Selene awoke once more breathless, disoriented, her heart pounding against her ribcage like a drum of war. The ceiling was unfamiliar, but the ache in her bones, the heaviness in her heart, those were old friends.
The memories of her last life returned in flashes. The flames. The chains. Her family's faces twisted in disgust. Her father's voice cold and final: "You have betrayed your blood."
No one asked for the truth.
And no one gave her a chance.
This time, she didn't scream. She didn't weep or beg. She lay still, letting the silence wash over her like a burial shroud. Her soul was threadbare unravelling with each rebirth, each betrayal.
She was back in her aunt's manor again cold stone corridors and silk-covered walls. Her aunt greeted her with the same distant gaze, speaking softly of propriety and appearances. Her cousin Aria was still there too golden, radiant, beloved by all.
The masquerade invitation arrived soon after.
Selene tore it to shreds without a second thought.
"I won't go," she said flatly when her aunt entered her room, holding the envelope as though it were holy.
"Selene, don't be ridiculous. Every noble pack will attend. This is your chance"
"I don't want a chance. I don't want anything."
Her aunt's lips thinned. "You will go."
"I won't."
And she didn't.
Days passed in tense silence. Her refusal became scandalous gossip. Suitors stopped calling. Her aunt grew colder, more anxious, and the whispers of a marriage proposal began to circle like vultures.
This time, the match was more than political. The man was an Alpha of brutal strength a member of the king's court. Loyal to the royal family, revered across territories. But Selene had heard the rumours, he was cold as steel, sharp as a blade, and twice as unforgiving.
His name was Aeron.
Aeron the same man who had once abandoned her in another life. The man who had saved Aria from the flames and left her behind to die.
The man to whom she swore her loyalty even if the marriage was in name she still accepted him as her husband and respected him, however he was nothing more than coward, a cheater a man who couldn't even protect his wife, such a man held no respect in her eyes.
So, she refused again. Making her parents angry, they tried persuading her, showing her love and promising her status and power but she still said no.
That's when the chains came.
They didn't bind her wrists this time not immediately. Instead, they locked her in her chambers, sealed her windows, removed her books, her brushes, her voice. Her meals were rationed. Her letters went unanswered.
And when she screamed, no one listened. The extreme isolation messed her senses.
Her mother wasn't here this time, but the echoes of her cruelty lingered. The silence at dinner. The tightening of her father's belt in. The bruises from her brother's fists. The smell of iron and shame.
And Aria sweet, golden Aria who always watched from the corner, pretending innocence, pretending ignorance.
Selene began to change.
Not in the way her aunt had hoped, no elegance or submission bloomed from her captivity. Instead, a darkness grew. Quiet. Measured. Patient.
It whispered to her at night.
They will never love you.
They will never see you.
Burn them before they burn you.
Starvation. Whippings. Solitude.
It broke something inside her.
Until, finally, her aunt came. The woman who had always turned a blind eye now knelt beside Selene's battered frame and whispered, "They said you were rebellious, wild... But I didn't know. I didn't know they were starving you. That he whipped you. That your own brother," Her voice cracked. "I didn't know."
She unlocked the door.
Selene stood up slowly.
But instead of running, she turned to the armoury.
She emerged with a sword in her hand and fury in her heart
She smiled.
The guards were first. Then the maids.
Then she found her father first. Then her mother. Her brother tried to run, but Selene caught him and dragged him back. The manor ran red with blood. Her cousin Aria tried to run but Selene caught her by the hair and dragged her back through the corridor like a broken doll.
"I should thank you," Selene whispered, as Aria trembled beneath her. "You made it easier to let go."
The manor burned.
Selene walked out barefoot, covered in blood and ash, her shadow long against the firelight.
She vanished into the woods like a ghost, a myth, a nightmare.
But Selene did not rest.
She encountered a band of rebels near the border the same who had once tortured her in another life.
This time, she didn't give them the chance.
She cut them down without hesitation, eyes burning with something more than vengeance.
Madness.
Word began to spread of a wild she-wolf, cloaked in blood, who left only corpses in her wake. Entire caravans slaughtered. Rebel outposts decimated. She showed no allegiance. No mercy. No purpose but rage.
Eventually, the King's court took notice.
The Crown Prince Kael was sent to stop her.
Kael was known as a just ruler, a kind-hearted man. But he had inherited the King's blade and with it, a lethal reputation. Compassionate, yes. But when it came to enemies of the realm… he was merciless.
They met in a clearing just beyond the old river bend. The sun was high, but the air felt still like the world itself was holding its breath.
Selene stood amidst the carnage of her latest attack, blood dripping from her blade.
Kael stepped forward, sword drawn, his eyes sad.
"You're the one they speak of," he said.
Selene raised her weapon, face blank. "I've been many things."
"You don't have to do this," Kael said softly. "Come with me. We can help you."
She laughed. A broken, bitter sound.
"No one ever helped me."
And then she lunged.
They fought for what felt like hours. Selene was fierce, unrelenting but Kael had been trained to kill legends.
He disarmed her at last; his blade pressed to her throat.
She dropped to her knees, blood in her mouth, tears in her eyes.
"Do it," she whispered.
Kael stared down at her at the girl who had become a monster. At the pain etched into her soul.
"I'm tired," Selene whispered. "I've lived too many times… and died too many more. Just end it."
For a long time, Kael didn't move.
And then, slowly, he raised his sword.
Selene closed her eyes.
The blade fell.
And this life ended, too.