Rebirth

Yusria gasped and sprung up, greedily sucking in deep gasps of air. Her heart hammered in her chest, the stabbing pain blinding her vision as her wild, haunted eyes swept her surroundings.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry I ever loved you..." She resentfully hissed.

Tears of grief, despair, and immense hatred streamed down her face as she clutched her chest in an attempt to suppress the deep anguish.

Such gnawing and torturous agony, she wouldn't wish it even on her worst enemy.

And yet, her own husband and sister, the two individuals she most trusted and loved, graced her with such agony.

Her selfless care, her unwavering trust, and her deep love for the two most important individuals in her life were rewarded with betrayal, torture, and tears of blood.

Yusria waited for the pain to fade and her vision to darken. For the tormenting agony to end and blissful relief to settle in.

After the numerous cuts and stabs, the venomous poison forced down her throat, she had long lost any hope of surviving to see another day.

No matter how unwilling she was to die so pathetically, no matter how much she wanted to make the cheating couple pay, she knew her time was up.

The dead made no storms, and one as hopeless and powerless as herself had long reached the end of her rope.

If only she knew...she would've never accepted the mark of such a ba****d on her neck.

If only she knew...she would've never become his chosen mate.

But now it was all too late because there was no medicine for regrets.

"Huff...huff...huh?"

This...why did she feel...strange?

Yusria slowly raised her hand to eye level, shock surfacing in her violet depths as she turned it back and forth in disbelief.

"My hand...it's unscarred...clean...and intact?"

How was that possible? She could still remember the revolting stench of nicotine as her ba****d husband's Beta snuffed a stack of burning cigarette buds on the back of her rough hand. Her treacherous sister's nasty laughter reverberated in the background as she screamed her lungs out, tears streaming down her face, from the agonizing pain.

Her shrill cry, filled with pain and plea, echoed in the desolate woods.

But as if that wasn't satisfying enough, just as she scrambled to the nearby stream and dunked her hand in the water to cool the burn, the two of them ruthlessly smashed a rock on her wrist.

"Ahhhh! Selena, why the he** are you doing this!? I'm your sister! How can you treat me like this!?"

"Sister? Hmph! You're nothing but a lowly dog my parents picked up. How dare you claim kinship with me? Max tolerated you for so long only because of your beauty. Now that he's fed up, he doesn't want to see you anymore. So just like the lowly dog you are, bow your head and lick the scraps of leftover dinner. It's the only thing you'll be getting within the next 24 hours...Hahaha!"

The jarring, merciless laughter, the gloating expression, and the nasty remarks...they had stayed with her throughout her captivity as she patiently waited and held onto the slim hope of her husband rescuing her.

And she waited until the day he appeared.

Only it wasn't to rescue her that he had come. No...he came to force a bowl of poison down her throat.

"3 years...I have lost my right hand for three years...so...what the he** is this!?"

Not only was her hand intact, but it was also clean and, though a little rough, free of scars.

Bang!

"Yusria! Yusria! Da** bi**h! Do you not see the time!"

Whoosh!

Yusria had barely registered the owner of the gritting voice before the content of the object in her hand was damped over her head.

"Huu!" The bucket of icy cold water made her shiver. But more than that, the shadow of the female standing over her made her tremble in trepidation and disbelief.

Yusria raised her head and stared at the young features of the horrendous female in confusion. "Selena...?"

"Get the f**k up and make breakfast! I'm hungry!"

Selena Dimitri, her adopted sister and the only daughter of her adopted parents Samuel Dimitri and Beatrice Vario, stormed out of her room with her blond hair swaying behind her back in her high heels and red designer dress.

"She...that dress..." It was the same dress the girl wore on her eighteenth birthday, the day of her coming of age ceremony.

Yusria hurriedly got out of bed and nervously bit her lip as she moved to the front of the mirror. Her old bedroom, her intact hand, Selena's obviously younger appearance and borrowed designer dress....she already had a vague idea of her circumstances, but she wanted to confirm it with her own eyes.

