Chapter 2

The first thing I did after returning home was study how to win this war.

The Rogues had a powerful leader known as the Wasteland Lord. He was the one who united all the Rogues.

In order to seize resources, he began attacking the surrounding packs.

In my previous life, Margaret had been sent to infiltrate his side.

She was exposed in less than three months and tortured to death in every imaginable way.

We never obtained any intelligence. Worse still, our location was directly exposed.

The war reignited as a result, with devastating casualties. Later, Orion died under a hail of enemy gunfire while protecting me.

If everything truly returned to the beginning, maybe this time I could prepare in advance.

I sat at my desk and thought the whole night through, never once falling asleep.

The next morning, I changed into casual clothes and prepared to head out.

The moment I opened the door, a cold gun barrel pressed against my head.

“Why do you insist on making things hard for Margaret?!” Orion said.

I froze for a split second, then raised my hand to knock the gun away. But Orion twisted my arm and pinned it behind me.

His grip was so strong that I couldn’t help sucking in a sharp breath.

"Orion, let go," I snapped.

I lifted my leg and kicked backward hard, but he only forced me down more brutally.

"Victoria, do you really want to become my mate that badly?" Orion said. "So badly that you're willing to let Margaret die? You're so selfish and cold-blooded. What right do you have to be loved?"

I went rigid.

Scenes from our previous life, when we hurled vicious words at each other, suddenly flashed before my eyes, perfectly overlapping with what he was saying now.

I snapped back to reality, drove my foot into his lower abdomen, grabbed the gun he dropped in pain, and turned to aim it at his forehead.

"Orion, are you planning to shoot me inside the territory?" I said.

The pain sobered him instantly.

He looked up at my swollen hand, still trembling, and the fury in his eyes turned into regret.

His tone softened unconsciously.

"I'm sorry. I acted on impulse."

I ignored him and tossed the gun at his feet.

"Someone has to be sent on this mission. You don't need to take it out on me. Maybe the final outcome will be exactly what you want. Why don't you go back and focus on preparing for your moonlit bonding?"

Orion did not catch the bitterness in my voice.

He bent down, picked up the gun dejectedly, and let out a self-mocking laugh. "Not everyone is as cold-blooded as you. How can I be thinking about the moonlit bonding at a time like this…"

I took a deep breath and walked away, face expressionless.

I clenched my teeth so hard they nearly bled, forcing myself not to look back.

This time, Orion would get exactly what he wanted.

When I returned that evening, Orion had someone leave a plate of my favorite nut pancake on my desk.

There were no pancake shops within the territory. I figured he must have gone out of his way to buy it from the grand hotel outside.

I did not take a single bite.

I knew he did this only to repay my mom for taking him in back then and raising him after bringing him home.

He had always treated me as his younger sister. It was I who had stubbornly clung on, unwilling to accept a relationship that was nothing more than deep friendship.