The Blackthorn family estate looked just as she remembered it grand, intimidating, and cold.
Twisting iron gates parted silently as Selena's carriage passed through, and the looming gray mansion came into view. Its towering spires scraped the cloudy sky, casting long shadows across the stone courtyard. Selena didn't flinch.
She had walked into this place in her first life wearing her best gown and her softest smile, excited to meet her soon-to-be mate.
Now, she stepped out of the carriage in blood-red silk, her chin high and her eyes sharp, Not a single smile.
A butler greeted her at the door, stiff and polished. "Lady Selena. Alpha Damien awaits you in the study."
"Of course," she said calmly, brushing imaginary dust from her sleeve. "Lead the way."
The halls were just as she remembered silver wolf carvings along the walls, black marble floors that clicked under her heels, and the faint smell of cedarwood that once made her feel safe. Not anymore.
Now everything here reeked of deception.
The butler opened the tall double doors of the study and bowed.
"Alpha Damien, Lady Selena D'Archer has arrived." She stepped inside.
Damien was seated behind a heavy oak desk, his sleeves rolled up, a pen in hand. He didn't look up immediately too focused on the documents before him. Still the same. Cold. Precise. Effortlessly powerful.
But Selena wasn't the same woman anymore.
"I assume you've read the proposal," he said without glancing up.
"I have," Selena replied, moving closer. "Though I must say... I expected something a bit more personal."
That made him look up. Their eyes locked.
And for a split second a fraction of a heartbeat something flickered across his face.
Recognition?
No.
He couldn't remember the past. Only she could.
And that gave her power.
Damien stood slowly, gaze scanning her form. His gray eyes were unreadable, but something in his jaw tightened.
"You look... different," he said.
Selena smiled. "Do I?"
He didn't respond. She took a seat across from him, crossing her legs with practiced grace. "So. A contract marriage between the D'Archer family and the Blackthorn Pack. Thirty days from now. Terms and conditions attached."
"You're not surprised?" he asked.
"I'm not naive," she said. "You don't want a mate, Damien. You want power. And you think marrying me will give you that."
"And you?" he asked smoothly. "What do you want from this arrangement?"
Selena's smile didn't reach her eyes.
"Leverage."
There was a silence. Not awkward tense.
Finally, Damien slid a thin folder across the desk.
"The terms. Read them. Add your own if you like."
Selena opened it. Inside were lines of legal-sounding nonsense inheritance clauses, territory divisions, Luna responsibilities, and most interestingly: a clause forbidding romantic involvement outside the contract.
She raised a brow.
"No mistresses? How charmingly possessive of you."
"I don't tolerate scandal," Damien said flatly.
Selena leaned forward slightly, voice smooth as silk.
"You mean you don't like losing control."
Damien didn't respond. But his eyes darkened slightly.
Good. Let him simmer.
She closed the folder gently and pushed it back.
"I'll consider it."
"I need an answer by the end of the week."
"You'll have it," she said, standing. "But understand something, Damien."
He tilted his head.
"I may agree to marry you. But I will never belong to you."
She turned and walked to the door, every movement deliberate, confident, sharp.
Just as she reached the threshold, Damien's voice stopped her.
"You were softer before."
She froze, then glanced over her shoulder.
"You must be mistaking me for the girl you think I am."
And with that, she was gone.
Outside, the wind tugged at her dress. The world felt colder here the air sharper, heavier. She walked back to the carriage with her heart pounding and her fingers curling slightly at her sides. It was done. She had looked into the eyes of the man who killed her and didn't flinch. But inside, her memories burned like wildfire.
Flashback:
She had cried for him. Screamed for him. Begged him to believe she was innocent. He hadn't even blinked. When the guards dragged her across the ground, he had turned his back.
Selena stepped into the carriage, fire now simmering beneath her calm expression.
Let him believe she was cold.
Let him underestimate her.
Because this time, he would fall first.
And she would make sure his heart shattered the same way hers once did.