00:00A chain around my throat, iron collar, like a dog.
00:05I crawled, naked, across the courtyard.
00:08Servants walked past with their heads down.
00:10No one helped, no one ever helped.
00:13Three brothers, one wife, that was the Fletcher family tradition.
00:16Wedding night, they drugged my wine.
00:19Three shadows pinned me to the bed, six hands like iron locks.
00:23I screamed until my throat bled, they didn't stop.
00:26When I tried to run, they stripped me bare.
00:30Chained my neck, and made me crawl on the ground while they watched.
00:34Crawl.
00:36When I stopped eating, they forced the food down, then forced other things down.
00:42You'll learn, Eleanor. They all learn eventually.
00:46A room with no windows, devices inside meant to break a woman into something obedient.
00:51I spent weeks in there, came out different each time.
00:55Their grandfather wanted a turn.
00:56Damien delivered me himself, called it family tradition.
01:01Their cousins visited, took what they wanted.
01:06Damien only said,
01:08They're family.
01:09Twelve months. I endured twelve months of this.
01:11Then my sister walked through the door.
01:13She'd married Eric Hawthorne, the Alpha Commander, but Eric never marked her, never touched her.
01:20His woman used to make a look at her.
01:22She thought he was defective, so she took servants to her bed instead.
01:26Got caught, got banished from the pack, and somehow, she blamed me.
01:30Convinced herself I was living in luxury.
01:32Three wealthy husbands doting on me while she rotted alone.
01:35Vivian looked at me thin, hollow, bruised, and all she saw was jealousy confirmed.
01:41Three men worship you and you still look miserable?
01:44You greedy bitch.
01:46I fell.
01:47Blood pooled warm under my cheek.
01:49She stepped over my body, careful not to stain her shoes.
01:53Nothing.
01:53Then, light.
01:55I gasped awake.
01:56Clean sheets.
01:57Sunlight.
01:58My old bedroom at the Ashford Estate.
02:00I grabbed my stomach.
02:02No wound.
02:03No scar.
02:04No collar marks on my neck.
02:05Miss Eleanor?
02:06The choosing ceremony begins within the hour.
02:09I looked at my hands.
02:10Young, unscarred, whole.
02:12The choosing ceremony.
02:13The day I chose the Fletcher family.
02:16I pressed my palm against my chest.
02:18Heart pounding.
02:19Not this time.
02:23The laughter exploded.
02:25Oh, sister!
02:27A soldier's wife?
02:28How brave.
02:31Such a hard life, military families.
02:34No money.
02:35No comfort.
02:36But I suppose someone has to take him.
02:38Lord Ashford frowned but said nothing.
02:41He never said anything when it mattered.
02:43I walked toward Eric.
02:45The moment I got close, the sole mark on my collarbone burned white hot.
02:50I kept my face still.
02:52In my last life, I screamed until I bled and no one came.
02:56In my last life, I crawled on stone with a chain around my neck.
03:00In my last life, I was one week away from poisoning all three of those monsters to death.
03:05And my own sister put a blade through my heart.
03:08This life, the one walking into that hell is not me.
03:11I glanced at Vivian radiant, victorious, already picturing her golden future.
03:17She has no idea what she just chose.
03:19The Fletcher mating convoy packed the entire street.
03:23Gold carriages.
03:24Pearl draped horses.
03:26Enough jewels to buy a pack territory twice over.
03:29Not that the Fletchers had wolf blood to claim one.
03:32Vivian burst into my room.
03:34Gold hairpins blazing.
03:36Iridescent pearls sewn across her mating gown.
03:38She ran her fingertip down my plain dress.
03:42Not a single gemstone.
03:44This is what mating with a soldier gets you.
03:47I said nothing.
03:48Let her gloat.
03:49In my last life, I rode in that gold carriage.
03:52The ride ended in hell.
03:53That silk gown was shredded by six hands on the mating night.
03:58Last chance, sister.
04:00Wanna swap mates?
