The scent of iron filled Omeira's lungs before she even opened her eyes.
It was warm. Thick. Familiar.
Her heartbeat stumbled as memories—sharp, violent, and unforgettable—crashed back into her mind.
Kael's cold voice.
Lila's triumphant smile.
The blade sliding into her chest.
She had died.
She knew she had died.
But the ceiling above her was not the dark dungeon she bled out in.
It was pale, cracked… and painfully familiar.
Her old room.
The same small, dusty omega quarters she lived in three years before her death.
Her hands trembled as she pushed herself upright. No blood. No wounds. No scars.
Her body felt younger—frail and untouched by the years of torment she remembered.
"No…" she whispered, breath catching in her throat. "This can't be real."
A sudden knock jolted her.
"Omeira!" a sharp voice snapped. "Don't tell me you overslept again. The Alpha is holding the Choosing Ceremony tonight. Hurry!"
Lila.
Her sister.
Her murderer.
Omeira's chest tightened, rage and disbelief swirling inside her. She hadn't seen this version of Lila in years—before the jealousy, before the cruelty, before the final betrayal.
The goddess… sent me back.
The door opened without knocking, just as Lila always did. She stepped inside wearing a shimmering silver gown—exactly the one she wore the night Kael rejected Omeira.
"Why are you staring at me like that?" Lila snapped. "You look worse than usual. Fix yourself before the ceremony. I'm not letting you embarrass me again."
Omeira rose slowly from the bed, her posture straight, her expression steady.
Lila froze for a moment, thrown off by the sudden shift. Omeira had always lowered her head, always made herself small. But not today.
"I won't be going," Omeira said.
Lila blinked. "What?"
"I'm not attending Kael's Choosing Ceremony."
Silence filled the room.
Lila's eyes widened, disbelief written all over her face. "Are you insane? This is your last chance to get his attention!"
"I don't care about that anymore," Omeira replied, brushing past her.
The shock in Lila's expression was almost satisfying.
This was the first moment—
the first sign that the past was already changing.
Omeira stepped into the hallway, each breath steadier than the last.
She wasn't the same girl who once begged for love.
Not anymore.