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Chapter 2 - Chapter 2: Whispers from Another Life

The room was silent, save for the rhythmic crackling of the sacred moonfire burning in the silver brazier beside the bed. The flame cast soft shadows on the ancient stone walls of the Raventhorn Healing Temple, where the wounded of royal blood were sent to recover in peace. Only a handful of souls had ever stepped foot in this inner sanctum—none so broken, and none so important.

Selene lay as still as death beneath layers of silk sheets embroidered with ancient glyphs. Her skin, pale and bruised, glowed faintly under the silver torchlight. Her breathing was shallow, her body unmoving, but her mind was anything but quiet.

In her dreams, chaos reigned.

---

The wind howled across a bloodstained battlefield. Wolves clashed in the distance—fangs tearing flesh, claws slashing through armor. The sky cracked open with thunder, and beneath a blackened moon, a man knelt over a dying girl.

"No! No, please—Selene, stay with me!"

Her name echoed across lifetimes.

Her body trembled in his arms as crimson spilled from her lips.

"You promised me forever…" she whispered.

His sobs shattered the silence, and then, the world went black again.

---

Selene jolted awake with a gasp, her chest heaving as if she'd been drowning. Her fingers clutched at the sheets. For a moment, she didn't know where she was. The pain from her transformation still echoed in her limbs, but now her head throbbed with a different kind of agony—memories that didn't belong to this life.

She sat up slowly, her breathing ragged. Her heart ached, but not from fear—from recognition.

That man.

Those eyes.

That voice.

And then, like thunder rolling across the heavens, his scent wrapped around her—spice, smoke, and storm.

He was here.

Selene turned her head and met his gaze.

Alpha Darius Stormbane stood in the shadows, his arms crossed behind his back, his eyes burning like molten gold. He had not slept. Had not moved from her side. Not since he carried her through the forest like something precious.

For a long moment, they said nothing.

He stared at her as though he were staring into the sun.

She stared back as if looking through time.

"You're… real," she whispered, her voice hoarse.

"As real as you are, little moon," he replied quietly.

Her brow furrowed. "Little moon?"

"That's what I called you… before," he said. "In another life."

Her hands trembled as she reached up to touch the strange scar over her heart—the crescent mark that pulsed like a second heartbeat.

"You know me," she said slowly.

"I have always known you."

---

The priestess entered then, robes whispering along the floor, her silver hair braided in coils. She bowed her head to Darius.

"My king, the Circle of Claws is demanding audience."

"I am not leaving her."

"Then they shall wait."

She turned to Selene and examined her carefully, placing two fingers against her temple.

"She's stronger than she looks," the priestess murmured. "The bond is ancient, but the soul is still fragile. The memories will come slowly—and painfully. You must prepare her."

"I will," Darius said, his voice sharp with promise.

The priestess hesitated. "You understand what this means, don't you? If she truly is the one from the Prophecy—"

"She is."

"Then death will come for her again. As it always does."

---

When the priestess was gone, Selene leaned her head back against the pillows.

"Why me?" she asked quietly. "Why would fate tie you to someone like me? I'm no one. I'm weak. I'm nothing but an abandoned orphan. You… you are royalty."

Darius stepped closer, kneeling beside the bed so their eyes were level.

"You are everything," he said fiercely. "You are the reason I was reborn. The reason my wolf howled into the void for centuries. You are not weak. You are the strongest soul I've ever known—because you've survived this long without even knowing who you are."

Selene bit her bottom lip. Her throat felt tight. She wanted to believe him—but how could she? She had spent her whole life being told she was worthless. Broken. A mistake.

"Do you remember me?" she asked, voice trembling.

Darius nodded slowly. "Not everything. But I remember enough. I remember holding your hand as the world burned. I remember you dying in my arms… again, and again, and again."

She reached for him then, without thinking. Her fingers brushed his, and a spark leapt between them.

And just like that—more memories came.

---

The two of them, standing in a moonlit garden, exchanging vows in secret.

Her laughter echoing through a forest.

His lips on hers beneath falling snow.

Their blood spilled on a stone altar.

A crown shattered.

A curse whispered.

---

Selene pulled her hand back with a gasp.

Tears spilled down her cheeks.

"I… I saw it."

Darius swallowed hard. "So did I."

For a long moment, they simply sat in silence, breathing the same air, their hearts beating in a rhythm older than time.

Then she asked the question that terrified her the most.

"If I've died before… will I die again?"

He looked at her, and for the first time, she saw fear in the eyes of the great Alpha King.

"Yes," he said softly. "Unless we break the curse."

---

Later that night, Darius stood alone on the temple balcony, staring at the full moon.

His Beta, Calen, approached quietly.

"My King. The High Circle is restless. They say you're being reckless—bringing an unmarked girl into the inner court, refusing counsel, ignoring tradition."

Darius didn't look away from the moon.

"She's not unmarked. She bears the lunar scar."

"That mark hasn't been seen in over a thousand years."

"And yet it has returned. On her."

Calen hesitated. "You know what they'll say—that she's dangerous. That she's cursed."

Darius turned, his eyes glowing. "She is cursed. But not because she is dangerous. Because she is the key. And I will protect her. Even from the gods if I must."

Calen lowered his gaze. "Then you must be ready. The council will challenge you. The prophecy says if she lives, the old bloodlines will fall. They fear what her awakening means."

"Let them fear," Darius growled. "I have feared for lifetimes. It's their turn."

---

Meanwhile, Selene walked through the sacred gardens under torchlight, her steps slow but steady. The world felt different. Her senses were sharper. She could hear voices from across the palace, feel the vibrations of distant wolves moving in their quarters, smell the wild jasmine blooming in the far corners of the temple.

She paused by a reflecting pool and stared at her own face.

She didn't recognize herself.

The scar over her heart shimmered like a silver flame. Her eyes, once dull and gray, now held flecks of white-gold, like stardust had embedded itself in her irises.

Aeria stirred within her mind.

"We are one now," the wolf said gently.

"I have waited for you to be ready. And now, we must reclaim what was lost."

Selene clenched her fists.

"I don't want to die again."

"Then fight. Fight for love. For truth. For the mate whose soul is tethered to yours beyond the veil."

Her eyes narrowed. Her spine straightened.

She would not run. Not this time.

---

That night, when Darius returned to the chamber, Selene was waiting for him, seated on the edge of the bed.

"I want to know everything," she said.

He stepped toward her, heart pounding.

"I will tell you everything I remember. But we will have to piece the rest together—through visions, old scrolls, the Moon Archives. I've already summoned the scribes."

Selene stood, lifting her chin.

"Then let them come. If I am to die again, I want to know why. And if there's a way to stop it, we'll find it together."

A slow smile touched his lips.

"My little moon… you've always had fire."

"And you've always been a stubborn wolf."

They stood there, no longer strangers, no longer just Alpha and orphan.

But souls.

Bound before time.

Bound beyond death.

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