Chapter 2

Camelia's POV

Lonnie was floored.

His gold-brown eyes—the ones that always looked like they were measuring how much of me he owned—flickered. He definitely didn't expect me to cave this fast.

"I'll sign," I said, looking him dead in the eye. "But you're going to swear to me, as my Alpha, that you'll do one thing for me."

He tried to push his Alpha aura on me, trying to sniff out what I was up to, but I didn't budge.

He looked confused for a second, then gave a rough nod.

"If you play ball, I'll give you whatever you want."

I picked up the gold-plated quill. I didn't hesitate. I flipped to the last page of the Mating Dissolution Agreement and scratched my name down.

The sound of the pen on the parchment was the only thing in the room.

As soon as I finished the last stroke, a white-hot pain ripped through me. The dark red mark on the back of my neck started to peel away, fading into nothing.

I bit my tongue so hard I tasted blood, just to keep from screaming.

"You're not even going to look at the settlement?"

Lonnie asked, staring at me like I'd grown a second head.

"The land, the businesses... I'm giving you more than enough to live like a queen for the rest of your life."

I let out a short, dry laugh. "Don't bother. I don't want it."

To someone who'd already died once, all that "stuff" was just trash.

I dropped the pen back into its holder and slid the papers over to him.

"We done here?"

I asked, looking at the heavy oak door. I sounded like I was asking about the weather.

Lonnie opened his mouth to say something, then let out a breath and went back to his "brooding Alpha" act.

"I'll have the ceremony ready in a few days. I'll pick you up, and we'll head to the High Temple to make it official."

I just nodded, not even looking at him.

He took one last look at me and turned for the door.

Aileen, who'd been playing the "invisible girl" behind him, finally looked up.

As they turned to leave, she stopped for a split second.

She glanced back at me, her "poor little thing" face twisting into a nasty, triumphant smirk.

She mouthed three words, "I won."

Then, in a heartbeat, she was back to being the sweet little lamb, trailing after her Alpha.

In my last life, she did win.

She stepped over my corpse to become the first commoner Luna in this city, soaking up all the glory that was supposed to be mine.

I lost my pride, my life—everything.

Not this time. Not a single inch.

The room went dead silent again. Andrea let out a tiny, weak whimper in the back of my head before falling into a deep sleep.

After a while, my phone buzzed. It was a text from Chandler, the beta.

"Luna Camelia, I heard from Alpha Lonnie. I know it's cold, what he's doing."

"But you know the history. It took him three years to claw his way out of the trauma from that night."

"He's just projecting all that guilt onto Aileen because of Noah."

"He told me privately that once the Council drama is over, he's going to throw you the biggest ceremony ever. Just... try to understand what he's going through, okay?"

I read that last line and actually laughed out loud in the empty office. I laughed until my eyes burned.

It was exactly like last time.

Everyone telling me, "You're the Luna, you have to be the bigger person. You have to take one for the team."

Lonnie had even used the Werewolf Council to force my hand.

And Chandler—Lonnie's best friend and someone I used to call a friend too—was always stuck in the middle, playing mediator.

He didn't want the pack to look weak, so he'd spend his time lecturing Lonnie about not playing with fire, while simultaneously guilt-tripping me.

They were just so used to sacrificing the one person who wouldn't fight back.

"He's a man of honor," the texts continued.

"He wouldn't be Alpha without Noah's sacrifice. The pack would have burned down years ago."

In my first life, I'd sat there crying, typing back, "I've spent years putting Aileen first! I even made my wolf bow to a low-rank she-wolf! He could stop the rumors with one word, but he's choosing to trash twelve years of us instead!"

Back then, Chandler had gone quiet.

I remember him asking Lonnie why he was taking it this far.

Lonnie's answer was ice-cold, "Someone's gotta get hurt, and Aileen is too fragile. She can't handle the heat."

"I have to do this to Camelia. She's my mate, she loves me, and she's a strong Luna. She'll understand why I had to do it."

Because I was strong, and because I loved him, I was the one who deserved to be gutted?

What a load of bullshit.

The Moon Goddess gave us mates so we'd have someone to watch our backs in this savage life, not so we'd have a sacrificial lamb to pay off our private debts.

I locked my phone, looking at my reflection in the dark screen. I looked pale, but my eyes were steady.

"This time, I'm not understanding. I'm not compromising. And I'm sure as hell not forgiving," I told myself.

The fun part was just getting started. I'd got plenty of time to make them pay.