Reborn: The Alpha's Regret and the Serpent's Queen

It was the Mating Ceremony, the most important day for our pack, but for me, it felt like walking to the gallows. I stood on the velvet carpet, waiting for Jacob, the Alpha heir, to claim me.

Suddenly, my younger sister Bella threw herself at the Elder's feet, screaming that she and Jacob were in love. Jacob didn't deny it. He looked at me with cold calculation, announced he chose her, and publicly broke our engagement.

In my previous life, this betrayal broke me. I had fought to marry him, only to become a "defective incubator" locked in a room. I remembered the bruises that never healed and the fire that eventually killed me. While I burned to death, Jacob only cared about saving Bella.

Now, standing in the same spot, the crowd mocked me as "damaged goods." My father sneered, pointing to the back of the room where the "lesser" clans stood, telling me to pick a rat or a snake if I wanted to stay in the Pack House.

They thought they were ruining me. They didn't realize they were handing me the key to my freedom.

I turned away from the smirking wolves and walked toward the darkest corner of the room. There sat Draco, the Serpent King, a man everyone feared and despised.

He was the only one who had tried to smash through the burning beams to save me in my past life.

I stopped in front of him, ignored the gasps of the crowd, and extended my hand.

"I choose you."

Chapter 1

Clarice POV:

The Pack House smelled like a locker room doused in cheap cologne and desperation. It was Mating Ceremony day, the Super Bowl of our calendar, where wolves supposedly found their soulmates.

For me, it felt like walking to the gallows.

I stood on the edge of the velvet carpet, hands trembling. Not from nerves, but from phantom agony. I knew the script. Jacob, the Silver Moon Alpha heir, was about to claim me.

In my last life, that claim was a death sentence. *I remembered the locked doors, the bruises that never healed, and the cold realization that to him, I was just a defective incubator.*

"Father, please!"

A shrill scream cut through the ceremonial drums. The crowd gasped. I looked up, heart stalling.

Bella. My younger sister. The family's golden goose.

She threw herself at Elder Thomas's feet, her designer dress crumpling. Her eyes were wild, desperate.

"I can't let Clarice marry Jacob!" Bella shrieked, her voice bouncing off the vaulted ceiling. "We... Jacob and I... we've already been together! We're in love!"

Dead silence.

I stared at the back of Bella's head. *In my previous life, Bella had turned her nose up at Jacob. She'd married a wealthy Fox shifter, only to seethe with jealousy when I became Luna. She saw the crown, the jewels, the title. She never saw the blood I scrubbed off the bathroom tiles.*

*She's been reborn, too. And she thinks she's stealing a prize.*

"Is this true?" Elder Thomas roared, turning purple. He looked at Jacob on the dais.

Jacob, the architect of my nightmares, looked smug. He stepped forward, letting his heavy Alpha aura roll over the crowd like a suffocating blanket.

"It's true," Jacob announced, his voice dripping with fake remorse. "Bella and I... the attraction was undeniable."

He glanced at me. No apology. Just cold calculation. *He wanted a breeder. He figured Bella, the healthy, spoiled princess, was a safer bet than Clarice, the 'weak' illegitimate daughter whose mother washed up on the beach half-dead years ago.*

"Clarice," my father barked. "Step aside. Release Jacob from the engagement."

It wasn't a request.

The crowd murmured. "Poor Clarice." "Humiliated by her own sister." "Damaged goods."

I lowered my head to hide the smile threatening to split my face. *They think they're ruining me. They have no idea they're handing me the key to my cell.*

"I understand, Father," I said, keeping my voice steady. "If it's love, I won't stand in the way of the Moon Goddess."

Jacob frowned. He wanted tears. He wanted a scene. My calm pissed him off.

"Good," Father huffed, eager to move on. "But the law stands. You can't remain unmated in the Pack House."

He waved a dismissive hand toward the back, where the "lesser" clans stood. The Bears, the Rats... and the Serpents.

"Pick one of them," Father sneered. "Maybe a cold-blooded creature suits a frigid girl like you."

Laughter rippled through the room.

I turned slowly. *My skin always felt too hot in this place, a fever that never broke. I craved something else.* My gaze swept past the Bears and Rats, landing on the darkest corner.

He sat on a high-backed chair, isolated. Shadows clung to him like a second skin. Pale, almost translucent, in a midnight-black suit.

Draco. King of the Serpent Clan.

*In the fire that killed me last time, he was the only one who tried to smash through the burning beams. I remembered emerald eyes filled with rage before the smoke took me.*

I walked past the smirking wolves. Past Jacob, who was already pawing at Bella.

I stopped in front of Draco.

Up close, he was terrifying. *He didn't smell like wet dog and musk. He smelled like rain hitting hot slate, crushed mint, and the deep, silent ocean.*

*Peace.*

Draco lifted his head. Vertical pupils glowed with inner light. The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.

"Are you lost, little wolf?" His voice was a low rasp, scales sliding over velvet.

"No," I whispered. *"I've never been more found."*

I extended my hand. "I choose you."

The music died.

"I, Clarice of the Silver Moon Pack, choose Draco of the Serpent Clan as my mate."

Draco stared at my hand. A corner of his mouth quirked up-a predator acknowledging prey that willingly walked into the den.

He stood, towering over me. He took my hand.

*His skin was shockingly cool. The moment we touched, the fever in my blood broke, replaced by a jolt of pure, grounding electricity.*

*Mine,* a voice whispered in my head. Ancient. Serpentine.

Draco pulled me closer. "Accepted," he hissed.