Chapter 4

But now that he was close enough for Beth to see properly, there could be no mistake. But he was so young! She had only ever known this man in her previous life after he was fully grown, the most dangerous werewolf no one ever dared to cross one-on-one...But here he was right in her family home, glaring daggers at Matt. Moon Goddess, he still had a fearsome aura. 

Even at this age, had he already been so frightening? He had grown up to become ruthless, savage, the terrifying dictator of his pack's territory who ruled in blood and violence, but he couldn't be but still in his teens now. How unsettling...especially since toward the end of Beth's life, there had been those so terrified of this man that they refused to speak his name.

Daniel. Daniel Heether, the younger brother of the man she was supposed to marry, the youngest son of the Heether family. This was the young man who called her 'sister-in-law' now, and in just a handful of years, would bathe in the blood of countless werewolves, snarling and cackling over their corpses. Beth swallowed hard, remembering the feral yellow eyes she had seen of him once.

In front of her, Matt also stiffened upon seeing him, but that must have been a visceral response to the violent aura Daniel Heether exuded. They were all still barely more than children here, the three of them, and Daniel had yet to reap the reputation he would begin sowing in just a matter of years. But the power, the confidence, the aggression he carried was undeniable. Beth didn't blame Matt for leaning away, especially when she had taken more than one unconscious step back from the man who would one day be known as the mad king, evil and bloodthirsty.

Except he wasn't really like that. Not always. Beth swallowed again as words unbidden bloomed in her mind, reminding her with a frigid jolt. 

But make no mistake. This is also about the suffering of others that you had a hand in. You owe them a great debt, great amends...

The Moon Goddess had been right. Beth was far from innocent. She didn't deserve a second chance even if she had suffered humiliation, degradation, and finally even death at Matt's hands, because she had helped him hurt innocents when he demanded it over and over again - all so she could hang onto his love. She had let him change her, corrupt her. It hadn't been until the end that she had realized how stupid she had been.

And Daniel Heether was one of those she had hurt. Or tried to, anyway. Oh, Daniel. How could she be so afraid of him yet remorseful, even pitying at the same time? If he only knew what Beth had done in her previous life. If only he knew that she had let Matt convince her to help bring the Heether family to ruin, nearly destroying them - the scheme hadn't worked in the end, but Beth shuddered to think of what would have happened if it had.

But it was still her fault Daniel had turned into the monster he became, all alone and tormented. It was her fault because she had let Matt do everything he wanted, desperately hanging on his every word because she wanted his love, his affection, his approval. Sickening! She should have slapped Matt to the ground and told him to man up instead of resorting to foul tricks and deception to get his way. If she had, maybe Daniel Heether would never have lost his mind, and maybe he would have still had his family, his loved ones. Maybe he would never have turned into a bitter, abyssal-black shadow of the man he could have been, full of rage and hate...

But that was it. This was her second chance. Not just for herself but for everyone she had hurt, for everyone she had let hurt because she was too blind and obsessed with her fated mate to realize how disgusting he was.

This was her second chance to do right by those like Daniel Heether, to make sure she didn't make the same mistakes twice. She owed it to him, this young man that she still had a chance to save.

"You heard my brother-in-law," she said crisply. "Let me go now, or this will get nasty very quickly, Mr. Matthew. I won't scream for help because I won't need to, let me make that clear."

But what was this? Instead of bristling at her blatant threat and implication she could bring him down alone, Matt only whipped around to stare at her even more fiercely. How repulsive! He was young again, eighteen and still lacking the adult sharpness he would grow into one day, but he still looked exactly like the Matt she had nothing but sickening hatred for now. She had no idea why he had such a different personality in this life than he'd had in the first, why he was so impassioned and impulsive now and even coming to find her first - but she didn't want to care about that right now. She just wanted him gone.

"He's not your brother-in-law," he said. "You're not married to his brother yet."

"Exactly. Yet." She narrowed her eyes. "One more chance, Mr. Matthew. Let. Me. Go."

"Listen to me, Beth. Just hear me out, give me one chance to -"

He didn't even have the chance to finish his nonsense demand. They both flinched and whirled around at the sound of fabric tearing and the suffocating aura that permeated the hallway. Beth's heart skipped a beat and wrenched in her chest as if the Heether's presence had wrapped it in a death grip. And it might as well have: before her stood a wolf half again the size of any she had ever seen, vicious teeth bared in a snarl. She could almost feel her bones crunching between them, and when Matt's grip faltered on her wrist, she knew he'd just had the same terrifying vision flash in his mind.

You can keep her if you want, the wolf growled, if you're still standing after I deal with you.