04:02I'll take the commander.
04:03You take the Fletchers.
04:05Something cold flashed behind her stare.
04:08Same look.
04:09Both lives.
04:10When she can't have what she wants.
04:12She kills for it.
04:13I pulled my hand free.
04:14Enjoy your big day, Vivian.
04:16She left, head high.
04:17The victor.
04:18I picked up my plain veil.
04:20This is the last day she'll have anything to celebrate.
04:22Sister, go find out what the Fletcher mating bed really feels like.
04:26I stepped out the door and onto a path nothing like my last life.
04:33Eric was tall, broad-shouldered.
04:35His mating coat barely contained him.
04:37The other wives at the ceremony couldn't stop staring.
04:40They had every reason to.
04:42Eric was a pure-blood alpha, the rarest bloodline in the kingdom.
04:46His wolf form was a silver giant that most wolves would never see in a lifetime.
04:50But Vivian spent their entire last life telling everyone he was impotent,
04:55couldn't perform, couldn't even shift in front of her.
04:58The truth was simpler.
04:59His wolf never recognized her.
05:01An alpha's wolf only responds to its fated mate.
05:04Vivian was never his.
05:06She just never figured that out.
05:08The ceremony dragged.
05:09We moved through every mating ritual like puppets.
05:12When the last guest left, the room went quiet.
05:15Long day.
05:16Get some rest.
05:18He lay on his side.
05:19Didn't reach for me.
05:21Didn't push.
05:21I lay on the far edge.
05:23Closed my eyes.
05:24The dream came fast.
05:26Wine burning my throat.
05:27Three shadows, six hands holding me down.
05:30Laughter that wouldn't stop.
05:32Pain blood.
05:32They kept going.
05:33I screamed myself awake.
05:35Eric was already beside me.
05:37Warm cloth pressed to my face.
05:38In my last life, I screamed until my voice broke and no one came.
05:43You're safe.
05:45Sleep.
05:46He lay back down, stayed close.
05:48His wolf wouldn't look at Vivian.
05:50Not in an entire marriage.
05:52So what happens when he is near his real mate?
05:55The soul mark on my collarbone pulsed faint, warm, steady.
06:01Morning light.
06:03I opened my eyes.
06:04Eric's side of the bed.
06:05Cold.
06:06Already gone.
06:06Last night he held me through a nightmare.
06:09Wiped my face.
06:10Brushed my hair.
06:11But he never touched me.
06:12Not once.
06:13I moved to the window and cracked the shutter.
06:15Eric shirtless.
06:17Sword drills at dawn.
06:18Every muscle working on your scarred skin.
06:21His body moved like something built for war.
06:23Vivian spent their entire last marriage calling him defective.
06:27Maybe she was right.
06:28A gathering at Lady Whitmore's estate.
06:31Alpha wives and beta noblewoman.
06:33Wine flowing.
06:34Gossip sharpening claws.
06:36The Fletcher brothers.
06:38All three of them.
06:39Handsome, rich and apparently very attentive.
06:43That new wife of theirs can barely walk straight.
06:46Lucky girl.
06:48My stomach turned.
06:50What's going on about Commander Hawthorne though?
06:52I've heard rumors.
06:53Can't perform.
06:54Can't swift.
06:55Must be lonely for you dear.
06:57I sipped my wine.
06:58Said nothing.
06:59Across the room.
07:00Vivian sat among them.
07:01Radiant.
07:02Dripping in Fletcher gold.
07:04She caught my eye.
07:05Smiled slow and victorious.
07:10I didn't answer.
07:12I walked out of the corridor.
07:13In my last life.
07:14Vivian stood over my bleeding body and screamed.
07:17Three men worship you and you still complain?
07:20You shameless whore.
07:22Now she is the one on that bed.
07:24Three brothers nowhere to run.
07:26No one coming to save her.
07:27She chose this.
07:29A letter from Lord Ashford.
07:30Family dinner.
07:31Full moon gathering.
