Reborn To Ruin The Alpha

Keira

The cold was the first thing I felt. It was a liar. It promised numbness, a gentle sleep, but all it did was sharpen the pain.

Blood melted the snow beneath me, a single, stark splash of crimson on a world of white. It pulsed out of me, a rhythm counting down the final seconds of my life.

“Gavin,” I rasped. The name was a shard of ice in my throat. “Please.”

He stood just beyond the reach of the swirling blizzard, a dark shape against the storm. He wasn’t alone. Lila was there, clinging to his arm, her hand resting protectively on her swollen stomach. His true mate. His future.

My replacement.

One of the men surrounding me, dressed in the ragged furs of a rogue, shifted his weight. I knew his scent, even through the blood and the cold. Marcus. The head of Gavin’s personal guard.

They weren’t rogues. They were his soldiers. This wasn’t a random attack. It was an execution.

“Why?” I forced the word past my frozen lips. It was a pathetic sound, lost in the howling wind.

But he heard me. He took a few steps forward, leaving Lila sheltered behind a great pine. His face was a mask of indifference.

“You were a good Luna, Keira,” he said. His voice was calm, conversational, as if we were discussing pack finances over breakfast. “Efficient. Respected. The perfect partner.”

“Then why are you doing this?” I coughed, and fresh, hot blood spilled onto the snow.

“Because you were a partner, not a mate,” he replied, his words colder than the blizzard. “You were a contract. An alliance. Lila… she is my soul. The Moon Goddess gave her to me.”

Lila stepped out from behind the tree, her expression a sickening mix of pity and triumph. “He never loved you, you know. He was just waiting for me.”

“We couldn’t risk a scandal,” Gavin continued, his tone logical, chillingly so. “The pack loves you. A divorce, a rejection… it would have been messy. This is cleaner. A tragic attack by rogues. The pack will mourn their perfect Luna and rally behind their grieving Alpha.”

Marcus took a step forward, his blade glinting. “Should I finish it, Alpha? It would be a mercy.”

“No,” Gavin said, raising a hand. “Let the cold take her. It’s a fitting end for our Ice Queen.”

He turned his back on me then. He walked back to Lila, wrapped his arm around her, and they disappeared into the storm.

His last words echoed in my mind. Ice Queen. He called me that as an insult, but as my life bled out into the snow, I clung to it. Ice did not break. It shattered. It cut. It froze the very heart of your enemies.

My vision blurred, the white snow turning to gray, then to black. My heart stuttered, a final, frantic beat.

*I will have my revenge,* I swore to the uncaring moon, hidden behind the clouds. *If it takes an eternity, I will have my vengeance, Gavin.*

My eyes snapped open.

Sunlight, pale and white, streamed through a familiar window. I was warm. I was in a bed, tangled in soft linen sheets. My body was whole. There was no pain. No blood.

I sat up, my heart hammering against my ribs. I knew this room. It was my maiden suite in my father’s wing of the pack house. The room I had lived in until…

A frantic knock sounded at the door.

“My lady? Luna Keira, are you awake?”

The voice. It was Tara, my handmaiden. But Lila had accused her of theft and had her banished two years ago. My mind reeled.

“It’s your wedding day!” Tara’s cheerful voice called through the wood.

Wedding day.

The words hit me like a physical blow. My head swiveled to the corner of the room, where a dress form stood shrouded in a white garment bag.

My wedding dress.

The door creaked open, and Tara peeked inside, her young face bright with excitement. “My lady, forgive me for entering, but your mother is asking if you’ll be ready for the stylists soon.”

She looked exactly as I remembered her. Younger. Happier. Untouched by the cruelty that was to come.

“Tara,” I said. My voice was a croak. I cleared my throat and tried again. “What is today’s date?”

Her brow furrowed in confusion. “It’s the fifth of winter, my lady. The most wonderful day of the year!”

I stared at her. The fifth of winter. The day I had bound myself to a monster. Three years ago. Exactly three years.

“Are you alright, my lady?” Tara asked, stepping closer. “You’re as pale as a ghost. Is it nerves? Every bride gets them. Even a Luna.”

“No,” I said. The word was sharp, clear. The fog of disbelief was receding, replaced by a glacial certainty. “I am not nervous.”

I swung my legs over the side of the bed. The polished wood floor was cool beneath my bare feet. It felt real. Everything felt terrifyingly real.

“I need a moment alone,” I told her. My tone was different from the one she was used to. It held an authority I hadn’t possessed back then.

“Of course, my lady,” she said, bobbing a quick curtsy. “I’ll let your mother know.”

“And Tara?” I called out just as she reached the door.

She turned. “Yes?”

“Bring me tea. Black. No sugar, no cream.”

“Right away.” She scurried out, closing the door softly behind her.

Alone, I walked to the full-length mirror. The woman who stared back was me, but not me. Her face was softer, unlined by years of quiet disappointment and brutal betrayal. Her eyes, however… her eyes were ancient. They held the memory of blood on snow.

I was back.

The Moon Goddess, in some cruel or merciful twist of fate, had heard my dying wish.

I crossed the room and unzipped the garment bag. The dress was just as I remembered. White silk, delicate pearls, a symbol of purity and hope.

I remembered the joy I had felt when I first put it on. The naive love I had for the man waiting for me at the altar.

That girl was dead. She had frozen to death in a blizzard, betrayed by her Alpha.

I reached out and touched the cold silk. A slow, dangerous smile spread across my face. Gavin wanted his perfect Luna. Oh, I would give him a performance he would never forget.

This time, the wedding wasn't an ending. It was a beginning.

And this time, the Ice Queen would rule.