I jolted upright, the sheets twisted so tight around my legs they felt like restraints. My chest heaved against the humid air.
The first thing I saw was sunlight. Golden, warm, streaming through my bedroom window. I was in my room. I could see my posters, my desk packed with schoolbooks. Everything exactly as it had been years ago.
My trembling hand brushed across the calendar pinned to the wall.
July. Senior year summer vacation.
The day of the accident.
For a moment, I couldn't breathe. The memories of my past life pressed down on me like a coffin lid.
Lilith's smile as she handed me that drink. The sudden dizziness on the stairwell. Mira Cross's casual and timed shove. The snap of pain in my back.
The wheelchair. The whispers that clung to me like cobwebs. The birthday party where my wolf never came, and the pack laughed until I wanted to vanish.
The gasps when Lilith, glowing like some goddess, summoned an Alpha wolf that bowed to her will.
The day I was erased from the world.
My stomach knotted, panic rising in my throat. Tears blurred my vision, but I forced them back. I had cried enough.
This time would be different.
I pressed a hand over my chest, where my sealed wolf still slept. "I won't let it happen again. Not the accident. Not Father's death. Not Damian's poison. I'll take everything back, Lilith. You have my word."
The vow pressed against my ribs, restless and sharp, like claws dragging along bone.
---
By dusk, Lilith arrived at my door. Her sweet voice, her perfect smile.
"Selene! Let's go out tonight. Let's celebrate the last days of summer. There's a new bar everyone's talking about."
My pulse spiked, but I forced my lips into a soft smile. "Sure."
Her eyes glittered. She thought I was still the naïve stepsister who would trail after her willingly. She didn't notice the way my fingers clenched at my sides.
Mira Cross trailed behind her, all glossed lips and false laughter. The perfect accomplice. The same girl who would push me down the stairs.
I followed them to the bar, the trap they had set for me.
But this time, I wasn't going to be the prey.
---
Music pulsed through the club, lights flashing in dizzy colors. Lilith leaned close, her perfume cloying, and handed me a crystal glass filled with amber liquid.
"Drink up, Selene. Let's party! One of those hot looking men might approach you at anytime. Don't be shy."
I saw it, the faint shimmer of wolfsbane swirling within, masked by whiskey. The same poison that had stolen my legs, my wolf and my future.
My hand found the condensation on the glass, cold against my skin. I raised it, matching her grin, though the taste in my mouth was all ash, and at the last second, I swapped the glasses.
The poisoned drink slid across the table, right into Mira's waiting hand. She laughed, oblivious, and downed it in one gulp.
I lifted my own glass to my lips, sipping just enough to keep the act alive. Bitter, smoky, but clean. No wolfsbane.
Lilith didn't notice. She was too busy basking in her own cleverness. Her eyes kept darting to Mira, quick flicks of triumph she thought I was too blind to catch.
When she reached for the empty glasses later, slipping them into her purse to destroy the evidence, I let her. She must be thinking her plan was flawless.
I gave a sly smile that was very brief. Payback is a b*tch.
---
The stairwell was crowded, just like before. Music muffled behind the door, footsteps echoing down the steps.
Mira wavered first. Sweat slicked her brow, her steps unsteady. The wolfsbane was sinking into her blood, muddling her senses.
I felt the moment, the exact heartbeat when she moved. The same shove she had given me last time, meant to send me tumbling into darkness.
I stepped aside.
Her momentum carried her forward. Her palm, outstretched for my back, slammed into Lilith's shoulder instead.
Lilith gasped as her body pitched forward. The world slowed, the way it had when it was me. Her heel slipped, her hands clawed the air, her scream cut short on the concrete below.
And then the loud thud as she landed hard at the bottom of the stairs.
Her cry of pain filled the air, sharp and raw.
People rushed towards her, voices panicked. "Call an ambulance!" "Her back…look at her back!"
I clutched the railing, feigning shock, eyes wide. But inside, satisfaction was sweet.
It was her this time. Not me.
---
Sirens wailed as paramedics lifted her onto a stretcher, her face pale and twisted with agony. Mira, too dizzy to help, clung to the wall with a stricken expression.
I slipped out quietly, unnoticed. On the sidewalk, the night air was cool against my heated skin.
For the first time since my rebirth, I let myself smile fully.
The weight shifted. And it wasn't on my shoulders anymore.
I remembered what came next in the old timeline: my birthday party, two months later. Me in a wheelchair, humiliated before the pack when I failed to shift. Lilith summoning her Alpha wolf, basking in glory.
Not this time.
This time, I would walk into that party strong. I would keep my aura sealed, let them underestimate me. And when the moment was right, I would turn all eyes on Lilith. Crippled, poisoned and faltering.
The memory of their chants and laughter still echoed in my skull. I would feed it back to them until Lilith drowned in it.
I breathed deep, savoring the night.
And then tires screeched.
A sleek black luxury car slid to the curb beside me, headlights flashing. The back door yanked open, and a hand shot out, gripping my wrist with unyielding strength.
Before I could shout, I was dragged inside.
The door slammed. The car lurched forward.
My breath snagged, and every muscle in me locked as I turned to the shadow across from me.
Then I froze.
The last person I expected to see.