Chapter 1

SAGE

My father married me to the most dangerous and powerful Alpha in the realm, Alpha Rain Kingston, to safeguard our pack. Obviously the marriage was not based on love but I had fallen in love at first sight. On paper, and by the sacred rituals of our world, I was his wife. But only after the vows were spoken did I discover the cruel truth: my younger half sister, Fren, turned out to be Rain's soulmate right after my wedding. She claimed the true title of his mate and the Luna of the pack without speaking it out loud.

It began the day we married. The entire pack was thrilled to discover she was Rain’s fated mate, and I became invisible despite being married to him. Since childhood I had been overshadowed by Fren’s beauty and innocence. After my mother died giving birth to me, my father paid attention solely to Fren, who was always supported by her mother. Eventually I was ignored and always expected to shield Fren and never compete with her. I grew up forced to stand behind her and never try to overshadow her. But what I did not expect was that I was supposed to do the same when it came to my husband, as well.

Fren clung to Alpha Rain’s side like a shadow during my wedding reception, her presence constant and inescapable, greeting visiting guests with Rain before I had a chance. I could never draw close enough to speak with him, let alone earn a moment of his attention. With her wide-eyed innocence and delicate timidity, she captivated everyone around her. The pack members soon whispered her name with reverence, calling her Luna as if the title had always belonged to her. While I was referred to as no more than the mistress, little more than the third wheel in their mate bond.

From the very beginning, Fren moved into Alpha Rain’s chambers barring me from entering using an Elder who suggested that I stay in the next room. When I finally voiced my objection, she dissolved into heart-wrenching sobs, apologizing profusely and claiming she understood her place as nothing more than a soulmate not Rain’s legally wedded wife. She insisted she would leave at once if her presence caused such discord. The pack members and elders instantly turned on me, viewing me as a cold, shrewish, and insecure woman who was tormenting her innocent younger sister. I had no choice but to back down, especially when Alpha Rain returned home that very week and witnessed the scene.

Fren immediately rushed into his arms, sobbing like a helpless five-year-old. Between theatrical tears, she insisted it was entirely her fault for making me feel insecure and begged him to forgive me. I stood frozen, unable to utter a single word in my defense. The omegas around me whispered that Alpha Rain despised nothing more than women’s petty catfights.

To make matters worse, I was the daughter of his father’s Beta, a man that he did not like much for some reason, and we had not exchanged so much as a single word since our wedding. In reality Rain did not even speak to Fren but she could easily approach him as she was always blocking my access. To make matters worse pack members helped her in that. After Fren’s dramatic display, he left the house again without a word on the matter. As his broad shoulders disappeared from view, a sinking certainty settled in my chest: Rain now saw me as the villain in this story.

He had departed to handle business dealings the day of our wedding right after the rituals were complete and he was rarely present at home. When he did return, it was only briefly, usually for lunch. Even then, Fren hovered around him constantly, offering homemade meals with shy smiles and fluttering lashes. While I would be locked in my room every time upon his return, I would never be able to leave the room no matter what I tried. I even overheard one of the elders telling Rain that I was mannerless and was disrespectful to Rain for never showing up in his presence, and that I did not value our relationship. But Fren was so devoted to him and he should finally mark her.

My heart hurt seeing the misunderstandings increase between Rain and I but Fren had the entire pack in the palm of her hand blindly working for her..

Before long, she began delivering all three of his daily meals straight to his office in the pack headquarters, solidifying her place at his side while I remained an outsider in my own marriage.

Determined not to fade into obscurity, I resolved to approach him in my own way. Rumors in the pack stated that he was preparing to leave the pack for two months on urgent business, and I refused to let him depart without truly seeing me. I sent one of his trusted omegas with an invitation to have dinner in my quarters. I yearned to know him and for him to know me. Because I had always seen him watching me. Not with dislike or judgmental but just simple looking. I did not know what it meant but I had set the stage to find it all out over dinner.

But fate intervened before that night could arrive. What began as an unrelenting cough rapidly worsened. Within days, I was coughing up blood, too weak to rise from my bed. My breaths came in shallow, painful gasps.

