Her Second Dance, His First Regret

After Amber died, my fated mate, Jared, began to hate me.

"If it weren't for you, Amber wouldn't have died," he'd snarl. "Why wasn't it you?"

Publicly, he was my doting husband. Privately, he was my tormentor.

Until, finally, I died.

I was reborn, thrown back in time to before Amber's death.

This time, I won't cling to Jared. He can have Amber.

At my Pack promotion ceremony, when he flung my hand aside and strode toward Amber, I didn't beg.

When he said the smell of me in his house made him sick, I moved out that very day.

When he told me to stop getting in the way of him and his true love, I severed the mate bond without a second thought and found love with another man.

Sometime later, I was strolling down the street, hand in hand with my new mate.

Jared blocked our path, a desperate wildness in his bloodshot eyes.

"Phoebe, come back to me," he pleaded. "I can forgive you for this farce."

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1

"Phoebe, I'm rejecting your invitation. I've already promised Amber the opening dance."

Jared flung my hand aside without a second thought and strode toward Amber.

Whispers rippled through the crowd, mocking me for being rejected by my own fated mate.

But none of them knew the sheer joy blooming in my chest.

Because I had been reborn.

I was back at my Pack promotion ceremony, twenty-two years old again.

I was the only daughter of the Iron Ridge Pack's Alpha, and Jared was my mate-to-be.

In everyone's eyes, I was the spoiled, clingy girl who had trapped Jared against his will.

Jared thought so, too.

So even though we were fated mates, he had never given me the time of day.

In my last life, at this very ceremony, he did the exact same thing—shook off my hand in front of everyone and made a beeline for Amber.

I had begged him to stay. He never looked back.

I became the pack's laughingstock.

When Jared's parents found out, they were furious. They scolded him and ordered him to complete the bonding ceremony with me immediately.

On our bonding day, Amber vanished, leaving a suicide note. The story spread that she’d been killed by rogues.

From that day on, Jared saw me as Amber's murderer.

He wanted revenge.

Publicly, he played the part of a devoted mate.

In private, he destroyed me piece by piece—driving my parents to their deaths and killing our unborn pup.

After my parents died, he became the new Alpha of the Iron Ridge Pack.

Countless times, I begged him to sever our mate bond, but he always refused.

He’d sneer, "I want you to suffer for an eternity."

For twenty years, I lived in utter despair.

Finally, when he stabbed me with a silver dagger and left me for dead in the wilderness, I simply gave up the fight.

I was found, but I still died on a cold infirmary bed.

The greatest irony of all? As I lay dying, the healer let it slip that Amber was still alive and had become a best-selling author.

Amber had never died. She was living her best life.

The world fell for their story of tragic loss and fated reunion, showering them with support.

Only I died, filled with an ocean of regret.

This time, I would stay far away from Jared, protect my parents, and finally live for myself.

Under the shocked gazes of the crowd, I turned and made my way to the young man sitting in the corner.

"Ronan," I said, my voice clear. "Would you do me the honor of this dance?"

Before Ronan could answer, I took his hand and led him to the center of the dance floor.

Gasps erupted around us.

"Did she just grab Ronan's hand?"

"Isn't Phoebe completely obsessed with Jared? Why would she ask another man to dance?"

"He's going to tear her apart!"

"No kidding—everyone knows the Alpha of the Shadow Crest Pack is a cold-blooded killer."

"I heard he once exiled a pack member just for looking at him wrong!"

"Shut up! If he hears you, you're dead meat!"

I leaned close to Ronan's ear and whispered, "Is any of that true?"