Chapter 1

I watched the executioner's blade slit my mate's throat once.

So when fate gave me a second chance, I had to walk away before he could love me again.

And now the Mating Choosing was about to begin. Again.

. . .

Inside the Territory's great hall, young females buzzed with excited chatter, their voices rising like birds at dawn.

I stood among them, but my mind was somewhere else.

Somewhere dark. And cold.

Sera leaned close. Her hand touched my arm, trembling slightly.

"Elara, look—is my hair still in place?"

I looked at her.

Really looked at her.

*She's alive.*

And then I understood.

I had come back.

In my past life, I had thought her question was just about vanity.

About honor. An Alpha's daughter couldn't afford to look anything less than perfect.

I never once imagined what was really hiding behind that nervous smile.

A girl's quiet hope that *he* would choose *her.*

The ache hit me so hard I nearly choked on it.

"You're the most beautiful female here, Sera," I said softly. "You'll become the wife of the Elder Orin's grandson. I'm sure of it."

She swatted my arm, cheeks flushing. "Don't tease me!"

I reached up and unclasped the silver claw clasp from my hair—the only thing I had ever truly owned. The only treasure from my nameless orphan days.

I pinned it carefully into her pale gold hair.

Sera blinked at me, confused. "What are you doing? Isn't this the one thing you'd never let me touch?"

I smiled.

*Yes. The only thing.*

But I owed them everything. Ten years of food, shelter, love.

[Flashback]

Ten dry seasons ago, Alpha Aldric of the Leopard Clan found me half-dead beneath a tree outside the Family Territory.

I was a snow leopard cub far from any mountain I belonged to—white where I should have been gold, gray where I should have been spotted. A nameless stray.

The Leopardis took me in anyway. They raised me beside their daughter, Sera, fed me, taught me, and never once made me feel unwanted.

Then Alpha Orin of the Lion Clan came to choose a mate for his grandson, Silas Kane.

Out of every daughter in the Enclave, Silas chose me.

Three suns later, Sera was found dead beyond the territory walls.

No one blamed me. Not then.

I married Silas. I thought I had finally found a place to belong.

Until the morning the healers confirmed I was carrying his cub.

My brother - Darius dragged Silas before the High Command Tribunal on charges of treason.

I watched the Enforcers' silver blade open my mate's throat.

He said I had stolen Sera's future. That my happiness had cost our family everything.

So I climbed to the edge of the Gorge and let myself fall.

But now—now I was back.

I pressed my hands to my face, forcing the memories down.

I was the stray they took in. I was never supposed to have more than what they gave me.

That kind of debt doesn't just disappear.

......

"It suits you," I said.

"They say Elder Orin's grandson is honorable. And handsome. A perfect match for our Sera."

Her face went pink and she shoved at my shoulder. The sound was light and bright.

Then the doors at the far end of the hall began to open.

The crowd hushed.

Elder Orin stepped in first.

Broad-shouldered. Silver-maned. His lion's presence filled the room like a storm rolling in off the plains.

Behind him walked a younger male.

Taller than the rest. Golden mane cropped short. Amber eyes scanning the crowd like none of them mattered.

Silas Kane.

My chest seized. I caught the carved post beside me before my knees folded.

*In my past life, he had been dragged before the executioner's blade. His throat slashed open on false charges. His blood soaking the dry earth while I screamed from inside my swollen belly.*

I knew that face. I knew the warmth that once lived behind those cold eyes.

And I knew what it cost to love him.

"Elara? What's wrong?" Sera's voice was suddenly sharp with worry. "You've gone the color of bone. Let me take you to the healer."

"No." I pulled my arm from her grip.

"It's nothing. I just need air. If Father and Mother find out we both skipped the Choosing, they'll skin us."

She hesitated, then pinched my cheek. "Don't be long."

I turned and pushed through the crowd, toward the back gate.

Behind me, the murmurs shifted. Excitement rippled through the hall like wind through tall grass.

*He's here. The lion prince is here.*

I couldn't help myself.

I looked back.

Silas stood in the center of the room, scanning the females with an expression of barely hidden boredom.

But his gaze had landed on something.

On someone.

On a bright silver claw clasp gleaming in Sera's pale gold hair.

He walked forward.

Step by step.

Past the dressed-up daughters of warriors and chieftains. Past the perfumed nobles who smiled and preened.

He stopped directly in front of my sister.

"You," he said, loud enough for the whole hall to hear. "I choose you."

I closed the door behind me.

And pressed my hand hard against my chest.

It still hurt.

Gods, it still hurt.

But I had seen the blush on Sera's face. The shy, surprised joy in her eyes.

*She's alive. He's alive. That's enough. That's the only ending that matters.*

I turned to walk back inside—and ran straight into someone.

Darius.

His eyes were wrong. So wild. He stared down at me like I was something rotten he'd just stepped on.

"I was still too late," he whispered. "And you already did it, didn't you."