I opened my eyes slowly. Everything was too bright at first. My chest tightened. I thought I had died. I had felt it, the way my breath had left my lungs like smoke from a dying fire. The pain. The silence. The cold. But now I was here... in my old room?

I blinked again, harder this time, and my heart nearly stopped. The pink curtains with little daisies. The cracked wooden dresser with my stickers still stuck on it. My walls... still covered in drawings I had made when I was thirteen. I was in my childhood bedroom.

I sat up too quickly and a sharp pain shot through my ribs. I clutched my side and winced. My hand trembled. Was this a dream? Had my soul gone back to the past before it truly left the world? I reached over to the side of the bed and pinched myself. Hard. I yelped.

"Chiara!" my mother’s voice called, loud and clear from downstairs. I froze.

That voice. That voice I hadn’t heard in years. Not since she—no, not since she was taken from me. By him. My hands clutched the bedsheet. My throat burned.

Footsteps. Then the door creaked open, and she stepped in. My mother.

"Honestly, you're going to be late! Is this how you want to show up at the ceremony? Hair all over the place and still half-asleep?" she scolded, hands on her hips.

I couldn’t hear her. I was looking at her face. Her beautiful, tired, kind face. Her eyes were the same. That little wrinkle between her brows that only came out when she was worried.

"Mom," I whispered, and my lips started shaking. I stood up and rushed toward her. I wrapped my arms around her before she could react. I buried my face in her shoulder.

"Hey! What's gotten into you? Chiara?" She held me, gently patting my back.

"I missed you," I choked, my voice barely coming out. "I missed you so much."

She chuckled, confused. "Well, I'm here, aren't I? Stop being dramatic. You act like I died or something."

“Mum, can we run away? Go back to dad's pack…” I broke off.

I pulled back and looked at her. Tears were already streaming down my cheeks. She wiped one away and gave me a small smile.

"You're just nervous about finding your mate tomorrow, aren't you?"

Mate.

My heart dropped.

"Mom... what if I reject him? Would you be mad?"

She blinked. "Reject him? Why would you do that?"

"Just... would you be mad?"

She sighed and tucked my hair behind my ear. "No, I wouldn't be mad. I'd support you no matter what. But you won't reject him. You'll see. It's fate."

No. It was a curse.

I nodded silently, though I knew... she only said that because she didn't know it would be Kai. He was Of Alpha blood, Alpha in making.

It was a taboo to reject an Alpha. An Alpha could reject anyone obviously. Even after years of marriage.

But mom didn't know.

She didn’t know what he would become. She didn’t know he would kill her after he got deceived that I'd cheated on him.

After she left the room, I turned toward the small calendar I used to scribble on and checked the date. My fingers trembled.

Five years. I was five years back. This wasn't a dream. I could feel the air in my lungs. The cold floor beneath my feet. I wasn't dead. I was here.

I walked slowly to the bathroom, my legs shaky. I turned the tap on and splashed water on my face. My reflection stared back at me. My younger self. Hopeful eyes, no scars. No betrayal. Not yet.

My hands touched my cheeks, then my lips. They felt soft again. Not dry and cracked from nights of crying. I pulled off my nightshirt and stepped into the shower, the water warm and comforting against my skin. But even in its warmth, my heart was ice.

As I wrapped myself in a towel and stepped out, I heard the door creak.

"Yeah, she’s still asleep. Ugh, she always gets on my nerves," Bridget's voice floated in.

I froze, standing by the bathroom door, heart pounding. Her voice still made my skin crawl. It sounded like poison wrapped in silk.

"I swear, if she's mated to Kai, I'll kill her myself," Bridget hissed through the phone.

My breath caught. My eyes widened.

"Don't say that," her friend’s voice crackled through the speaker. I recognized the voice. Keira. Bridget's little shadow.

"He was mine first. We were together. But he only ever came around when she was near. I knew it. He was scenting her on me. That's why I always steal her clothes to meet with him. That stupid freak."

Scenting me? I narrowed my eyes.

Bridget had been with Kai before we became mates? My fingers clenched around the towel. The betrayal burned fresh in my chest. All of it. The lies. The manipulation. The setup.

But not this time. I wouldn’t stay quiet. I wouldn’t let things play out like before. I wasn’t going to beg anyone for love, not again.

I stepped out into the room. My presence made Bridget snap her head up. Her phone slipped from her hand and hit the floor.

"You were listening?!"

"You were threatening to kill me, in my own room," I snapped, voice shaking but loud. "You really haven’t changed."

She tried to laugh. That fake, brittle laugh. "Oh come on, it was a joke. You know how dramatic you get."

"Do I look like I’m laughing?"

Her smirk twitched.

"You think you can scare me because you’re Alpha blood?"

"No," I whispered, letting the energy rise in my chest. The same power I had always buried. I didn’t bury it now. I pushed it out. My voice rose. "But you should be scared because I remember everything you did."

Bridget stumbled back. My aura hit her full force. The Beta blood in her couldn’t handle it. She gasped and fell to her knees.

"Chiara... what are you doing?"

"Taking back my life," I whispered.

I walked closer to her. Her eyes widened.

"You stole my mate. You lied. You murdered. And you thought I'd never know. You thought I wouldn't fight back."

"You're scaring me..."

"Good."

I raised my hand and let my energy wrap around her. Her body shivered. She looked like a shadow of herself now.

"This is just the beginning," I said, and I meant it.

She ran out of the room, slamming the door behind her. I stood still, chest heaving. My towel was soaked now from my dripping hair. I didn’t care.

For once, I wasn’t scared. I wasn’t begging. I was back. And I wasn’t letting them win again.

Kai. Bridget. All of them.

They were going to pay. Starting now.