The Luna Who Chose Her Own Mate

The moon hung heavy and full in the sky, casting a silver glow over the Blood Moon Pack grounds. Tonight was the Mate Ceremony, the most sacred night of the year, and my hands wouldn't stop trembling. I smoothed down the front of my simple white dress for the hundredth time. I had sewn it myself, stitch by careful stitch, praying that tonight, after seven long years of waiting, Alpha Dante would finally claim me properly. Everyone said Omegas were weak. They said we were meant to serve, to bow, to disappear into the background. But for seven years, Dante had kept me by his side. He hadn't marked me—not yet—but he called me his chosen. He let me sleep in his bed, let me soothe his rages, let me believe that I mattered. Tonight, I thought, tonight he would finally give me the Moon Flower.

Erisa and her lover Blaze were in the guest room while I was supposed to be asleep. However, I didn't sleep a wink that night. I smoked cigarettes all night long. Finally, I decided that this is the end. The next day, when Erisa and Blaze went on a mission, I went alone to the valley where the rogues were. When Erisa saw me again, I had become a charred corpse. But all of this was just an elaborate hoax I had set up, and my true identity was also revealed...

I woke alone in our bed, the sheets beside me cold and undisturbed. The digital clock on the nightstand read 6:17 AM—Nash's birthday. I'd set my alarm early to prepare his favorite breakfast before he woke. Joseph hadn't come home last night. Sunlight streamed through the curtains as I slipped from beneath the covers, my bare feet touching the plush carpet. The Alpha suite felt hollow without him. I'd grown accustomed to his absence, but today of all days... "He'll be here," I whispered to myself, though my wolf whined in disagreement. She knew better. She always knew.

The moonlight felt wrong on my skin. I stood on the marble terrace of the Black Claw Pack House, my hands trembling beneath the azure silk cloak that Ethan had chosen for me. The fabric was supposed to represent the clear skies of our future together, but now it felt heavy, suffocating. Pack members lined the grand staircase below, their necks bowed in deference to their Alpha—my mate. Or so I'd believed. "Natalie, my love." Ethan's voice carried across the terrace, smooth as aged whiskey. He stood at the ceremonial altar, his black suit cutting a commanding figure against the silver moonlight. Those storm-gray eyes that had once made my heart race now seemed to pierce right through me. "Come. It's time." My wolf, Luna, stirred uneasily within me.

I woke up gasping. My hands flew to my right side. My fingers met smooth, warm skin. There was no jagged scar. No agonizing, hollow ache tearing through my abdomen. A translucent blue screen hovered in the air above my bed. *SYSTEM INITIALIZED. TIMELINE RESET.* I stared at the glowing text, my heart hammering against my ribs. I wasn't dead. I wasn't rotting in that freezing, sterile hospital room while my boyfriend and my twin sister celebrated their secret love.

After divorcing my cheating husband, I thought I had found my savior in his powerful business partner, Cole. For three years, he pampered me like a queen, building a perfect, golden cage of devotion. But on the day I happily discovered I was pregnant, I overheard him talking to my ex-husband's mistress. "Elinor is just a convenient tool. If she gets pregnant, I'll fake a paternity test and annul the marriage so she leaves with nothing." My entire marriage was a meticulously crafted lie to secure his position and protect the woman he truly cared about. Before I could quietly escape, Cole orchestrated a brutal attack. I was dragged into a dark alley, beaten until my ribs fractured, and my unborn child was violently ripped away from me. As I lay bleeding out in the freezing rain, my heart shattered into dust. I didn't understand how the man who kissed me every morning could coldly order his thugs to beat me to death just to appease his real lover. They left me there to rot, thinking they had finally erased the naive fool who got in their way. Three years later, the world still believes Elinor Marsh died in a tragic car accident. But when Cole and his elite circle attend a high-profile Interpol reception, they don't expect the new Chief Liaison Officer to step onto the stage. I am Helena Fu now, and I have returned to burn their empire to the ground.