Chapter 1

“Goddess, no!” I swatted at the blinding white light filling my vision.

“Miss Persephone, please calm down!” A muffled voice sounded in my ringing ears. Pins pricked all parts of my skin, making me moan in pain. “Miss–“ The voice calling out my name faded as darkness embraced me.

“Anastacia,” an ethereal voice wrapped around me in the darkness.

Anastacia.

It was my middle name which no one addressed me by except my aunt who died over a decade ago. It was what my mother called me before she died but my father preferred Persephone, a name fitting for a bringer of death to his beloved mate.

“Is she awake?”

“Miss Persephone?” Blinding white light filled my vision again. My eyes opened to see what the afterlife had waiting for me. It was dark, quiet, mournful, and somewhat angst-ridden.

“Where – Where am I?” I looked around me, turning back to the white light. I flinched when I realized the ‘white light’ was actually Doctor Lorenzo’s salty white hair. “Ha, did he get you too?” Light flooded into the room, startling me.

“Lady Persephone, I was so worried,” Sylvia wept, her hands shaking as she held her skirt, her head bowed.

“What is happening right now?” My heart started to beat faster. I heard the pounding in my ears, my hands shook on the bed beside me. “Where am I? What is this?” My gaze bounced around, taking in my surroundings.

I was in my room in Cassius’s mansion but - but I died. Cassius stabbed me with a blade made of silver and coated in venom. I died after that. Could this be the afterlife? If so, where was the goddess? Why was I in bed? Or did I survive? What – What!?

“You fainted without warning while we walked around the back garden. You fell into a bush. I – Please forgive me. I failed to catch you.” Sylvia’s shoulders shook as she cried.

“Doctor Lorenzo – How am I still here? I should have died!” My eyes darted around as I sat upright.

It made no sense at all! What sort of cruel afterlife could this be? I didn’t want to die in the first place but it didn’t mean I wanted to be plagued by the faces of my loved ones in the afterlife!

“Miss Persephone!” Sylvia looked scandalized, her red and teary eyes blew wide.

I stopped being ‘Miss Persephone’ after the unfortunate day I mated with Cassius. On that day, I went from Miss Persephone to Luna Persephone!

“Only the most unfortunate people die from falling into a rose bush, miss,” Doctor Lorenzo said. “You suffered mild scratches but rest assured your injuries will heal before your engagement ceremony next week. As a result of this incident, the Alpha has ordered –“ The doctor continued to speak but his words failed to register in my brain.

Engagement ceremony next week. Engagement ceremony next week.

I raised my hands to examine the scratches that the doctor expected me to be worried about. Sylvia and Lorenzo’s chatter died down as I raised my hand.

“What happened to your wrists?” Horror rang in Sylvia’s voice. She rushed to take my hands in hers. My breath turned ragged when I looked at my hands. “Doctor Lorenzo!” Sylvia turned to the doctor who looked as flustered as her.

 “I – I am not quite sure,” the doctor stuttered, adjusting the glasses on his face. “It looks like – Ha, these are similar to injuries sustained from silver handcuffs.”

“Doctor Lorenzo, don’t talk nonsense!” My maid barked. “Silver handcuffs on the missus’ wrists!?”

“Ah – Ah, of course, I may be wrong.” Lorenzo began to sweat. “Yes, I must be wrong. Only criminals have such injuries. How could it – On the lady –“ The doctor blubbered.

I hadn’t dreamt it so was this the dream? Ugly white scars covered both my wrists. White scars, not red. 

“How can you be the pack doctor when you only know how to talk nonsense!?” Sylvia continued to berate the doctor. My shy maid turned into a fierce wolf when it involved my well-being.

“It – It may be an allergic reaction from falling into the rose bush?” Lorenzo winced after his weak question. Sylvia sucked in a deep breath but I stopped her.

“Can injuries from silver poisoning be healed?” I asked Lorenzo. The room went silent for a split second.

“Ha, no – Such injuries last a lifetime – there are even sayings –“ Lorenzo trailed off.

“What sayings?” I pressed.

“They say that people can be reborn with these scars.” My blood ran cold. “Ah, but – but that’s just nonsensical talk among jobless wolves.” Lorenzo let out a burst of shrill laughter. 

 “I see.” I looked at my wrists again. “What is today’s date?”

“It is the fifth day of the third month in the thousandth year of the Deimos kingdom,” the doctor replied. “Do the scars hurt, miss?”

Two years. Exactly two years and seven days before my death.

I shoved away from the two people sitting around me and dashed to the mirror. The woman who stared back at me had waist-length, silky black hair and bangs. It was my trademark hairstyle until last year when I chopped my hair to shoulder length and coloured it blonde to get Cassius’ attention.

Was it possible to go back in time?

Someone knocked on the door and I turned in time to see the Alpha step into my room. Before, his eyes had grown cold as he drifted from me to get closer to April but now, he gazed at me with warmth and concern.

The ground swayed under my feet and I let out an ear-splitting scream.

~~

Persephone Anastacia Adelard. That was me. My mother died an hour after she birthed me, right after she called me Anastacia.

‘Bringer of death.’

Sylvia told me that was the first thing my father ever said to me. Thus, my name became Persephone, the only daughter of Alpha Rufus Adelard, the man who led the rogue extermination in our kingdom and earned his title as the Crimson Wolf.

I looked too much like my mother for him to be around me. We stayed in the same mansion but I could go months without seeing my father. I lived without family and friends, locked up in my father’s mansion, unable to go out for fear of kidnap. It didn’t surprise anyone that I grew to hate my father.

 At seven, I met a boy named Cassius. I found him sneaking through our mansion on a dare, his dirty clothes quivering on his thin body as he trespassed into the home of the Crimson Wolf. I served him milk and cookies before pleading with him to visit me often. He did.

At eighteen, I manipulated my father into helping Cassius overthrow his wicked Alpha. I lured my father out of retirement and made him join Cass’ pack after years of him being an Alpha to a pack of ten – me and our maids.

 ‘Why don’t you love me? Why am I never enough?’ Those were frequent words I said to my father, followed by ‘If you loved me, you would help Cassius.’ When I wanted something and Father didn’t oblige me, I held my mother’s name as a card over him. I threatened to kill myself, I told him how disappointed my mother would be with how he treated me. One day, I told him my mother watched us from heaven and she hated him for mistreating her only child. He cried that day.

I blackmailed my father into helping my crush.