weeks.

We had become dormmates when I enrolled in university dorms. Because I wanted to celebrate my eighteenth birthday at home with my family, I had returned to our estate, and Lauren had practically insisted on tag-along to help me prepare.

In my past life, Lauren had been incredibly pushy about inviting her older brother, Kairo, to the party. She kept claiming that he and I would make the absolute perfect couple but once Kairo arrived, bringing his best friend Lucian along, Lucian had turned out to be my fated mate.

Lucian had proudly and publicly announced it to the entire pack that very night. Then a week later, my parents died in a car accident.

Distraught and entirely alone, I had moved into the Alpha packhouse immediately after their burial to be with Lucian. We married when I turned twenty. And two years after that, I was dead with a silver bullet in my skull.

"How do I fix this?" I whispered to the empty bathroom, pulling my hair in frustration. "How do I stop the wheel from turning?"

My first instinct was to publicly reject Lucian the exact moment he tried to claim me tonight. But if I publicly rejected a fated mate bond, especially to the future Alpha, everyone would demand to know why and no one would ever believe the story about my rebirth.

If I tried to prove my regression by predicting future pack events, I would either be locked away in a psych ward, heralded as a dangerous prophetess, or worse, executed for practicing witchcraft.

Avoiding Lucian altogether wasn't an option either. Even if I dodged him tonight, he and Kairo were final-year students at the exact same university Lauren and I had just enrolled in, so our paths were guaranteed to cross.

Hissing a curse under my breath, I stood up and began pacing the narrow bathroom, my bare feet clicking against the tiles. Rejecting him was still the best option, but I won't do it publicly and cause a massive ruckus, instead I will find a way to stop Lucian from making a public announcement the moment we touch.

I'll catch his eye, signal him, drag him into a private room, tell him calmly that I have no interest in being Luna or his mate, and I will reject him in secret.

Once Lucian was out of the picture, I would think of a way to keep my parents alive for the next seven days and then completely cut Lauren out of my life.

With a clear, hardened plan in mind, I washed up quickly and stepped back out into the bedroom.

For the next two hours, I endured the agonizing torture of playing nice as Lauren helped me slip into an emerald-green silk dress, while I assisted her with her makeup where I could but every single time she smiled at me or touched my shoulder, a shockwave of irritation shot through my nerves.

"Ana? Earth to Ana again! You're completely zoning out on me today.” Lauren laughed, waving a makeup brush in front of my face.

I snapped out of my dark thoughts, forcing out a chuckle. "Sorry, sorry. Just got lost in thought about the party."

By the time we finished, the lower floor of our house was already vibrating with music, chatter, and the clinking of glasses. As Lauren and I walked down the curved staircase, my heart swelled at the sight.

My high school friends, our neighbors, and dozens of my parents' old friends were all gathered. Lauren, however, wasn't looking at the crowd. She was frantically tapping her fingers against her phone screen, huffing in annoyance. "Ugh, where is Kairo? He's late."

"How long will it take for him to get here?" I asked casually, picking up a glass of punch from a passing server's tray.

Lauren looked up, making a sly, teasing face as she nudged my elbow. "He texted me saying he'll be here in thirty minutes. Ooh, look at you! Seems like someone is incredibly impatient to see if my big brother is truly as handsome as I promised!"

"Oh, definitely.” I lied smoothly, taking a sip of my drink. "I'm just so impatient to finally meet Kairo."

In truth, I just wanted them to arrive so I could execute my rejection, get the night over with as fast as possible, and shift my focus to saving my parents from their impending accident.

Suddenly, Lauren let out a loud, high-pitched squeal that drew looks from nearby guests.

Before I could brace myself, she grabbed my wrist and dragged me forcefully toward the entrance of the house.

The heavy double doors were pushed open by a guard, and Kairo walked in first, followed closely by Lucian.

"Ana, this is my brother, Kairo!” Lauren rushed forward, practically throwing herself at her brother before pulling him toward me.

“Happy birthday, Anatoria.” Kairo smiled warmly, extending a hand. "Lauren hasn't stopped talking about you."

"Thank you, Kairo. It's nice to finally meet you." I said, shaking his hand firmly. My eyes, however, were already drifting to the man standing right behind him.

Lauren turned to Kairo, planting her hands on her hips. "Wait, Kairo, you didn't tell me Lucian was tagging along with you tonight!"

Kairo shrugged carelessly, flashing a grin. "Lucian made a last-minute decision to follow me right as I was walking out the door.”

Lauren beamed, turning toward me to introduce the future Alpha. "Ana, this is…"

But she didn't get to finish because Lucian stepped forward, and stretched out his hand for a formal handshake.

I swallowed hard, extending my right hand, and the moment our palms made contact, a jolt of electricity surged through my veins but before it could pull me toward him, he abruptly pulled his hand back, and turned his head entirely away from me, looking directly at Kairo.

"I want something to drink." Lucian said, his voice flat and entirely indifferent. "Where is the bar?"

Lauren blinked, slightly surprised by his bluntness, but instantly recovered her bubbly demeanor. "Oh! I can take you right to the drinks, Alpha Lucian! Follow me." She grabbed his sleeve, and Lucian walked away without offering me a second glance, leaving me and Kairo standing alone by the door.

‘This is completely wrong.’ A frantic voice screamed inside my head.

In my past life, the exact second our hands touched, Lucian had gasped, gripped my waist, and roared to the entire room that he had found his Luna. He had spent the next hour gushing to my parents about how blessed he was to have me.

So what changed?