Chapter1

Because I carry the blood of both vampires and werewolves, I was granted the ability to rise again after death.

At first, my Alpha nearly went mad with grief each time I died.

But once he discovered I couldn't truly be killed, everything slowly changed. He began sending me to take his blows, to walk into danger in his place—and eventually, he handed me over to the altar to save another woman, because he was certain I would always come back.

"Don't be afraid," he would murmur. "You'll return."

What he didn't know was that my rebirths were never miracles. They were a countdown to my true transformation—and this time, it would be my final death.

......

[Leila's POV]

"This is the last sacrifice I'll ever ask of you."

Alrik's voice echoed through the stone ritual chamber, carrying a tenderness that was impossible to resist.

His golden beast-eyes were locked onto me, as if he could see straight through to my soul.

Serena stood behind him—that woman I had once believed was my friend, an Omega who now watched me with reddened eyes, clutching a handkerchief so tightly her knuckles had gone white.

The last time?

Those two words seared through me like a brand pressed to flesh.

"Leila." Alrik reached out, intending to stroke my hair.

I took a sharp step back and pulled away from his touch.

That small movement froze the air in the chamber solid.

Serena drew a sharp breath. The tenderness on Alrik's face cracked—just slightly, but I saw it.

"She has three months at most," Alrik said, his voice dropping to a low, authoritative rumble. "A congenital heart defect. Only a werewolf's heart can save her."

"So you want my life." I heard my own voice trembling.

Serena burst into tears—a sound that was all anguish and wounded pride.

"Leila, I never wanted this to happen. I don't want it either—but I love Alrik so much, and I don't want to die!" She dropped to her knees with a thud. "For the sake of the bond we've shared as sisters, please—save me!"

Alrik's gaze flickered. He stepped toward me again, reaching for me. "Leila. You know what you are to me—my Omega. Your life belongs to me. This is your honor."

My honor.

My honor was to tear out my own heart so a woman who coveted my place could live?

"Alrik," I said, holding his gaze, speaking each word like a blade. "If I die—would you actually grieve?"

He froze. He clearly hadn't expected the question.

His eyes cut involuntarily to Serena—just for a heartbeat, so brief it was almost nothing. But I caught it.

There was no sorrow in that glance. Only the loosening of something long held tight.

"Silly girl." He pulled his tender mask back into place and reached up to wipe the tears from my cheek—tears I hadn't even realized had fallen. "Of course I'd grieve. But this is the last time, I swear it."

"When you come back, I'll give you the grandest ceremony this tribe has ever seen. You'll be crowned Luna—officially, in front of everyone."

There it was again. Come back.

He thought I didn't see it. But I saw everything—every calculation running behind those beautiful gold eyes.

He no longer cared about my sacrifice. It had become just another step in his plan. How long after death before I'd revive. What rate my heartbeat followed when it returned. How many more times he could use me as a resource.

"Do you know something, Alrik?" I laughed—and kept laughing until tears blurred my vision. "Sometimes I think you were never really my Alpha. I think you've just been using me as a walking blood bank."

"Leila!" His voice cracked like a whip, Alpha dominance flooding the room with a force that nearly crushed the breath from my lungs. "Enough of this. That is an order."

An order. Such a convenient pair of words.

I looked at his handsome, blank face. Then I looked at Serena weeping on the floor as though her soul were leaving her body.

Every beat of my heart felt like another second counted down toward my death.

"All right," I heard myself say. "I'll do it."

Alrik's eyes lit up with the flash of a hunter watching prey take the bait.

"I knew you'd understand." He exhaled—pure relief—and stepped forward to pull me into his arms. "When you wake up, I'll give you anything you want."

I didn't resist. I let him hold me.

His arms were warm. And somehow that made the cold inside me all the more bone-deep.

"Leila—thank you," he murmured against my ear.

I closed my eyes. I breathed him in.

Thank you. For sending me to my death?

"Alrik." I stepped back and opened the space between us. "Before that—I have one more question."

His smile faltered. "What question?"

"If I die—and I never come back—" I locked my eyes on his. "Would you feel even the smallest regret?"

He didn't pause. The answer came immediately, without thought: "No. Because you'll definitely come back."

In that moment, the last of it died inside me.