Chapter 5

ARIAThere was darkness, at first. Deep and complete, like being suspended in ink.

I floated in it, neither alive nor dead. I could still feel the echo of pain—from being stabbed, and the sensation of my baby dying inside me.

And then, light.

Silver light, pouring through the darkness, making everything bright as it surrounded me, lifted me, and I felt myself rising toward… something. A presence. Vast and ancient and impossibly gentle.

"Aria Winters," a voice said, and it was like hearing music. "You called to me."

The light coalesced into a figure. A woman, tall and ethereal. She wore robes that seemed made of moonlight itself, and power radiated from her in waves.

The Moon Goddess. Selene.

"You're real," I whispered, my voice strange and filled with shock more than awe. I was in disbelief.

"I have always been real, child. Just as you have always been more than you believed."

She reached out, and suddenly I could see. She showed me my life—but not as I'd lived it.

I saw myself as a child, my wolf emerging strong and bright—before fear and abuse had crushed her down. I saw the power I should have had, the strength that had been suppressed by years of being told I was worthless.

"You were born blessed," Selene said softly. "A Moon-Blessed Omega, rare and precious. But your pack's cruelty buried your gift so deep you forgot it existed."

"Why?" The word came out broken. "Why did you let them hurt me? Why did you give me a mate who didn't want me? Why did you let them kill my baby?"

"I did not let them do these things. I gave you free will. I gave all of them free will. But I can give you something else now, if you wish it."

The silver light intensified, and I saw another vision. Myself, back in my body. Alive. The pregnancy intact. But this time, I was awake. Aware. Powerful.

"A second chance," Selene said. "One day before your death. With all your memories. All your knowledge of what's to come. And this time, with your wolf fully awakened. Fully aware of what you truly are."

"Why?" I asked again. "Why would you give me this?"

"Because you called to me with your dying breath. Because I do not abandon my children lightly. And because the path your pack is on leads to darkness. Clarissa's corruption runs deep. Kael's blindness enables it. And you, Aria Winters, are the catalyst for change."

I thought about going back. About facing them all again. About the pain, the fear, the inevitable confrontation.

But I also thought about revenge. About justice. About making them all see exactly what they'd thrown away.

"If I go back," I said slowly, "I won't be the same. I won't be weak. I won't be silent."

"No," Selene agreed. "You will be who you were always meant to be."

"And the bond? With Kael?"

"The bond will still exist. Fate does not change simply because you remember it. He will still be drawn to you. Still feel the pull. But this time, Aria, you will have a choice. You can accept the bond—or you can reject it entirely. You can make him beg—or you can walk away and let him drown in his regrets."

The thought sent a savage satisfaction through me. Kael on his knees. Clarissa destroyed. All of them forced to see what they'd done.

"What about my baby?"

"Your child still lives within you. But you must protect it. You must be strong enough to survive until you can reveal the truth."

I took a breath I didn't technically need in this space.

"Send me back," I said. "Send me back and I'll rewrite everything."

Selene smiled.

"Remember, child. The bond will still pull at you. He will still be your mate. Can you resist him when he comes to you? Can you make him suffer as you have suffered?"

I thought of that night in the grove… and then of the way he'd left me, told me it was a mistake, abandoned me to die.

"I don't want to resist him," I said coldly. "I want to make him beg. I want to make him crawl. I want him to know exactly what he threw away—and I want it to destroy him."

"Then go," Selene said, and the light became blinding. "Go, my blessed daughter. Go and claim your throne. Go and make them all remember that you do not cross a child of the Moon."

The world rushed back in a nauseating spiral of sensation.

I gasped, my eyes flying open, my hands going to my chest—

No wounds. No blood. Just smooth, unmarked skin.

I was in my attic room. The thin blanket was tangled around my legs. Pale dawn light filtered through the dirty window.

And I was alive.

I sat up slowly, my mind racing. My hand went to my stomach—still flat, but I could feel it. The tiny flutter of life. My baby. Still alive. Still safe.

For now.

I looked at the calendar scratched into the wall beside my mattress. The date made my blood run cold.

One day. I had one day before Clarissa's assassins would come for me in the forest.

One day to change everything.

I stood, my legs surprisingly steady. My wolf, Eira, stirred inside me, and this time she wasn't small or frightened. She was awake. Fully, gloriously awake.

We're not dying this time, she said, her voice strong and clear.

No, I agreed, walking to the window. The pack house was waking below me. Somewhere down there, Clarissa was planning my murder. Somewhere down there, Kael was blind to the truth.

And somewhere down there, the man who had watched me die was about to realize his mate had come back wrong.

Not to forgive.

Not to forget.

But to Revenge.