~Delphine De Vargue's POV~
The snow was still falling and I could feel it pressing cold against my cheek,soaking into the thin silk of my dress. The white flakes landed quietly, gently mocking the confusion inside me, they said death would be peaceful but they lied.
My breath came out in rough gasps, blood leaked out from the corner of my mouth, hot and bitter.
I looked up through the blur in my eyes, I saw her…Lady Vivienne,my stepmother. Her smile was as soft as ever, but her eyes were icy, cold as the winter steel.
"You never knew your place, Delphine," she said quietly, bending near me like I was some broken doll on the palace floor. "You thought being clever was enough, but you were born low, a concubine's daughter will always be a pawn."
I should've seen it coming I was too careful,too smart but she had waited, smiling all along, until I trusted her.
"I served you, I guarded the house and I saved the heir!" I choked on my words, blood rising in my throat. "Why?"
Lady Vivienne smiled sweetly. "Because you were useful! But now… you're just in the way."
She rose and turned her back to me like I didn't exist anymore.
I hated her! I hated them all.
The first wife who shamed my mother to her death, the noble sisters who wore silks and pearls while I ate cold leftovers, the tutors who said I was too bold and servants who whispered "bastard" behind closed doors.
I hated that I still tried to be good.
And worst of all, I hated that I still wanted to live.
My sight dimmed,and the snow no longer felt cold. Maybe this was the end, but as it all faded, I heard it.
A voice…soft, male, deep in my head.
"Do you want to live?"
When I opened my eyes, it wasn't the palace I saw it was a forest, dark, wild and whispering secrets in its branches. I sat up gasping.
My body felt younger and lighter. I lifted my hands and they were smooth, small, unscarred.
"What in the…?"
"You're awake," a voice said.
I turned quickly, shocked, and my breath stopped.
A tall man stood there, covered in black fur, I noticed that he had silver eyes and it glowed. He stared at me without blinking, he looked more beast than man, but too handsome.
He took a step forward. "Don't be afraid."
"Who are you? Where am I?"
"You died," he said plainly. "But now you live again, In another world."
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
He knelt by the fire, tossing dry wood into the flame. "This is the land of wolves, a place where only the strong survive. You're no longer Delphine of the Capital you're something new now."
My heart was beating fast. "Did you bring me here?"
"I only answered your call," he said. "You wanted to live and I gave you that chance."
I exhale slowly. "What's the price?"
He looked up, his silver eyes burning. "Everything."
...….
The days that followed were strange.
I learned that I had been reborn…not as a noble girl, but as a wolfblood, a rare creature born between human and beast. My senses were sharp, my instincts wild, and there were others like me. Alphas, betas and rogues living in packs hidden across this cold, ruthless land.
And the man who saved me…. His name was Veran. An outcast, some called him a demon, others a shadow. But he found me in the snow, and for now, he was all I had.
"You need to train," he said one morning, tossing me a dagger. "If you want revenge, get stronger."
"I'm not here for revenge," I mumbled .
He raised an eyebrow. "Liar!"
I gritted my teeth, he was right I didn't crawl back from death just to live quietly.
I wanted power, enough to crush Lady Vievinne and everyone who used me.
One night, while the fire crackled low and the moon turned red in the sky, I sat beside Veran.
"Why did you really help me?" I asked.
He didn't answer immediately, his jaw tightened slightly.
"Because," he said at last , "you remind me of someone I lost."
I tilted my head. "Was she like me?"
"She burned," he said. "But she didn't get a second chance."
I didn't ask more.
Meanwhile, weeks passed, and my strength grew, my senses became sharper, I could smell a lie before it was spoken and I could hear heartbeats in the silence.
But something else changed too.
At night, I would hear whispers in the wind.
Sometimes, I would wake up with claw marks on the trees around me, marks I didn't remember making.
"Veran," I asked one morning, "what am I turning into?"
He looked at me, then away. "You were reborn by the Moon Pact," he said quietly. "It doesn't just give life, it changes your soul."
"Into what?"
He didn't answer.
One cold night, I returned to our cabin from a hunt. Veran was gone, but I wasn't alone.
A tall man stood by the fire, golden, in nobel warrior armor. His eyes were the color of ice, he smelled like storm's wind, he turned slowly when he heard me.
"You," he said. "You carry Veran's mark."
I stiffened. "Who are you?"
He didn't smile. "I'm Morvan, Alpha of the Northern Pack."
My heart raced! That name..I remembered it from Veran's rare stories. Morvan, the alpha, Veran once betrayed.
"What do you want?"
He stepped closer, eyes narrowing. "You should run."
"Why?"
Alpha Morvan's voice lowered. "Because you don't know who Veran really is and when you do…"
He leaned closed, his breath warm against my cheek.
"you'll wish you had stayed dead."
Alpha Morvan's words ranged in my ears like storm.
"You'll wish you had stayed dead."
My hands tightened at my sides, I could feel my nails digging into my palms, but I didn't show fear.
"Say what you came to say," I told him, my voice steady. "And go!"
Alpha Morvan's lips curved, like he found it funny. "You speak boldly for someone who barely understands what she's become."
"I know enough."
"Do you?" he asked, taking a slow step toward me. "Do you know that Veran was once my brother-in-arms? That he betrayed his oath and killed my sister?"
I blinked. "You're lying."
Alpha Morvan's eyes darkened. "I wish I was."
A cold wind slipped into the room through the cracks in the wooden walls and my heart thumped hard in my chest. Veran had always been quiet about his past, but… murderer?