Chapter 1

AMELIA

The diamond ring felt like ice on my finger when the doors at the back of the hall burst open.

Natalia was doubled over, one hand braced against a guard's arm, the other clutched to her huge belly. A low, guttural moan tore out of her, and the whole hall seemed to hold its breath.

"She's in labor!" someone shouted.

Alpha Damian didn't hesitate. He was off the altar and halfway down the aisle before I even understood what was happening, leaving me standing there in my gown with my hand still raised, waiting for him to slide the second ring onto his own finger.

The child wasn't his. I knew that for sure. Yet I watched him run to her anyways, and rather than break down in tears, I simply sighed.

I had done this before. I knew, in fragments of memories I could remember, how the rest of the night would go.

In my first life, I had been Alpha Damian's Luna.

Natalia had come to the pack a few months into our mating — an Omega with a sad story and a body that could make heads turn.

I saw what she was from the beginning and that was the beginning of the rivalry between us, the fight for my own mate's attention, and sadly she won that fight.

On one faithful night, Natalia had pushed me to the wall and I fought back. In the course of our fight, Natalia had missed her steps and fallen down a cliff straight to her doom.

And it was that night I realized that my mate never really loved me. His reaction to Natalia's death left me in a state of shock. He didn't even bother to hear my side of the story. He passed his judgement immediately and branded me as a murderer. I was thrown into the dungeons that very night.

Every night, he'd drug me, and let this thugs and prison guards force themselves on me. Every single night, I was dressed up in a revealing silk gown but at the end of the night, I would be reduced to nothing, my gown ripped in half, my body filled with cuts and bruises, and reeking of alcohol, sweat and cum.

On some nights, I tried to fight for my dignity. But on other nights when I was too weak and tired to fight, I just remained still, sobbing as his thugs took their turns on me.

"You bastard!" He would snarl in my ears every night. "You killed her! You killed Natalia and now I would make you suffer and beg for death!"

He would spit on me and order his thugs to beat me up, after which I would be locked up again in the dark cell.

I had cried every night, not just because of the physical pain of being violated, but the emotional trauma of watching the man I had given my heart to, treat me like worthless thrash.

That was what I endured every night of my life for years - until my death and rebirth.

And when I opened my eyes again, I was standing in the same hall, wearing the same gown, watching the same doors burst open. I had been given a second chance and I intended to use it.

"I, Alpha Damian Everdale, Alpha of the Everdale Pack, reject you, Amelia Roberts, as my mate."

The words broke through the memories of my past life and the once quiet hall turned instantly rowdy until Damian cleared his throat and silence fell again.

"And let it be on record," he continued, "that my reasons are quite justifiable."

At the head table, his father's face was clouded. At least I wasn't the only one who found this show embarrassing.

Natalia, still leaning heavily on a guard's arm, chose that exact moment to reach for Damian's sleeve.

"Damian, please not like this, not in front of everyone," she groaned. "I never wanted to be the reason you break the pack's tradition. You need to be with your mate."

It was a beautiful performance. Even I almost believed it, but I knew better.

Around the hall, the murmurs had switched from shock to speculation. "Who is she?" Someone in the crowd muttered.

"Probably Alpha Damian's mistress," another muttered.

"Then she's carrying his heir," someone else said.

Alpha Damian's father finally rose from his seat, and I watched him give a single gesture to the guards flanking the aisle.

"Get her out of here," he growled.

The guards seized her at once and began dragging the crying Natalia out of the hall.

That was my cue.

I reached up and tore the veil from my hair myself.

The hall went silent at once. I could feel every eye in the room on me. They were waiting for the weak, helpless girl to burst into tears and beg to be accepted, even as a mistress, just to warm his bed on the nights he had none better to offer.

I did quite the opposite.

I slipped the ring off my finger and pressed it into Alpha Damian's hand with a wry smile.

"I, Amelia Roberts, reject you, Alpha Damian Everdale," I said. "And I'll be requesting a hefty sum as compensation for this insult."

For a second, he was shocked. But then he recovered with a grin. It was definitely not the reaction he expected from me, but of course it was what he wanted.

He scribbled a figure onto his cheque book, tore it free and held it out.

"Three hundred thousand dollars," he grunted. "More than enough for you to get by."

I took it without flinching and tucked it into my sleeve.

"For what it's worth," I added, glancing towards Natalia. "she held off the guards pretty well for a pregnant lady."

I glanced up at Alpha Damian before turning my attention back to Natalia.

"Do remind me," I added. "How many months gone are you?"

I didn't even wait for her answer before I turned back to face Alpha Damian.

"Or maybe she's perfectly fine," I said. "But you just can't see it when you're so infatuated already, can you?"

Natalia, realizing that I had seen through her games walked up to me with one hand still cradling her belly.

"Amelia, please," she croaked. "I know how this looks, but I love him. I've loved him for so long. I never wanted this to happen but then the baby came along. Please, just step aside and let us be together."

It was an even better performance than the first and it was exactly what I needed to trigger one last hidden memory from my past life.

Now I remembered, with perfect clarity what had happened.

I had been the one to discover in my past life, that Natalia's pregnancy was never real at all — a padded belly and a well-timed doctor's forgery, meant to trap Alpha Damian into a bond he couldn't walk away from. I had confronted her, and watched the panic on her face. Sadly, I never got the chance to expose her before she fell to her death.

"Amelia?"

The sound of my name across the noise of the hall, pulled me back into the present.

I straightened up and stared Alpha Damian dead in the eyes.

"In case anyone missed it the first time," I said, "I, Amelia Roberts publicly rejects Alpha Damian Everdale. I want nothing further to do with him, his pack, or whatever this is."

I nodded once toward Natalia. "Enjoy each other."

Then I turned around and walked out of the hall with a three hundred thousand-dollar check in my pocket and a revenge plan already taking shape in my mind.