Reborn to be Marked by the Alpha

The scent of pine and frost hung heavy in the air as I stood at the edge of the ceremonial clearing, my heart hammering against my ribs like a caged bird desperate for freedom. The full moon cast everything in silver light—the ancient stone altar, the gathered pack members, and Marcus standing beside it in his ceremonial robes, looking every inch the proud Beta who was about to claim his mate.

My mate.

I smoothed down the white dress that had taken me weeks to choose, the fabric soft beneath my trembling fingers. Three years of courtship had led to this moment. Three years of stolen kisses, whispered promises, and dreams of the future we would build together.

"You look beautiful tonight, Selena." Rina appeared at my side, her voice warm with what I believed was genuine affection. My best friend since childhood, she had helped me prepare for this ceremony, braiding flowers into my hair and assuring me that Marcus was lucky to have me.

I turned to her with a grateful smile, not noticing the way her eyes glittered in the moonlight, sharp as winter ice.

"Thank you for being here," I whispered, squeezing her hand. "I couldn't do this without you."

She squeezed back, her grip just a little too tight. "Of course. What are friends for?"

Elder Elena stepped forward, her ancient voice carrying across the clearing as she began the ceremonial words. The pack fell silent, hundreds of eyes focused on Marcus and me as we approached the altar. My legs felt unsteady, but I attributed it to nerves, to the overwhelming joy of finally becoming Marcus's official mate.

I had loved him since we were teenagers. He was everything I thought I wanted—confident, ambitious, with a smile that could make my knees weak. I had waited patiently while he sowed his wild oats, convinced that his wandering eye would settle once we were properly mated.

How naive I had been.

"Marcus Kane," Elder Elena intoned, "do you take this woman as your mate, to bond with her under the moon's blessing?"

I looked up at him expectantly, my heart so full of love it felt like it might burst. This was our moment. Our beginning.

Marcus met my gaze, and something cold flickered in his eyes. Something that made my stomach clench with sudden dread.

"No," he said clearly, his voice carrying across the silent clearing. "I do not."

The words hit me like a physical blow. I staggered backward, certain I had misheard. "What?"

"I said no." He stepped away from me, his expression twisting into something cruel and dismissive. "I reject you, Selena. You are not worthy to be my mate."

A collective gasp rose from the assembled pack. I felt their stares like brands on my skin, burning with shock and pity. My vision blurred, the world tilting dangerously.

"Marcus, please," I whispered, reaching for him desperately. "You don't mean this. We planned—"

"We planned nothing." He caught my wrist, his grip bruising. "You planned. You assumed. But I never promised you anything."

Then Rina stepped forward, and my world shattered completely.

She moved to Marcus's side with fluid grace, her hand sliding possessively over his chest. The look they shared was intimate, familiar—the look of lovers who had been together far longer than a single night.

"How long?" The words scraped out of my throat like broken glass.

Rina tilted her head, her expression a mockery of the sweet friend I had known. "Does it matter? Long enough to know what you could never give him."

"Rina was everything you weren't," Marcus said, his arm encircling my former best friend's waist. "Passionate. Exciting. Not some frigid little mouse who lies there like a piece of wood."

The laughter that rippled through the crowd was like acid in my veins. I could see it in their faces—the knowledge that everyone had known. Everyone except me.

"She's so boring in bed," Rina added with a theatrical sigh, loud enough for the entire pack to hear. "I almost felt sorry for you, Marcus. Almost."

More laughter. Crueler now. I was drowning in it, suffocating on their amusement at my humiliation.

Marcus released his Beta pheromones then, a wave of dominance that crashed over me like a tide. My knees buckled involuntarily, my body responding to the chemical command even as my mind screamed in protest.

"Kneel," he commanded, his voice thick with power.

I fought it. God, how I fought it. But my Beta physiology betrayed me, forcing me down onto the cold stone as the pack watched. Some looked away in embarrassment, but too many stared with fascination, drinking in my degradation like fine wine.

"This is what you are," Marcus said, looking down at me with disgust. "Weak. Pathetic. A Beta who doesn't even have the spine to stand up for herself."

Then he turned to Rina, cupping her face in his hands with a tenderness he had never shown me. "But you, my love. You are everything I need."

He kissed her then, deep and claiming, before tilting his head to expose her neck. His canines elongated, and I watched in horror as he bit down on her throat, marking her as his mate while I knelt in the dirt like a discarded toy.

The mating bond snapped into place between them, their scents mingling in the air—his pine and earth mixing with her jasmine and steel. The smell of their union made me gag.

Elder Elena's voice cut through my anguish like a blade. "Selena Mills, you are hereby stripped of your status as a mate candidate. Your behavior has brought shame upon this pack."

"My behavior?" I looked up at her in disbelief, tears streaming down my face. "What did I do wrong?"

"You failed to hold your mate's interest," she replied coldly. "You failed to be worthy of him. Such failure cannot be tolerated."

The pack murmured their agreement, their judgment falling on me like stones. I was the failure. I was the one who wasn't enough.

"You have one hour to gather your belongings and leave our territory," Elder Elena continued. "You are banished from this pack, never to return."

I struggled to my feet, my legs shaking so badly I could barely stand. Around me, the pack began to disperse, already forgetting about the broken girl who had just lost everything.

But Marcus wasn't finished with me yet.

"Run along now," he called out mockingly as I stumbled toward the tree line. "Maybe you'll find some other fool to take pity on you. Though I doubt it."

Rina's laughter followed me into the darkness, high and cruel. "Don't forget to write!"

I ran then, crashing through the underbrush as their voices faded behind me. The snow began to fall, thick flakes that clung to my ceremonial dress and turned my tears to ice on my cheeks.

I had nowhere to go. No family, no friends, no pack to protect me. I was alone in the wilderness with nothing but the clothes on my back and a heart that felt like it had been carved out with a rusty knife.

The cold bit through my thin dress, but I kept running, driven by some desperate need to put distance between myself and the site of my humiliation. My feet went numb, then my hands, but still I pressed on through the deepening snow.

It was the howl that stopped me.

Low and hungry, it echoed through the trees somewhere behind me. Then another answered from my left. And another from my right.

Wolves. Wild ones, not pack members. And they had caught my scent.

I tried to run again, but my frozen limbs betrayed me. I stumbled, fell, and felt the sharp crack of something breaking in my chest. Blood filled my mouth, warm and metallic.

The first wolf emerged from the shadows, its yellow eyes fixed on me with predatory hunger. Then the others appeared, circling me like the vultures they were.

I closed my eyes as they closed in, their growls filling the air. The pain was swift and terrible, but as my life bled out into the snow, one thought burned bright in my dying mind.

Revenge.

I would have my revenge on them all.

The darkness took me, but my vow remained, echoing in the space between life and death with the force of a blood oath.

When I opened my eyes again, I was staring at a familiar ceiling—my childhood bedroom ceiling, with its water stain shaped like a butterfly.

I sat up slowly, my heart pounding. Sunlight streamed through the window, warm and golden. No snow. No blood. No pain.

My hands flew to my throat, searching for wounds that weren't there. My skin was whole, unmarked, alive.

A knock at the door made me jump.

"Selena?" Marcus's voice called through the wood, warm and affectionate. "Are you ready for breakfast, sweetheart? We have the venue walkthrough today, remember?"

The venue walkthrough. For our wedding.

I looked at the calendar on my nightstand and felt my blood turn to ice.

Three years ago. I was three years in the past, back at the beginning of my engagement to Marcus.

Back before I knew what he really was.

A smile spread across my face, cold and sharp as winter steel.

This time would be different.

This time, I would be ready for them.