Chapter 1
449words
"Am I... still alive?" My hands trembled as I examined them, finding no trace of blood.
Memories came flooding back like a tide. In my previous life, I married Ryan, the wolf clan leader, as a human.
I loved him deeply, not knowing I was merely his plaything. Three years into our marriage, I discovered Ryan had been having an affair with Rosie, the wolf princess.
The two of them had been mocking my naivety and foolishness behind my back.
Worse still, when I became pregnant, Ryan—fearing the child would threaten his relationship with Rosie—pushed me off a cliff during a midnight excursion under the full moon. In that fatal fall, I lost both my unborn child and my life.
"I've been reborn... holy shit, I've actually been reborn!" I gasped, realizing I was back one month before my wedding to Ryan.
A soft scraping sound came from the window, and a tall figure slipped gracefully into my room.
"Gracie, did you miss me?" Ryan's devastatingly handsome face wore that wolfish grin that once made my heart race.
Fighting back the bile rising in my throat, I forced my lips into a smile. "Ryan, what brings you here tonight?"
"We're getting married in a month. Can't a man visit his beautiful fiancée?" Ryan approached and traced his fingers along my cheek. "Something's different about you today."
"Is there?" I shrugged with practiced nonchalance. "Must be that nightmare I had."
"What kind of nightmare has my sweet Gracie so shaken?" Ryan asked, his eyes softening with what I now recognized as calculated concern.
Looking into those amber eyes that once made me weak at the knees, I laughed bitterly inside. In this life, his false tenderness wouldn't fool me again.
"I dreamed you fell in love with someone else and pushed me off a cliff," I said bluntly, watching his face like a hawk for any reaction.
Ryan froze for a split second—so brief anyone else would have missed it—before throwing his head back in laughter. "Gracie, what a bizarre dream! Damn, baby, how could I ever hurt you? You're the only woman I'll ever love."
He pulled me against his chest and whispered passionately, "In a month, you'll be my wife. I'll spend every day of my life loving and protecting you."
I nestled against his chest, playing the role of the adoring fiancée while my heart turned to ice. In this life, I would make Ryan taste the bitter sting of betrayal and abandonment he once served me.
