Chapter 2

Suddenly, the air thickened with the scent of wolfsbane-laced wine. Someone pressed up against me from behind.

I never expected that when I opened my eyes again, I'd traveled back in time. I was back on the night Samuel and I were drugged and set up.

It was Maggie's twentieth birthday party. The night Samuel and I, without knowing how, somehow ended up tangled together in bed.

In ten minutes, Maggie would shove open the door with her friends, and that would be the start of the nightmare that would haunt us for the rest of our lives.

Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around my waist. The scent of pine and smoked leather, Samuel's scent, completely enveloped me. So familiar it made my wolf whine low in my chest.

But I knew neither the scent nor the man was ever mine.

I bit my tongue hard, drawing blood to stay conscious. But trying to pry Samuel's arms off me was a losing fight.

My wolf was sluggish, drugged. I was no match for his Alpha strength.

My mind started to gray out when I suddenly heard Samuel groan, "Noemi, don't even think about getting close to me this time."

His words cut through the fog like silver. I snapped awake. Adrenaline flooded my system. All the pain and humiliation from my previous life crashed over me like a rogue wave.

I snatched the silver knife from the nightstand and slashed my thigh open, the pain jolting me back to reality.

Then I smashed Samuel over the head with the lamp, knocking him out cold before he could reach for me again.

I shot one last look at the unconscious Alpha, then walked away without looking back.

I realized that Samuel had come back, too.

Good. This time, I wouldn't chase your scent anymore. You could finally have what you always wanted.

*****

The moment I stepped out of that room, Maggie and her friends showed up right on cue.

They pushed open the door, only to find Samuel passed out inside, his body still burning up from whatever they'd laced the wine with.

When Maggie realized I wasn't there, her expression twisted for a split second before she masked it.

Samuel let out a restless, pained moan. His wolf was fighting the drugs.

Her friends immediately picked up on his state. They were all pack-raised. Nothing surprised them anymore.

It didn't take them long to figure out what had happened. Someone had tried to force a mate-bond on the Alpha.

They were convinced some she-wolf had targeted Samuel. After all, he was Maggie's fiancé, claimed by the Warren pack's princess.

They raised hell, determined to hunt down whoever was behind it.

Someone shouted my name. "It's gotta be the maid's daughter, Noemi Warren.

"She's been sniffing around Samuel for months. You've seen the way she looks at him. She's jealous of what you and Samuel have, Maggie. So she tried to steal him."

Maggie clutched Samuel's unconscious hand, tears streaming down her perfect face. "Please, don't say that about Noemi.

"I know she's always had feelings for him, but she would never—"

My ever-so-biased brother, Cason Warren, immediately jumped in. "Maggie, you're too soft. That's always been your problem.

"Noemi first tries to take your place in the family, and now she's after your fated mate.

"If I find out she did this, I'll make sure every pack in the territory knows what she is. She'll never find a pack to take her in. She'll die a rogue."

That was how it always went in my previous life. They didn't even bother to listen to me before blaming everything on me.

I'd burst through that door, screaming that I'd been set up, begging someone to believe me. But no one ever did.

In their eyes, a maid's daughter didn't have the right to own morals or dignity. I was a feral she-wolf who'd do anything to climb the pack hierarchy.

They didn't know the truth. I was the real Warren heir.

The Warren pack found me when I was eighteen and brought me back from the orphanage where I'd been dumped as a pup. But they never announced who I was.

Maggie made sure of that. She whispered rumors that I was the maid's daughter. She said my mother was a rogue. I didn't belong.

No matter how hard I tried to explain myself, all I got was more ridicule and sneers.

They claimed I'd gone crazy with jealousy over Maggie. That I was so delusional that I actually believed I was the Warrens' trueborn daughter.

The malice from all sides nearly drove my wolf insane. But no one ever stood up for me.

Even my own parents and brother sided against me, acting all superior, calling me manipulative, heartless, and unworthy.

That scene became my worst nightmare. It haunted me for twenty years.

But this time, I would never have to suffer through it again.

I stopped caring about whatever mess they were making in there. I stepped outside, pulled out my phone, and called Evander Thornton. "Evander, I changed my mind. Move the wedding up, as you suggested before.

"And could you send someone to pick me up? I need a hospital."

Ten minutes later, a black Range Rover pulled up in front of me. The door opened. And there he was. Evander Thornton, alpha of the Thornton pack.

Everyone called him Ostville's untouchable Alpha behind his back. His face was as sharp and unreadable as ever, his wolf so tightly leashed you could barely scent him.

In my previous life, Maggie got her wish. She married Evander.

But she never expected him to be as cold as the rumors said. Even if she stripped naked in front of him, he wouldn't spare her a glance. His wolf wasn't interested.

Eventually, Maggie couldn't stand the loneliness. She started sneaking around with rogue wolves with pretty faces. She ended up catching something the pack healers couldn't fix.

In the end, she took her own life, terrified that her scandal would come out.

And yet that woman haunted Samuel for his entire life. And he spent all those years hating me.