Beth's chest tightened. Was this about to happen? Was there going to be a fight in her family home the same night she had just reappeared in the past, before she'd even had a real chance to regroup and figure out what to do? It would be a disaster, mayhem. But how was this happening in the first place? None of this had happened in the past. Had it changed? Was she supposed to navigate a brand new future, one even more impossibly difficult than before?

When Daniel snapped his teeth with a bone-shivering snarl, vicious and terrible, Matt stepped away at last. Smart. Daniel Heether was not the monster he had become - yet - but he was strong, too strong. Even Beth could hardly breathe, and she wasn't the object of his wrath.

"I don't mean to make any trouble," Matt said at last. "There's been a misunderstanding. I -"

"Then don't let it get any bigger." Beth yanked her hand away from him. "You should go. Right now."

There was no room for argument. He slinked away down another hall, and she sucked in a long inhale before turning to face the wolf once more - except he was no wolf, not anymore. He had shifted back to his human form without her noticing, and her heart dropped when she realized he was naked. Oh, Moon Goddess. Were the Heethers this open about bareness? There were rules of etiquette about shifting, and the nakedness that came after...But no. She wouldn't be immature about this. She might be in the body of a seventeen-year-old child again, but she was a grown woman in fact.

"Thank you," she said, keeping her eyes fixed on his face and no lower. "I appreciate your intervention."

"It's no trouble. I only wanted to see what my sister-in-law looks like and offer my congratulations for tomorrow's wedding. I'm glad I came in time to help."

"Oh...I'm glad, too. If you hadn't come, this would definitely have devolved into violence. No one needs that."

"He would have deserved it."

He was - unexpectedly sweet. She had expected someone sullen and stone-silent, but he was almost charming. Daniel Heether, terrifying dictator who killed and maimed as he saw fit - who would have ever thought he was such a sweet young man? "Thank you for your congratulations," she said softly. "I'm happy to welcome you to the family, and to join yours."

He even escorted her back to her room, and she lay in bed the rest of the night wondering.

How could life be so different this time?

Could she really make a difference?

She tossed and turned, half-dreaming of the life before.

* * *

The wedding the next evening was a grand affair. It felt wrong, like she was an imposter and taking on a false identity, but she had no choice. Too bad she hadn't reincarnated into the past at a better moment, when she was still young and had more time to plan ahead. As it was, most of her memories were still fuzzy, and although they were clearing hour by hour, Beth couldn't shake the grim feeling that she was forgetting something vital. She hadn't been here for the wedding in her previous life since she had run away with Matt the night before, but there was something she should know. Something important...

The feeling continued to hang over like a heavy storm cloud all throughout the ceremony and reception. Even the pleasure of discovering that her fiance, Warren Heether, was a kind, polite, and caring man did little to lift her worry. What was it she was forgetting?

"Elizabeth?"

She smiled as Warren helped her out of the chair with a fond, gentlemanly smile. The reception was over; everyone was clapping on the floor and waiting for the newlywed couple to exit. How cute...Like she was playing dress-up. None of this felt real, still. But at least in this life, she wasn't chained to the disgusting piece of trash that Matthew Catii was, and maybe she could use this chance to make sure the Heether family didn't meet the same tragic fate they had in her first life.

Amends, the Moon Goddess had said. And if she had amends to make, the Heethers were surely the first she owed them to. She might not be in love with this man whose arm linked with hers, but she would treat him decently, with kindness and respect and consideration. True love and all that ridiculous fated mate deception was pointless anyway. This was a good life she would lead, and she would do it right.

"Warren," she murmured over the raucous applause when they exited the venue's doors. "I know we don't know each other yet, but I'm looking forward to being friends. And more." She laughed, and he chuckled back with a broad smile.

"Don't let those people hear you," he said. "The way they're carrying on, it's like they think we were fated to each other all along."

Fated. Just as the nausea of hearing the word struck her like a brick wall, a man charged up the steps full-tilt to the gasps of the onlookers before halting in front of Warren and Beth, heaving and panting.

"What is this!" Warren demanded. "My wife and I are about to head to our new home. What are you doing!"

"My apologies, sir!" the man wheezed. "But it's urgent! We're under attack, and we need you immediately! Even if you leave now, it might be too late. Please, sir! We have to go!"

"I - damn it, Trevor. Damn it...ah. Elizabeth, I'm sorry I'll have to make you wait, but I can't do nothing about this. I'll send you home first and meet you when this is all over."

The nausea in Beth's stomach morphed into shock, then cold understanding. Oh, Moon Goddess. That was right. She had forgotten, how! Why were her memories taking so long to sharpen into focus! If she had remembered this earlier, she could have done something about it already. Instead, all she could do was-

She clung to Warren's sleeve, eyes wide and face frozen in sheer panic.

"Wait!" she shrieked. "You can't go! Don't go!"

"What? Elizabeth -"

"If you go, you die!"