Chapter 3

Karel POV:

Freezing rain dripped through the cracks of the collapsed rubble onto my face as a violent thunderstorm raged outside.

Heavy concrete slabs pinned my lower body down. My blood had nearly run dry, making every shallow breath a torture.

The silver-gold light had faded completely, and my baby's tiny body lay nestled against the crook of my neck, growing colder by the second.

I turned my head with difficulty and rubbed my cheek against its cold, damp fur, tears mixing with the rainwater sliding down my face.

A bolt of lightning struck the mountain above, shaking the earth right before the terrifying roar of a flash flood echoed down the slope.

Through the deafening storm, the rapid chopping sound of helicopter blades cut through the wind, forcing its way over the cliffside.

Suddenly, the heavy boulders above me were ripped away by brute force, letting the howling wind and pouring rain flood into the cramped gap.

A tall, godlike figure leaped straight down from the hovering helicopter dozens of feet above, landing hard on the ruins and shattering the concrete slabs beneath his boots.

Even on the verge of death, an overpowering, intoxicating scent of cedar and pine swept through the rain and invaded my senses.

My heart clenched hard, and a sudden physical surge sent sparks dancing across my freezing skin as the tiny spark of wolf instinct waking inside me let out a weak cry—Mine!

It was the recognition ritual of a Fated Mate chosen by the Moon Goddess, triggering the unmistakable scent, the physical surge, and the inner wolf's roar all at once.

The man tore away the twisted steel bars with his bare hands, his palms splitting open and bleeding without him even flinching.

"Karel! Hold on!"

A deep, hoarse voice filled with madness and terror cut through the rain and slammed into my ears.

I tried to open my eyes wide to see his face, but severe blood loss left only a blurry dark silhouette in my vision.

He dropped to his knees in the mud and gathered my mangled body into his arms, his burning hands trembling violently against my skin and sending an electric jolt straight to my core.

When he saw the jagged incision across my stomach and the lifeless pup resting against my neck, a raw, beastly roar tore from his throat.

"No... I forbid you to die! Even if I have to tear this entire mountain range apart, I command you to live!"

He tried to use an Alpha's Command, yet his voice cracked into a desperate plea.

Resting against his heaving chest, wrapped in that cedar scent, an unprecedented sense of calm and completeness washed over me—the Soul's Peace that only a true mate could bring.

So the man from that night really was him. I had never been touched by a filthy Rogue, and my baby carried the noblest blood in the world.

With my last ounce of strength, my fingers weakly gripped his soaked suit lapel, wanting to speak, only to cough up a mouthful of black blood.

Scalding tears dripped onto my cheek as he bowed his head and pressed a desperate kiss to my freezing forehead.

At the touch of his lips, the red birthmark at my eye burned away completely into a pure white crescent moon, and my world plunged into darkness.

Tick. Tick.

The steady sound of a clock's second hand echoed in my ears.

"Wake up, blood of the Moon Goddess. Your vengeance has only just begun..."

An ancient, chilling female voice echoed directly inside my head, calling herself the Ancient One.

I sucked in a sharp breath and bolted upright like a drowning person breaking the surface of the water, gulping down dry, warm air.

There was no stench of blood, no freezing rain, and no tearing pain in my stomach.

I stared blankly at my unharmed hands, completely free of silver burns, and pressed my palms against my flat, smooth abdomen.

Bright sunlight filtered through the window blinds onto the wooden floor, illuminating the calendar on the wall: Fall Semester, St. Jude Academy.

I scrambled out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom, staring into the mirror at my young, eighteen-year-old face with the red birthmark still resting at the corner of my right eye.

I had been reborn—back to the fall semester where everything began to go wrong.