AVALON POV:
I woke with a sharp gasp and sat upright.
The dungeon was gone. So were the freezing stone beneath me and the infected wound in my abdomen. Instead, I was surrounded by silk sheets and the faint scent of the white roses I loved. Sunlight streamed through the velvet curtains of my bedroom.
I stared down at my hands. They were smooth and perfectly manicured, not broken and caked with grime. When I pressed a hand to my stomach, I found neither a wound nor a scar.
Then I saw the silver-framed calendar across the room.
I stumbled out of bed and hurried toward it. The date marked the Annual Pack Summit—the day Cassian Sterling would officially present Kaelen Knight to the elders and begin humiliating me before the entire pack.
I was back.
I had been reborn.
The Moon Goddess had heard me.
In my last life, I died abandoned on a cold stone slab while Cassian prepared to claim another woman. In this life, I had returned for revenge. Every person who had destroyed me and brought ruin upon my family would pay for what they had done.
The weak, lovesick Avalon Hayes had died in that dungeon. The woman standing here now would tear their perfect world apart.
I walked to the full-length mirror.
The face that stared back was mine, but younger. Untouched by starvation and despair. My eyes, the same ice-blue as my mother's, were no longer clouded with naive love. They held only cold purpose.
A soft knock came at the door.
"Miss? Are you awake? Miss Gemma Sterling is here to see you."
Clara. My loyal maid.
And Gemma. Cassian's vicious little sister. In my previous life, she had been a constant, petty tormentor.
A slow, cold smile spread across my lips.
"Let her in," I said, my voice even and calm.
The door opened and Gemma swept in, a vision in a fiery red dress. Poorly concealed delight gleamed in her eyes.
"Well, well. Look who's finally decided to get out of bed," she sneered, crossing her arms and looking me up and down with disdain.
She sauntered closer, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial hiss. "My brother is bringing Kaelen today. You'd better be on your best behavior. Try not to embarrass us all, you pathetic reject."
In my past life, those words would have stripped the color from my face. I would have flinched, absorbing the blow in silence.
Now, I just watched her. My gaze was steady, as cold and still as a frozen lake.
She shifted under my stare, her smugness faltering. "What are you looking at?" she snapped, her voice rising. "You're a rejected Omega. How dare you glare at me?"
I took a slow step forward. "Your brother rejecting me did not make you an Alpha, Gemma. You are still a Beta whose only claim to importance is sharing Cassian's name."
Her face stiffened.
I gave her a faint, contemptuous smile. "I may be an Omega, but I carry the blood of the Hayes family. You borrow authority from your brother and mistake it for your own. Lower your voice before I remind the entire pack how little power you actually possess."
Gemma froze, her mouth slightly agape. She had never heard me speak this way.
I took another step, my presence filling the space between us, pressing down on her. "And the next time you enter my room without permission, I will have you thrown out by the guards. For now, you may leave on your own. Get out."
The command was absolute. Not a request. An order.
Gemma flinched back as if struck. Her face flushed a blotchy red and white. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"Gemma, what are you doing?"
Cassian's voice, sharp and impatient, came from the doorway. He frowned as he took in the scene, his eyes landing on me.
"Don't waste your time with her," he said to his sister, his gaze flicking over me with a familiar mix of annoyance and warning. "Kaelen is almost here."
Gemma shot me a look of pure hatred, then scurried to her brother's side like a chastised dog.
Cassian regarded me with cold impatience, as though my very presence had already exhausted him. Then he turned and led Gemma away without another word.
I watched them go, my expression unreadable.
This was just the beginning.
I turned to Clara, who was staring at me, her eyes wide with a mixture of shock and worry.
"Clara," I said, my voice calm and clear. "Help me get dressed. I need to prepare a special gift for today's ceremony."
