Chapter 2

2 I knew exactly what she was thinking.

In her past life, her three mates couldn't shift. Not only that, they all had debilitating birth defects.

They were even torn apart and killed by another tribe's shifters while trying to protect Kiera during an attack.

But I knew something she didn't: that kind of selfless loyalty was the rarest treasure in this world.

Now that our fates are swapped, I won't let them die so tragically again.

A thrill of joy shot through me as I felt the power coursing through my new body.

Alpha Queen and Divine Maiden? Those are just pretty names for a glorified prisoner.

If Kiera wants them, she can have them.

In this primitive world, strength is the only thing that matters.

And this time, I will be the one who rules over all beasts.

After the Primal God assigned our roles, we were transported to the shifter continent.

In her first life, Kiera wanted supreme power and a harem of handsome men.

But being unable to shift turned that dream to dust.

She had despised her three mates and treated them horribly. Having been human for so long, she couldn't stand their bestial nature.

She was lazy, lounging around the camp while others worked.

Her three mates, already born with disadvantages and now suffering from her abuse, could never compete with the other shifters.

They often failed to bring back any prey.

Kiera never missed a chance to berate them for their weakness.

When she finally gathered enough power to shift, her malnourishment resulted in a squat, dark-skinned human form. Next to my pale, slender figure, she looked like an ape.

She was filled with regret. But the tribe's law was absolute: you could only choose new mates if your current ones died, or if you became the Alpha King yourself.

So, when a rival tribe attacked their Clearwater Tribe, she used herself as bait to lure her three mates into a trap set by the enemy.

After they were killed, Kiera immediately started trying to seduce other males.

She set her sights on a slithery, handsome snake-shifter and an ape-shifter, whose clan was the most human-like.

But she was a fool. The snake-shifters were notoriously promiscuous and cruel, and the ape-shifters… their females were shared by the entire clan.

She had chosen the two most despised clans on the continent. What awaited her was a torment worse than death.

It wasn't until the new Alpha King was crowned that all shifters gathered for the sacred ceremony in the heart of the forest.

There, Kiera saw me, surrounded by my handsome mates, who treated me like a goddess, catering to my every whim.

I was crowned the Alpha Queen, a position of immense honor.

She went mad with jealousy.

She tricked me, luring me to a poison bog deep in the jungle, and shoved me in.

My tendons had already been cut. I was helpless to fight back.

“Elara,” she hissed, her face twisted with rage. “You stole my identity in the real world. You lived my life for twenty years. Why do you get to have everything I ever wanted here, too?”

“You’re a thief! Go to hell!”

As the poison consumed me, my mind drifted back to our past life.

Kiera was the long-lost heiress, the true daughter of the wealthy family that had adopted me.

When they finally found her and brought her home, my adoptive parents, who had grown to love me, begged me to stay.

I agreed, partly out of gratitude for the life they'd given me, and partly out of a deep-seated guilt towards Kiera.

It was the most foolish decision I ever made. There are a million ways to show gratitude, and I chose the one that would destroy me.

Over time, my family’s affection shifted entirely to Kiera.

When her grades weren't good enough, they forced me to give her my full-ride scholarship to our dream university. Kiera even had them change my declared major to something useless.

When she decided she liked my fiancé, they broke my engagement and handed my happiness to her on a silver platter.

Even my brother, who had always doted on me, began to see me as a thief who had stolen his real sister's life. He stood by and watched every time Kiera framed me for something she’d done.

She told everyone that I had stolen her life.

In their eyes, I was nothing but a fraud.

But it was true that I had lived as the family's precious daughter for twenty years. They had raised me, and that was a debt I felt I had to repay.

Now, that debt is paid in full.

Even in this new life, I let her choose first.

A small smile touched my lips. From this moment on, Kiera and I owe each other nothing.