Reborn From Betrayal, The Rogue Queen

Lycina’s POV

I am lying on the snow in the pool of my own blood. Bruises all over every part of my body as my weak eyes shut slowly. All I wanted was to fight back my place as Theron’s true mate but they’d dragged me out and thrown me out here, in the cold after having me flogged so deeply in the presence of all the pack members for a crime I didn’t commit and injected wolf bane inside me as punishment to the crime I didn’t commit. Accused of stealing the Sacred Pack Relic. I’d never seen that my entire life. 

Without investigation, the pack, including Theron, my mate had banished me from the pack and cast me out with no mercy out here and sold me. I can’t move any part of my body. My face presses into the snow, the cold numbing my skin until it feels like it’s not even mine anymore. But that chill is nothing compared to the fire raging in my ribs, the throbbing ache pounding in my skull, or the wet slide of blood trickling down my cheek. I try to shift into my wolf, to help me out of this state, to drag in a breath, but every muscle screams in revolt.

“Stupid bitch,” one of the pack members snarls, and a kick slams into my stomach. I gag, a choked gasp ripping out of me, spilling out blood out my mouth.

“Pathetic,” another voice jeers, dripping with mockery. “What, you thought you’d survive out here? That someone would come save your sorry ass?”

“She’s not even worth the effort,” a third one chimes in, his tone bored. “Alpha Theron’s reject. The castoff. Nobody wants her, not even her own pack.”

Their laughter stabs through me, sharp and cruel, as their footsteps crunch away in the snow, leaving me lying half dead. My vision blurs as my body jerks against the ground, bones aching, skin paling to a ghostly white. Blood fills my mouth, choking me.

How did it come to this?

I blink back the tears I’ve been fighting, but they spill anyway, hot against my icy face. A sob claws its way out of my throat, my voice trembling as I speak into the empty night. They betrayed me. My own pack betrayed me…

They didn’t want me anymore. Theron rejected me in front of everyone. His eyes met mine for a fleeting second before he turned away, severing our bond like it was nothing. He chose Lyria, my step sister. She’s always been perfect, more beautiful, smarter, effortlessly graceful. The pack’s shining star. And me? I’m just the scraps being sold.

And not even sold to anyone decent but the Rogues. 

I sob into the snow. “Oh, Moon Goddess, please… don’t let me die.” Silence answers, just the bitter wind slicing through the clearing. My wolf whimpers inside me, her voice faint, distant. 

‘We don’t deserve this. They never loved us.’ she whispers. I close my eyes, reaching for her even though she’s invisible, desperate to comfort her as everything around us crumbles. “Don’t leave me,” I beg.

“I’m cold… so tired…” Her voice breaks like thin ice underfoot. “I can’t hold on…”

“No. Please don’t go.” I say.

Then I feel her last breath, like there is a faint fading of life inside me. Like a candle snuffed out. My wolf’s gone.

In weakness, I spoke.

“Theron… you bastards!” I speak into the void. “You took everything! My wolf!” My lungs seize, unable to pull in the frozen air. My vision darkens at the edges, my fingers go numb, and my legs stop twitching. The pain in my chest dulls, sinking into nothingness.

And still, no one comes to help me.

“I hope you all rot,” I whisper, my voice barely a breath. “Theron, Lyria… may the Goddess curse you both.” My eyes flutter shut. The cold vanishes. All I feel is silence. Just… silence.

I suck in a sharp breath, bolting upright, my hands clutching my chest as I struggle to breath. My heart hammers as I pat my ribs, bracing for the pain. I’m staring at the towering pack walls and then every thing goes black.

When I opened my eyes again, I didn't feel anything. No pain, just nothing. I looked around wildly. My vision blurred and, slowly they returned and everything became clear, I had a glimpse of walls I hadn’t seen in months and a bed I remembered too well. I am in my old room.

My bookshelf was there in the corner, just as it had always been. The curtains that I’d sewn moons into, still hung by the window. My cracked mirror too. “This… this isn’t possible. What’s going on?”

I climbed off the bed and nearly tripped on my old rug. My legs moved, fully functional and headed to the mirror, assessing my body. My bones weren’t broken. My clothes weren’t torn and there was no blood. I wasn't bleeding from anywhere. I stumbled towards my desk as my fingers fumbled as I yanked open the drawer and removed my old planner. I flipped to today’s date and my breath caught.

“One week ago,” I said. Alpha Theron’s Ceremony was the next day. A day before he ever rejected me. Before the rejection letter. Before my pack sold me and left me behind like trash. Before I lost my wolf. I stumbled back from the desk, my heart pounding in my head.

As long as I remember, I had died in the snow.

“I died,” I whispered. “I died in the snow. I felt it. My wolf, she… she…”

“Wait… is this a rebirth or I am dreaming?” Somehow I was alive. And it was a week back in the past.