GRACE’S POV Whether or not to believe Pierce was completely up to me, and seeing his eyes, I wanted to believe him; but my wolf had her doubts, and so did I. “I don’t think I’ve ever been rejected,” my wolf said, countering what Pierce just said to me.

“Come down with me, and I will explain everything to you,” he said. He seemed excited, like there were some goodies down where he wanted to lead me.

“Following you is not the problem, but trusting you is,” I said to him.

“Then you don’t have to trust me,” he replied, flashing me a smile. I scoffed, “then lead the way,” I said to him. Perhaps, there’s no harm in going to see what he wanted to show me.

He led me to an underground chamber, it was dusty. “What’s this place?” I asked him.

“This is where I kept your things after you went missing,” he said.

“I went missing?” I exclaimed. He turned to look at me, “Yes!” he replied. Then he took me to see a huge portrait. A lady sat poised in it, she looked like me. But her eyes were different from mine.

“Who is this woman?” I asked.

“A she-wolf, Lana Miles,” Pierce replied.

“She does look like me, but I can tell that’s not me,” I said.

“Really?”

“Can you tell that because you lost your memories, or because you’re certain?” He asked.

“We don’t have the same eyes,” I said. He smirked, then he dragged me to the mirror.

“Look at you Lana, you might not want to accept it yet, but with time, you’ll have to get used to being you again,” his tone sounded harsh, and desperate.

“But I don’t want to be someone I don’t recall being,” I half yelled.

“Then who do you recall being?” the question left his mouth, leaving me speechless.

“Tell me, who do you recall being?” this time, he pressed his claws into my skin.

“You are hurting me,” I winced.

“Lana, it’s been years since I last saw you. And when I did again, they tried to kill you again. I don’t have so much patience anymore,” he said.

His words were confusing, like he was speaking gibberish. “I don’t even understand you,” I said, trying to free myself of him.

“Your name is Lana Miles and you are my mate,” he said, repeating the same words he told me before coming down here.

“Nine years ago, you and I were going to break the barrier separating us from the human world,” he said, then paused and took a few steps away from me.

“We both wanted to rule the world together, but our blood was not strong enough to break the barrier,” this sounded like some fairy tale story to me.

“And?” I cut in…. “You fell into a deep sleep,” I felt my head spinning not wanting to listen again.

“That’s it.. I’m done listening,” I said, and turned to leave.

“Martha saved you back then. But somehow, the other packs had caught wind of our plans,”

“They tried to kill us, but got to you first. You fell off the cliff and I lost every trace of you,” he said.

“That made us think you were dead. Until recently when I found out that you have been held hostage for years by one of the other Alphas,” Pierce's words sounded corny to me.

“I fell off the cliff and you thought I was dead? Shouldn’t you be able to sense if your mate is truly dead or not?” I queried.

“I told you… I rejected you as my mate!” he said.

“Why?” I lashed at him.

“Because you asked me to. You had a new plan after our first attempt to break the barrier failed,” he said. I took in a deep breath, letting it out to ease myself.

“Am I supposed to believe this crap?” I asked him.

“You don’t have to,”

“But whether it was nine years ago or now, I’ll always choose you Lana,” he said.

I did not want to believe him, but what if he was right? What if he was telling the truth? Still, I do not see myself as someone who would want to rule the world. But talking about the human world, what does he mean?

“What if I don’t accept everything you’ve just said,” I asked him.

“Then we can always start afresh. I’m willing to make up for the past,”

“You do look young, how old were you nine years ago,” I asked, not knowing when my inner thoughts slipped out.

“We were both eighteen, young, wild, but strong. We were undefeatable together,” he said, taking my hand in his, and kissed the back of my palm.

Perhaps, I should give him a chance; I’ll let him be my mate, while I act as his Lana until I find out the actual truth. But until I’m sure, I won’t accept his narrative as the truth. So I smiled at him, and withdrew my hand from his.

“I am willing to be Lana since I don’t have any other memory of who I was until now,” I said, taking a pause.

“But even so, it does not mean I trust you.” His reaction was just a warm smile and an, “okay”.. then he led me back out, asking me to follow him.

Pierce soon called for a pack meeting after a few days, and introduced me to everyone. I thought he was moving too fast, but then, he was only introducing me as his lost lover, not his Luna.

“She will be joining the competition held to select your Luna,” He announced and everyone cheered. But I was struck by surprise at what he just said; competition? Selection? What was he talking about?

“Don’t worry.. this used to be part of our plan,” he said, whispering into my ears.

Martha became my instructor, not just mine, but that of every other she-wolf that had come to take part in this competition.

“For today’s training, you’ll fight to the death,” Martha announced the moment we chose our training partner.

“Either kill your partner or be killed by your partner,” she said. That was when it hit me. There was no training, the competition had already begun.