Tightly clenching her fists, she slowly raised her head and looked in the cracked mirror. Her knee-length black hair dropped over her right chest like a drape, the morning breeze lightly plucking at the silky strands as her violet eyes reflected back at her.

"I...I'm reborn...?"

It was surreal.

Yusria didn't believe in the existence of gods. On the contrary, ever since her pack was attacked by rogues and her parents ruthlessly slaughtered, she had lost faith in the existence of higher beings that defended the weak and provided justice to the wronged.

And any little smudge of faith that might have remained in the recesses of her heart had been erased and wiped clean following her marriage and marking with the alpha's son. The agony of betrayal and suffocating pain of physical and mental torture under her adopted sister and husband's hands had scattered the last trace of faith she held.

But at this moment, as she looked at her intact hand and tear-stained unscarred face in the old mirror in wonder, a tiny kindle was lit in her heart.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a being above all that saw the ordeals she went through and decided to give her a second chance.

A second chance to relive her life, a second chance to fix her past mistakes.

"Yusria! What the F**k are you doing!?"

"C...Coming!"

Swiftly wiping her tears, Yusria composed her expression and raced out of her cramped bedroom.

The morning sun greeted her sight, blinding her eyes before they adjusted to the sudden light. The fresh mountain breeze and warm golden radiance lifted her spirits as she greedily took in her surroundings.

The Setting Dawn Pack was located in the northern rocky mountains of the Eastern United Pack. Rivers and streams wound around the little settlement of wooden houses and gushed into the rocky background.

Under the rule and order of the Eastern Lykan Emperor, skirmishes and scuffles for land and resources with the surrounding packs were few and far in between.

The Gamma Packs patroled the regions, the Deltas farmed and planted vegetables. As for the Omegas, they cleaned and served like slaves. Fishes and games were abundant, and those with brains ran businesses, hospitals, police headquarters, or law offices amidst the humans in the cities to support their family.

Everything would have been deemed as peaceful and rosy if it wasn't for the occasional attacks from the Dark Rogue Packs, a pack of lawless, banished werewolves exiled from their own packs due to their heinous and unforgivable crimes.

But this wasn't Yusria's problem.

She leisurely made her way to the pack kitchen. As a shared region, every family in the pack cooked for everyone in the pack when they entered the place.

But since the day Yusria learned to cook, the chore of making breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the entire pack was left to her.

"Yusria, why the he** are you only making breakfast now? As a wolfless trash, you neither hunt nor run a patrol. Aside from cooking and running into the city to earn a few bucks, you don't even do anything else. So why the he** are you always waking up late!?" Her adopted mother, Beatrice Vario scolded from the sitting room of their villa complex.

"Sorry, mother. I'll quickly cook your breakfast."

"You better make sure mine is ready within 10 minutes as well!" Selena scoffed from her mother's side.

Yusria felt a shiver go down her spine hearing the familiar voice of her nightmares.

"Well, what the he** are you still standing around for? Get going!" Beatrice irritatedly threw the cup in her hand at the dazed Yusria, hitting her on the forehead.

"Yes, mother."

"Well...get..get going..." The sight of blood stamped the elder woman for a second. But only for a split instant before she unsympathetically shooed her away like an annoying pest.

Yusria absentmindedly wiped off the trickle of blood and rushed into the kitchen.

As a family of Betas, the Dimitris' were allocated a single-family villa large enough to house a family of 6.

Whether it was due to the fact that she couldn't shift or because she wasn't a blood descendant of the Dimitris', Yusria was moved over to the warehouse on her 18th birthday.

Ever since than, the warehouse of the Dimitri Villa became her bedroom, her status no higher than that of an Omega.

One of the many other factors that ostracised her from the rest of the pack.

"I wasn't able to shift in my first life."

Her violet eyes gleamed with determination and she turned her head in the direction of the alpha's mansion.

"I was given a second chance. In this life, I will not repeat my past mistakes. Whether I can shift or not, I will not allow any wolf to walk over me."

Once, she was innocent and naive, easily taken in and ensnared by the beautiful promises and flowery vows of Maximillian Adonis.

But this time, she would make sure to change the direction of her life.

With or without a wolf, Yusria vowed to carve her own destiny.