Odette
"You should have killed yourself."
The wolf finds me first—but it's the woman who speaks, her voice cold and utterly devoid of emotion.
At first, I can't even process what she's saying. The pain comes too fast. The beast's claws rake across my stomach, sharp and merciless, slicing through flesh as if I were paper. It feels like fire is tearing through my core.
The aconite is already in my bloodstream, slowing me down, dragging me toward paralysis. But I still feel everything.
The wolf closes his powerful jaws around my leg and rips it off. I scream, or maybe I don't. I can't tell anymore. The pain of a ruptured artery burns like molten metal in my veins as my blood pours out onto the frozen earth. My body convulses, overtaken by violent, bone-deep shivers.
I don't even want to run anymore. I just want it to stop. I want it to be over. But she won't let me go without delivering one last blow.
"You brought this on yourself, Odette," Selene spits, her fangs glinting beneath her perfectly sculpted lips. "You're an outsider. A fucking nobody. You had every chance to kill yourself or run off with the rogues—but no, you just had to cling to this pack."
Her words are distant, muffled behind the ringing in my ears. I can't understand why she's saying this. Silver Claw has always been my home. I've been bullied, humiliated, beaten down for being weak—but I still wanted to live.
Is that so wrong? Is it really a crime to want to live, even when you're not strong?
"Finish her off," I hear Selene command. "He wants nothing left of her. And I mean nothing."
He?
The thought flares in my mind for one final moment before the massive brown wolf lunges, burying his fangs into what's left of my broken body.
Who is he? And why does he want me dead so badly?
Goddess, what did I ever do to deserve this?
But there are no answers. Only agony.
And then—nothing.
***
The loud voices outside the house seep through the open door in the servants' quarters—a warning sign not to go in that direction. I turn around, making sure my shabby old jogging shorts don't make even the slightest noise.
But then, the wooden plank under my feet suddenly creaks from the pressure of my weight. I freeze, absolutely terrified.
I know every single plank that makes up the floors of the pack house. Even after I woke up in this same body again, I still remember everything about this house. I know exactly which planks make a noise when stepped on. How could I have forgotten?
Silently, I scold myself for the careless mistake.
Slipping off my worn-out shoes, I tiptoe through the dimly lit corridor of the first floor, holding my breath almost instinctively. The door is just ahead—so close. I round the corner, my heart hammering in my chest, when suddenly, my right foot hits something sharp.
Pain flares as the jagged edge tears into the skin around my big toe's nail. I stumble, crashing down onto the floor, my elbows slamming into the wood. A rusted nail. At least I haven't stepped directly on it.
"Look at you, crawling on the floor again like the little worm you are—what a miserable display!"
I flinch, my breath hitching at the sound of a familiar voice. Selene.
She stands over me, vile and arrogant, as always. Her long, straight black hair flows down her back, reflecting the dim orange lamplight like the surface of a dark lake under a blood moon.
Tall. Slender. Beautiful. The perfect female werewolf. Too bad she is a murderer. And I know that because she killed me.
I have been thinking about it ever since I got mysteriously sent back in time one year before she killed me. Back then, in the forest, Selene called me a traitor and said that it was "he" who wanted me dead.
But the more I thought about it, the less it made sense. I have never crossed anyone in my entire life, but for some reason, it was she who always hated me the most.
Selene called me a traitor, and the triplet sons of our pack's alpha commanded her to kill me. But what did I do to make them all think that way? I don't remember.
The Moon Goddess sure has a sense of humor. She somehow let me go back in time and live again, but what's the use? What was she trying to do by letting me live again?
I make another mistake of raising my head, and when I do, Selene's deep brown eyes bore down on me, sparkling with undeserved dominance as she moves her leg slightly forward. The tip of her silk-covered designer shoe nudges under my chin, forcing my head up as if I'm too dirty to be touched by anything other than her foot.
As the beloved daughter of a retired Gamma, her unreasonable hatred for me is the only thing that makes her feel unclean, and yet, she can't help herself. That's why she has others to express that dirty hatred in ways she cannot.
Two of her closest friends, the gamma twin girls who follow her like a second shadow, stand at her sides, smirking in unison as they watch my lips tremble from the pain of her shoe pressing into my chin.
"Where were you going, little rat?"
Selene's low, strangely authoritative voice sends a chill down my spine. I part my lips, but my voice is trapped in my throat. Only a quiet whimper escapes, and their laughter echoes through the corridor.
"Ah," Selene's says, jerking her foot upward. Pain flares through my jaw as I clamp my mouth shut. "I forgot that you can barely speak. Pathetic, as always."
I drop my gaze to the floor, pressing my lips together as the insults rain over me again. One of the twins, Marina, kicks my old gray sneakers toward me before wiping her foot on my shirt in disgust.
"Don't scatter your garbage around here, you idiot. And if you don't know how to speak properly, at least learn how to say 'I'm sorry' when proper wolves address you."
Selene shakes her head at her friend, a playful gesture as if scolding her, but her lips are still stretched into a grin.
"Marina, you're being too harsh on this poor creature! It's too much to expect someone like her to know how to act properly. If anything, I think it suits her perfectly––as a wolfless slave, the best she can do is keep her filthy, lying mouth shut!"
Stepping over me, Selene leans down and grabs a fistful of my brown hair. A sharp sting shoots through my scalp as her claws scrape against my skin.
She smiles, flashing her fangs for a brief moment before pouting and clicking her tongue.
"This miserable face is getting on my nerves. You're lucky I'm in a good mood today. Otherwise, I'd have told the Alpha that you'd made a huge mess again. I'm sure he wouldn't mind giving you another preventative beating."
Her grip tightens, and she shoves my face down toward the floor, mere inches from the rusted nail. My throat constricts, fear clawing at my chest. If she presses just a little harder…
"Get rid of it before someone else gets hurt," she hisses. "And make sure I don't see you again until tomorrow."
"Yes."
The single quiet word barely leaves my mouth before her anger flares again.
She yanks my head up sharply, my hair pulling painfully at my scalp. My entire weight hangs from her grip, and when she bares her fangs, my body trembles.
"Stupid bitch."
She shoves me back onto the floor, then turns away, smiling at her friends. With a flick of her hand, she gestures for them to follow.
"Let's go, ladies. We still need to choose a dress for the event!"
The twins giggle and follow behind her, like two brainless dolls under her spell.
Silence returns, but the weight of humiliation presses down on me. Tears burn my eyes as I force my nails under the wooden plank, whimpering when one of them breaks under the pressure. I struggle, biting back sobs, trying to pry the faulty board free.
I pray no one hears me.
When I finally manage to pull it loose, I snatch my shoes and dash toward the servants' quarters, hoping one of the male omegas is still available to fix the floors.
This encounter with Selene… it could be worse. It can always be worse.
Because once again, I am nothing but a powerless slave; a wolfless outsider found in the woods.
Everyone hates me, even though I've done nothing wrong. And I fear that my return was just the Goddess's cruel joke.
And once again, I will have to endure this relentless torture.