Sansa's POV
I bent forward, hands braced my knees, struggling to catch my breath. My lungs burned like I'd just run miles instead of a short, frantic sprint through the woods.
That part didn't make sense to me.
I was fast. I had always been fast. I was used to running for long stretches without feeling it this deeply in my chest. But in Sansa's body, I felt weaker.
Like deliberately weaker.
I was breathing so hard it almost sounded like an asthma attack, and that alone pissed me off.
I only stopped when I was close to the road. I straightened slowly, scanning the tree line behind me.
Koa hadn't followed.
And for reasons I absolutely refused to examine too closely, that infuriated me.
Which was insane, considering I was the one who ran from him.
I dragged a hand down my face and laughed humorlessly.
I'm going crazy… cause how the fuck is Koa my mate when I already have a mate?
Or at least… I had thought I did.
Even now, in Sansa's body, I could still remember the way my skin had reacted to Lucien's touch. The pull. The spark. The way my heart had stuttered when he kissed me, before I realized he was violent and obsessive and perfectly willing to cage me like property.
Which made me believe I was still mated to Lucien hence the pull and spark I felt.
'Unless…' I tried to reason.
Unless Koa is my fated mate in Sansa's body.
I tilted my head back and glared at the moon glowing smugly above me.
"Which is a lot crueler, don't you think?" I yelled.
Because how could I be mated to someone who had pushed me into a river and stood there smiling while I struggled not to drown?
How could I be mated to someone who never laughed, and when he did, it was always because I was crying?
How could I be mated to someone who swapped my hair dye when I was twelve and watched my perfect hair start falling out in clumps?
My throat tightened as memories I hadn't thought about in years came rushing back.
When I reported him and he got suspended, I thought that would be the end of it. I was wrong. He found his way to my house and into my room that very day he got suspended.
I woke up just in time to see him standing over my bed, a knife raised, aimed straight for my eyes.
If my father hadn't come to check on me when he did, I would have been walking around with one less eye.
Koa had been a menace to everyone back then. But with me, he had been worse.
No one really knew anything about him. Not where he came from. Not who his family was. Not even which pack he belonged to. He appeared out of nowhere, carried himself like he had nothing to lose, and somehow held an influence the school couldn't rein in. Teachers watched him carefully but never challenged him outright.
No one had ever seen him shift. Not once.
For a werewolf, that should have been humiliating. Something to hide. Something to bow your head over. Anyone else would have been whispered about, and dismissed as weak.
But Koa never lowered his head.
He walked through the halls like he owned them. He didn't need noise to make an impact but chaos followed him anyway.
That was how the nickname started in my head.
Cobra Koa.
Not something I ever said out loud. I wasn't that stupid. But it was a good fit due to the way he struck without warning, and the way he left damage behind and never looked back.
No one bothered him or tried to fix him. People gave him space while pretending at indifference and carefully staying out of reach.
After the incident in my room, no one saw him the same way again. Not the teachers. Not the students. And certainly not me.
And then, suddenly, he was gone.
One day he was there, looming in the hallways, watching me like I was something he hadn't finished with yet. The next day, his seat was empty. His locker untouched. His presence erased as if he had never existed.
Seven years passed of not hearing his name, of not feeling that unease crawl up my spine. I no longer had to look over my shoulder every time I walked into a room or closed my eyes at night.
I was was twenty-two now. Well… technically. I didn't know how old Sansa was, but I knew we were close enough in age for it to count.
But I had trained myself to be confident, and a strong wolf… so I never get bullied or trampled on.
And before now, I had convinced myself Koa was a closed chapter.
Until I saw him again at the restaurant earlier, when I was still in my original body.
And now, after seven years of silence and his absence, of pretending he was nothing more than a memory, fate had dragged him back into my life in the cruelest way possible.
Not just back, but bound to me. I wasn't just facing Cobra Koa again.
I was now mated to him.
A sudden screech of tires ripped through the woods, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turned toward the sound and saw headlights cutting through the darkness.
I almost laughed out loud in relief.
I ran to the edge of the road, waving my arms, signaling the car to stop. It slowed, then came to a full halt in front of me. I let out a shaky sigh, before I moved toward the driver.
The driver looked me over once and asked, "What's a young girl like you doing in the woods this late?"
"I… I got lost," I said quickly. "Can you please give me a ride?"
"Sure. Where do you want to go?" he asked.
I froze. My mouth opened, but no words came out. Where could I possibly go right now, with everything… with this body? I hadn't even thought about it.
"Well?" he prompted gently.
I swallowed and said, "The Beta's House… please. Can you take me there?"
He gave me a quick once-over. "Sure. I was going that way anyway."
I didn't waste a second. I slipped into the car, heart still racing, and shut the door behind me.