Alpha Rain came to see me immediately. My heart stirred with fragile hope as he walked towards me about to take my hand until Fren intercepted him at the threshold. She begged him not to approach, insisting the healers examine me first. I tried desperately to speak, but the words dissolved into wheezing. It felt like someone was choking me. All I could do was watch him from my sickbed as Fren kept stealing his focus with her tearful cries and dramatic displays of worry.

Rain’s Beta soon reminded him of pressing duties, only after he departed did the healers finally enter. Their verdict was grim: I suffered from a highly contagious disease for which they had no cure.

In Rain’s absence, Fren stepped forward with feigned strength, rallying the pack for their safety. She ordered me moved to a dilapidated, isolated quarter behind the main packhouse. Fear spread like wildfire due to my contagious disease. No one dared come near my quarters. They left food and water at the door and fled like a ghost was chasing after them. My body rejected every offering; I vomited violently until nothing remained but hollow weakness. Hours became days and days became months. I could not tell when morning came or night left. Time and days blurred into each other and I could not feel anything. I lay rotting in solitude, staring at the cracked ceiling, each labored breath drawing me closer to death. In the quiet agony, I wondered why the Moon Goddess had cursed me so.

Then, through the haze of fever, I glimpsed a shadow at the window.

My heart stuttered. Was Rain truly back?

With the last remnants of my strength, I flung myself from the bed. My body collapsed onto the cold floor, and I crawled toward the door on trembling limbs, gasping for every painful breath. When I finally reached it, the door swung open to reveal not Alpha Rain, but Fren. She stood there elegantly, a silk handkerchief pressed delicately over her nose.

“What is taking you so long to die?” she asked, arching a perfectly shaped brow.

I froze, my eyes widening in shock. “Fren…”

The sweet, timid mask she always wore shattered in an instant. A cruel, malevolent smile twisted her lips as she looked down at me. “You still don’t understand, do you?” She dropped the handkerchief onto my face with disdain. “Alpha Rain is mine. How dare you even dream of stealing him from me?”

My breathing fractured as the horrifying truth crashed over me. “Did you—did you do this to me?”

She grinned, wide and vicious, her eyes gleaming with triumph. “You were nothing but a thorn between Rain and me, one I had to remove.” She traced a finger lovingly over the fresh mate mark on her neck, the one she had now officially claimed.

Tears burned my eyes, but blood spilled down my cheeks instead of saltwater. She had stolen everything, my life, my husband, my future. Everything.

Fren reached for the door with a serene smile. “Die quietly, sister. I’ll send someone later to collect your rotting corpse and bury it in the woods before Rain returns.”

The door slammed shut, cutting off the last sliver of light. My vision dimmed as my final breaths grew shallow and ragged. My face pressed against the filthy floor, warm blood pooling beneath me.

Why? I wondered in silent agony. Why did this happen to me? I was supposed to be happy…

With my last breath, I closed my eyes, clinging to the memory of my wedding day with Alpha Rain, the moment everything had begun.

If only I had another chance, I would never repeat the same mistake of fading into the background out of fear of being judged.

If I had another chance I would never let Fren steal my husband. If only I had another chance…

I gasped sharply, my eyes flying open.

I was standing.

Before me stood Alpha Rain, devastatingly handsome in a tailored black suit that accentuated his powerful frame. His cold, commanding aura wrapped around him like a storm. His piercing gaze locked onto mine, intense and unreadable.

I stood frozen. What was happening?

“Alpha, kiss your wife,” the Elder announced.

Rain’s strong arm snaked around my waist, pulling me flush against him. Before I could process it, his lips claimed mine in a deep, possessive kiss. My eyes widened in shock.

The sound of cheering erupted around us. Fireworks cracked overhead as the pack celebrated, their joyous voices filling the air. Yet I remained locked in his gaze, the same intense stare that had sealed our bond the first time.

My heart skipped a violent beat as realization flooded through me.

I had been given another chance.

I was back, returned to the very day I married Alpha Rain.