1

Elita

“ No! ” I scream and sit up.

It feels like I am still burning. I rub my arms and my face, trying to extinguish the fire but it keeps aching and itching.

“ Is it my punishment? Am I in hell, to burn for an eternity? ” I cry out, looking around the dark room.

The walls are closing in on me and I can’t breathe. My whole life flashes before my eyes, and I am stuck at the point where the Lycan King was murdered before my eyes years ago.

That’s when everything started going downhill, that’s how the werewolves lost against the vampires and humans in the war.

If I had not become the reason for the death of the Lycan King, the werewolves would still be here.

At the fading memory of his face in my mind, tears slide down my cheeks. He died because of me, yet I can’t even remember what his eyes looked like in that last moment of his life.

Until now, it didn’t hurt. But now, all that’s left is a gaping hole in my heart that is filling with regret for what I did.

Suddenly, a door creaks open, and bright light filters inside the dark room. Instinctively, I cover my face with my arms.

“ Is it time for me to face the Goddess? ” I wonder, mumbling between my fingers.

I wouldn’t be surprised if I get thrown into hell for an eternity because my sins are unmatched in the history of wolves and Lycans.

“ Lana, why don’t you come out and apologize to your father already? You can tell him that you don’t want Maverick anymore. Why are you holding onto a man who betrayed you for some money? ” An unfamiliar voice draws closer, and my body stiffens.

Lana?

Who is Lana?

A hand touches my elbow. I jump in my spot, my nose sniffing the scent of the lady.

The world freezes around me. This…can’t be possible.

Werewolf!

My head snaps up to meet a pair of dull blue eyes. The color drains from my face as I find myself staring at the elderly, soft face in complete shock.

“ I got a news about Maverick. He is already taking another woman as his mate and yet here you are, getting punished for not wanting to give him up. ” She is scolding me, I realize and her old face is filled with frustration.

She is wearing a blue, casual embroidered dress. It’s an old fashion that died with the werewolves and Lycans.

Lifting my weak hand, I poke her finger touching me. I gasp, instantly covering my mouth with the back of my hand.

She feels real!

“ I could have supported you if he was loyal to you but he tainted your image, then dumped you and took money from your father! Do you not understand that your reputation is ruined because of him? Who would want a mate who ran away from home? ” She shakes my elbow, breaking me out of the trance.

“ I…ran away from home? ” I yelp at my voice. It’s feminine and soft, unlike my rough voice.

“ Lana. ” The woman before me gasps and cups my face. “ what’s wrong? Have you fallen sick in here? ”

“ Maybe. ” I mumble. Maybe, it’s all a dream.

No! It is a DREAM.

The woman pulls me to my wobbly feet and drags me out of what I assume is the dungeon.

My mouth gapes at the big mansion I am inside. It all feels so real, the high ceilings, the golden and white setup.

We pass by a mirror, and I come to a halt. My face…

I touch my dirty cheeks, and then run my hands down the rest of my body. A beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes is staring back at me.

It’s not my face, and not my body.

A scream erupts from my mouth as I step closer to the mirror and inspect myself with a fiery urgency.

Why am I inside someone else’s body?

What kind of dream is this?

“ Lana! ” The woman screams behind me and touches the back of my head. “ Why didn’t I notice this before? Oh, my Goddess! There is a lot of dried blood on the back of your head.  ”

I cringe, dropping my gaze to my aching wrists. The blood is not only on the back of my head. My wrists are sliced and the blood has dried over my skin.

It looks like the girl I am seeing in the mirror did this to herself.

“ Why are you not healing? Is it because your father fed you silver? ” She cries out, rushing me into a room, and pushing me onto a bed.

I can’t take my eyes off my wrists. This girl…whoever is it…she slit her wrists in my dream.

What kind of punishment can this be? I wonder.

I remain seated on the bed, numb and confused. People rush in and out of the room, inspecting my head, checking my wrists, and offering me food and water.

They are all werewolves. Most smell like omega but one or two even have stronger scents like that of warriors.

Why did I end up here? I sigh.

I was on that stake, burning like a punished witch, and then everything went black.

As I think about the past, Levian’s cold eyes flash before my mind, and pain spreads in my heart. I double over, clutching my chest and heaving a deep breath.

I died.

Why does it still hurt?

Is this the hell everyone talked about?

I have this weird feeling in my gut that things didn’t end when I died. I met someone after that. It was a woman.

The face of that woman is hazy in my memory, but I can sense the warmth that radiated from her.

Then, I was pushed away from that light and into the darkness where Lana resided.

I pick up my head. My throat clogs and I am crying before I can register it.

It’s a dream but…I don’t want it to end.

This must be hell but it feels better than heaven.

The werewolves are alive. There are no signs of war with the vampires and humans.

“ What will I do with you, Lana? How could you attempt to end your life? ” The same woman is crying beside me, her fingers softly grazing my bandaged wrists.

“ Don’t…cry. ” I sniffle.

Seeing her in this state, I wonder why I am Lana in this hell. Is she someone who died a miserable death because of me?

“ I will talk to your father. He will not send you to the ball at the castle. He will not arrange for you to get selected by the Lycan King as his mate, I promise. ” The woman sobs, looking at me with teary, warmth-filled eyes.

I don’t understand what she is talking about, but…

What the hell?

The selection?

That happened almost a decade ago!

A bulb lights inside my head. “ Lycan King…Dustin? ”

“ I know you don’t want this and I will do my best— ”

Without listening to what she has to say or what offers she might make, I get up and run out of the room. She is right behind me, calling out the name ‘Lana’.

I run wildly. I run until my lungs burn. I run until I can recognize my surroundings.

I know the ways. They are etched into my memory. I know this pack. I know this world.

Many people are after me, still asking me to stop, to consider my condition.

I am dizzy, and panting and aching everywhere.

And then it comes into my view.

The giant castle that sits atop the rocks. Wolveshire Citadel. Home to the man who died because of me and the man I once betrayed.

Everything can be a dream, but this place can not be.

The moment I see the castle, and sense a dominant power behind the walls, I drop on my knees.

My desperation was not in vain.

I am alive. In someone else’s body, but I am here, in a world where the Lycan Kings and werewolves still rule. In the world that belongs to me.

I am not the last surviving werewolf in this world now.

He is still there. And as long as he lives, the vampires or humans will never win.

“ Lady Lana. ” A man comes up behind me and seizes my arms. “ Come back with us. ”

My heart pounds in my chest wildly, as I stare at the castle. Everything inside me is thrumming with bittersweet emotions.

I open my quivering mouth and whisper. “ You will not die this time, Dustin Landric. ”

And then I am crying. I am wailing. I am mourning the years I spent in my previous life, the loneliness, the guilt.

The pain is endless, and it doesn’t leave me for a long time.