07:33We should be together as a family.
07:36I knew who wrote the real invitation.
07:39Damien's gold paid for every candle on that table.
07:41But I needed to see the board up close.
07:43So I went.
07:44Four armed women at my side.
07:46Ashford Manor.
07:47Damien sat at the head of the table.
07:49My father's table with chests of gold stacked behind his chair.
07:53Margaret fussed over him.
07:54Lord Ashford poured his wine.
07:56Vivian sat in the corner.
07:58Silent.
07:59Thin.
08:00Heavy powder cracking at her cheekbones.
08:02A different woman from six months ago.
08:07Damien tried twice to approach me.
08:10My women blocked him each time.
08:12His smile turned to wire.
08:13I excused myself to the corridor he followed.
08:16A guard stepped between us.
08:20Eric is gone, Eleanor.
08:22How long can you keep this up alone?
08:24I walked back to the table without a word.
08:26Halfway through dinner, Lord Ashford cleared his throat.
08:31Your husband earned considerable merit at the front.
08:34Surely those connections would benefit the family.
08:37Perhaps open some doors for your brother-in-law's trade guild.
08:40Your father's right.
08:42Family helps family.
08:43It's the least you could do.
08:44I set down my cup.
08:46My fingers didn't shake.
08:48I slammed the cup into the table.
08:51It shattered.
08:51Wine and glass sprayed across the white cloth.
08:54The room went dead silent.
08:58You are my father's second wife.
09:00No wolf blood.
09:01No soul mark.
09:02No standing in this pack.
09:03You married into this family after my mother died.
09:06And you dare lecture me?
09:08Husband, are you going to let her speak to me like this?
09:10Eric is bleeding on the northern front for this kingdom.
09:13You haven't asked once if he's alive.
09:15But you'll sit here and ask me to use his name to benefit a merchant who buys your loyalty with
09:19gold.
09:19Two daughters, two husbands, and you only care about the one who pays.
09:24Lord Ashford opened his mouth.
09:25Nothing came out.
09:27Snow had begun falling outside the windows, heavy fast.
09:30At the door, a voice behind me, low and smooth.
09:34The more you resist, the more interesting you become.
09:37I can't wait to see what you look like when you've lost everything.
09:41I didn't turn around.
09:42I walked into the storm back of the Hawthorne estate.
09:45The study door locked from the inside.
09:48I didn't lock it.
09:50My hand found the iron dagger at my hip.
09:52I pushed the door open.
09:56Eric, sitting in the dark, arms folded, waiting.
10:00The soul marks on both our collarbones erupted the second I stepped inside.
10:04Bright, burning, pulling us toward each other.
10:07You smell like Fletcher cologne and cheap wine.
10:10Family dinner.
10:11How bad.
10:14I told him everything.
10:15The market fair.
10:17What I saw through that window.
10:18Damien circling me at every gathering.
10:20The watchers outside our walls.
10:22My father selling my name for Fletcher gold.
10:25Eric didn't move.
10:26His expression went cold and still.
10:28What's your next move?
10:29In my paused.
10:30Chose my words.
10:31I've heard the Fletcher Rose Garden is built on something they don't want found.
10:34Fifty years of women buried under those roots.
10:36Bones.
10:36Evidence.
10:37Enough to destroy the entire bloodline.
10:39You need a way inside.
10:40I need a reason for the crown to search the grounds.
10:42You give me that, I'll walk through the front door myself.
10:45He took my hand.
10:47I'll build the reason.
10:48You be the bait.
10:50And when the net closes, I'll be right behind you.
10:53I leaned against his chest.
10:55His heart beat steady.
10:56The marks on our skin still glowed faint gold.
10:59Their roses bloom every year.
11:02Brighter than anyone else's in Thornhold.
11:05Good soil?
11:08Human blood and bone.
11:10His arms tightened around me.
11:11Neither of us spoke for a long time.
11:14The countdown was no longer just started.
11:16It was almost over.
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