Chapter 2 Reborn

CARA'S POV

"Rise up, child!"

The soft voice was everywhere, like a whisper carried on the wind. I didn't know where I was floating to; it's as if floating somewhere between deep sleep and death.

My body felt weightless, as if I no longer belonged to the earth. For a moment, I thought I had died.

"Where am I?" I asked as my eyes fluttered open, the world around me bathed in silver light. A gentle breeze brushed against my skin, and I lay on something soft, cool grass beneath me, damp with morning dew. I looked around, dazed.

"You are saved, child!" A woman stood before me, cloaked in moonlight. Her eyes shimmered like stars, and her presence calmed my raving heart.

"Who... who are you?" I croaked, my voice barely a breath.

She stepped closer, her long silvery hair flowing like a river of light behind her. "I am Melissa, the Moon goddess," she said, leaning in beside me. "You pleaded to be saved, and that's what I did."

Tears welled in my eyes. "But I felt it... I felt my life slipping away as I fell, but it suddenly stopped."

"You were close to dying, but I guess you weren't meant to die today." She said gently. "Too close. Your spirit was torn, your body broken." I cut through her words.

My eyes widened in shock as I touched my supposed big belly, now flat, and a sob escaped my lips. "My baby... Where's my baby?" I questioned, my voice laced with anger.

Melissa's gaze faltered for the first time, and I knew the answer before she spoke. "I'm sorry, child, the damage was too great. Even I couldn't save the little soul within you."

Pain surged through me, more powerful than any wound. I clutched my stomach over and over again, now hollow, and let the tears flow freely.

"I'm so sorry, Cara; I was able to pull you back and not your baby!"

"Why save me?" I asked in a whisper angrily. "My being alive is useless without my child; kill me right now or bring back my baby!"

She placed a hand over my heart. "Cara, your story is not yet finished. You are needed still. The child's soul rests in the stars now, watched over by the moon."

The moon goddess began to sound different, like one with a mission yet to fulfill.

"I don't care about that; I only care about my baby!" I asserted confidently, my voice audible enough to comprehend the pain and anguish of a mother.

"Like I said earlier on, your body and your child were too damaged from the tragic fall; I only saved your soul."

Her words pierced through me like a dagger. I wrapped my arms around myself, rocking slightly as I wept, each sob tearing from a place deeper than my soul.

"I should've just died." I whispered.

Then moved a bit nearer to me. "You died unjustly before your time, child, betrayed. Broken. I cannot bring your child back, but I can offer you something else."

I stared at her, numb and lost. "What could possibly matter now?" I asked, my curiosity heightened.

"A second chance for revenge." Moon goddess Melissa, she said softly. "You'll be reborn, but there are conditions."

My eyes narrowed in anticipation. Of course I lost my child, but I was ready to make Kyle and Layla pay for what they did to me.

"I accept any conditions that come with it, but why?" I asked, blinking through tears.

"You'll be reborn into another body, but you own your soul. This will be for only 180 days in another body. A life borrowed, not stolen."

"Sorry I'm bothering you with my problems, but if I'm reborn, would I be powerless and wolfless like I was in my previous life?" I asked, and her gaze says it all.

"To avenge your death and that of your unborn child. You need to find the one who was meant for you, your true mate."

"You are confusing things, Moon goddess!" I uttered sternly, as I felt she hadn't replied to my question.

"Your soul chooses its own host, then you need to find someone who'd love you, Mark you."

"Thank you, I'll do whatever it takes to have my revenge!" I muttered with my eyes growing wider in anger.

The wind shifted. The moonlight pulses around her, and the stars above swirl into a glowing sigil. As the light overshadowed me, the warnings of the moon goddess never left my mind.

"Listen closely, if you fail to find your true mate and earn his mark within 180 days, your soul will fade. You will return to the void. No more second chances."

I swallowed, my heart pounding. "And if I succeed?"

"You'll reclaim your life. Not the old one, but a new beginning... With love, strength, and purpose."

My hands trembled as I looked down at them; already they were beginning to glow faintly, as if shedding their shape. The moon flared one last time, and then the world shattered into light.

My body jolted awake-no, not awake, alive. Every nerve was on fire, every breath caught in a rhythm that wasn't mine.

"Uhn... Fuck you, Maya." A deep voice groaned into my ear, husky and thick with desire. I froze.

Strong hands gripped my waist. My legs were wrapped around someone, someone I didn't know. My body moved on its own, grinding against his with fierce, heated hunger. It wasn't just passion; it was primal, hot, wild, and raw.

I looked down at myself and nearly choked to see my body naked. "This wasn't my body!" I whispered inwardly to myself.

The curves were different, the skin tone slightly darker, my breasts not as big as this, and the scent unfamiliar. My heart pounded in my chest, not from fear, but from the sheer intensity of what I was feeling. And still, he moved against me, worshipping every inch like he belonged there.

"Who is this man?" My question hung up in the air of the room. "Ahn! Ahn!" I moaned softly, feeling every bit of his touch on the strange body.

"Maya," he groaned again, kissing down my neck, "you're different tonight. Gods, you feel so good." I couldn't speak. Couldn't breathe.

My mind screamed confusion, but my new busy burned for more, caught in the storm of pleasure. My soul tried to separate from it, but the connection was too deep. Too fused.

Then, in a flash. Melissa's voice echoed in my mind: "You'll be reborn, but the body you enter has a life of its own, secrets, desires, and scars."

A sharp burst from my lips, not mine, hers. This woman's body. Maya's. Who's she? Whoever she was, she'd just been in the middle of making love to this strange man, and I was now part of it.

"Get away from me!" I pushed him away from me, to the side of the bed, with strength I had never harnessed before now.

"What's wrong with you, Maya?" he growled back at me. "It's me, Alpha Dane. How dare you push me while performing your duty!" He grumbled deeply.

Who is he to order me around?