After Rebirth, My Rejecting Alpha’s Regret Chapter 01

After Rebirth, My Rejecting Alpha’s Regret Chapter 01

Alpha Ryan and I were a pair of star-crossed lovers turned bitter rivals.

He thought I was calculating and jealous, and I thought he was hypocritical and stupid.

We had been together for eight years, and fought through every single one. That was how things stayed, until I was suddenly cursed with something fatal.

Ryan, who never hid his hatred for me, mocked me and said I deserved it. But then he had a dark witch transfer the curse to him. He chose to trade his life for mine.

On his deathbed, he said to me, “Stephanie, I don’t owe you anything in this life. If there’s a next life, please don’t come after me again. Just let me be with Faye.”

Faye was my adoptive older sister and Ryan’s fated mate.

I was stunned. Then I blinked, and I was back eight years ago, the day Ryan first saved me from drowning.

I fought with everything I had to swim away from him.

But when I finally gave up on him and married someone else, Alpha Ryan stopped the wedding convoy and challenged the Alpha King directly.

“Stephanie,” he said. “It took two lifetimes, but you are my only Luna.”

…

Ryan died three days after taking the curse for me. Even in death, he was still glaring at me with pure hatred.

All because I had whispered in his ear, “Don’t even dream about it, Ryan. I’ll haunt you forever. I will never let you and Faye have what you want.”

I might have been the one who drove him to his death.

So on the day of his funeral, I was locked in the basement of the Silver Moon pack house.

Ryan’s parents and the pack elders refused to let me attend his funeral. They wouldn’t let me give a eulogy as his Luna.

What a shame for them.

I wasn’t some delicate, high-society woman. I was a wild, low-born she-wolf raised in hardship and struggle.

My wolf kicked down the basement door. I changed into a black dress and slipped past the guards.

By the time I reached the Silver Moon altar, my adoptive sister was leaning over Ryan’s crystal casket, sobbing like her heart had been ripped out.

Anyone watching would have thought she was Ryan’s Luna.

My scent flooded the altar. When she looked up, her swollen eyes met mine. She flinched.

To be honest, I didn’t blame her. For the past ten years, I’d had a terrible reputation. Jealous. Cold. Heartless.

A few years back, Ryan had kept a she-wolf on the side. She looked about thirty percent like Faye.

After I found out, that she-wolf ended up dead in the street, my Moon Goddess crest still clutched in her hand.

From that day on, every female in the Silver Moon pack avoided me like the plague.

Ryan’s parents followed the scent and saw me. Instinctively, they stepped in front of Faye.

They glared at me. “Stephanie, what do you want now? You’ve already killed Ryan. Are you going to hurt his fated mate too?”

“Fated mate?” I couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you really want everyone to know that Alpha Ryan betrayed his Moon Goddess? Do you want him remembered as a disgrace?”

“Stephanie, how dare you! If you hadn’t faked falling in the water at that banquet and drugged Ryan, forcing him to break things off with Faye, they never would have lost each other!”

I ignored their anger. I walked up to Ryan’s casket and snatched the funeral portrait from Faye.

She wouldn’t let go. She fell to her knees, sobbing as she lowered her head in desperation.

“Stephanie, please. You’ve had Ryan for eight years. Please, just let me see him off.”

She looked so pitiful. Someone in the crowd couldn’t stand it anymore and shoved me hard from behind.

The portrait smashed against the floor.

I hit the casket. The crystal lid slid off, and Ryan’s farewell ceremony ended before it had really begun.

Faye threw herself over the casket, wailing until she nearly passed out.

Everyone rushed to comfort her.

Nobody paid attention to me, bleeding out on the ground.

I got pregnant right before the curse. Ryan was the only one who knew.

He didn’t tell anyone. He didn’t want to upset Faye.

Who would have thought that this unwanted baby would be his only child?

But even that last bit of his bloodline didn’t survive.

Right before I blacked out, my blurry eyes found Ryan lying quietly in his casket.

He wore an old, faded shirt, a worn-out tie, and clutched a small crest in his hand.

No other burial items. It was so plain for an Alpha.

But I knew. Faye had made that shirt with her own hands. Faye had given him that tie. They had made that crest together. They were priceless treasures to him.

Ryan never loved me when he was alive. And he didn’t want anything to do with me after death.

His heart only ever belonged to Faye.

Maybe it was the blood loss, but I suddenly felt tired.

Fine, Ryan, I thought. Next lifetime, let’s never see each other again.

I closed my eyes. Just before the darkness took me, I smelled disinfectant.

Then water rushed into my lungs and jolted me awake.

I opened my eyes. The heat inducer in my hand, the crowd laughing at me by the pool. Everything told me one thing.

I was back. The day Ryan saved me.