The Villainess Will Not Be Eclipsed Again

LEAH'S POV

The smell of burning flesh still fills my nose.

The blistering heat of the barn fire, the choking smoke filling my lungs, the faint sounds from the end of the year ball-it is all I can feel.

I can still hear the crackle of the flames as the roof collapsed over my head, burning away the girl who tried so hard to be good.

Then, I gasp.

Cold, crisp air rushes into my lungs, burning my chest in a completely different way.

My eyes snap open. The blinding light of the afternoon sun hits my face, making me blink hard. I'm not lying in ash. I'm not trapped under burning wooden beams.

I'm standing on solid, cool concrete.

My hands fly up to my face. I touch my cheeks, my forehead, my lips. My skin is smooth. No blisters. No charred flesh. No peeling skin.

I look down at my hands. They are whole, pale, and completely unburned.

What... What is happening? Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?

"Get out of the way, Leah," a sharp, familiar voice barks from beside me.

I flinch hard, my heart hammering in my chest like a trapped bird.

A heavy hand shoves my shoulder, pushing me a step forward. I stumble, my boots scraping against the paved driveway, and turn my head slowly to look at the man who just touched me.

It's Leonardo. My brother-or the man I spent eighteen years calling my brother. He wears his neat warrior uniform, adjusting the cuffs of his sleeves with a look of pure annoyance.

He looks at me like I'm something dirty stuck to the bottom of his shoe.

"Move your feet," Leonardo grunts, slamming the car door behind us with a loud bang that echoes through my chest. "Father and Alpha Everest are already inside waiting for dinner. We don't have time for you to stand around staring into space."

I stare at him, my brain spinning out of control. Dinner? What dinner?

I look around me, gasping for air as panic tightly clutches my throat.

I'm standing in the wide driveway of the Alpha's mansion. The grand stone building rises high into the sky, surrounded by tall iron gates. Parked along the driveway are three large, sleek pack vehicles, their engines ticking as they cool down.

My mind whirls, trying to put the pieces together through the fog of my violent death.

I know this day.

This is not the day Willow first arrived at our house on my seventeenth birthday. That was a whole year ago. I have already lived through twelve long, unbearable months of torture in that pack, treated like a villainess and pushed into that drafty attic room.

This is the week before we leave for Eclipse Academy. The night Alpha Everest summoned the Rosante family for a celebratory family dinner.

I regressed.

The realization hits me like a physical blow. I didn't die in that fire. The universe threw me backward in time, dropping me right into the nightmare of my eighteen-year-old life.

A cold, dizzying wave of confusion washes over me. My knees tremble, and I have to grip the cool metal of the car door to keep from falling. Just moments ago, I was choking on smoke, watching my flesh melt then turn to ash.

Now I'm dressed in a formal dress, expected to sit down and eat dinner with my executioners?

"Are you deaf, Leah?" Leonardo snaps, turning to glare at me. "I said move."

I force my trembling hands to let go of the car. I take a deep, shaky breath, filling my lungs with the fresh air I thought I would never taste again. The panic in my chest slowly hardens into something cold and dangerous.

"I'm moving," I whisper. My voice sounds raspy, like I really did just swallow smoke.

"Then walk faster," he grunts, walking past me up the wide stone steps.

I follow him, my boots clicking against the stone floor. Every step feels surreal. I touch my chest again, feeling the steady beat of my heart under my sweater. I'm alive. I'm really alive.

Leonardo opens the heavy oak front doors and steps inside first. I follow him into the grand entrance hall.

The mansion is silent and suffocatingly grand. Tall marble pillars reach up toward high ceilings, and expensive pack banners hang along the dark wood walls. Sitting on the leather couches in the center of the living room are four people.

Alpha Everest sits in the main armchair, his heavy posture radiating authority. Sitting on the couch beside him is his son, Asher Lockwood.

And sitting across from them, looking fragile, sweet, and helpless, is Willow.

Father-Augustine Rosante-stands behind Willow's couch, his thick arms crossed over his chest, his jaw set in a hard line.

The moment the heavy door clicks shut behind us, Asher's golden-brown eyes lock onto mine, instantly filling with deep disgust. "Look who finally decided to walk in," he sneers, his voice dripping with arrogance. "She doesn't even have the decency to look ashamed."

In my first life, those words made me look at the floor in shame. Today, looking at Asher-the boy who stood dancing around in the ballroom while I burned to death-a wave of pure revulsion twists in my stomach.

"Silence, Asher," Alpha Everest commands, holding up a large hand. The Alpha turns his sharp grey eyes onto me. "Leah. Sit down."

I walk into the room, my legs feeling like lead, and take a seat on the single wooden chair at the edge of the table-far away from the family.

Willow lets out a tiny, soft sigh, leaning back into Father's side. Father immediately drops a heavy, protective hand onto her shoulder, shooting me a glare so venomous it could kill a weaker wolf.

"Look at her," Father growls, his voice low with disgust. "Standing there while Clara's blood runs thick in her veins. A whole year of living in my house, and she still carries herself like she did nothing wrong."

"Father, please," Willow whispers softly, her eyes brimming with big, shining tears. "Don't be too harsh on her... She cannot help who her mother was."

It's the same game she's played for a whole year. She acts like a gentle angel while reminding everyone in the room that my mother was a traitor.

Alpha Everest sighs, leaning back in his chair. "We are here tonight to discuss tomorrow's departure for Eclipse Academy. The law requires every applicant admitted to attend, but make no mistake, Leah. You're going to Eclipse under probation. You are a Bellmoore now. You will not embarrass this pack."

"She will spend her time at Eclipse out of our sight," Asher adds sharply, glaring at me. "I will make sure of it personally."

I sit in my chair, staring at their faces. The confusion in my mind slowly settles, leaving behind a razor-sharp clarity.

They hated me for a year. They treated me like a monster. And in the end, they burned me alive.

"Did you hear my son, Leah?" Alpha Everest demands, his voice rising. "Or have you lost your mind entirely?"

I look Alpha Everest dead in the eye. I don't cringe. I don't look down at my hands.

"I heard him fine, Alpha," I say, my voice steady and cold as ice. "I will keep out of your sight. You have my word."

Asher narrows his eyes, clearly caught off guard by how flat and unbothered I sound. He expected me to argue, to cry, or to glare back with dramatic anger.

"Good," Father grunts, standing up from the couch. "Let us eat. The sight of her is making me lose my appetite already."

As they all move toward the dining table, I stay seated for a second longer, looking down at my whole, unburned hands.

LEAH'S POV

"Welcome, welcome!" Luna Mary's soft, polished voice booms across the courtyard, dripping with high-class charm.

The sound hits my ears like a sharp smack, pulling me right out of the dark shock of my regression. I stand frozen near the bottom of the grand stone steps, my heart still pounding wildly in my chest.

Alpha Everest nods approvingly, stepping forward to clasp Augustine's hand in a firm grip. "As my mate said, you are all welcome to our home."

"Thank you, Alpha," Augustine replies, bowing his head slightly in respect, his chest swelling with deep pride.

"And here is our star!" Luna Mary exclaims, sweeping down the stone steps with her arms outstretched toward Willow. She pulls Willow into a brief, heavily scented hug, beaming at her as if she were her own blood daughter.

"The brilliant girl of the hour. We are so remarkably proud of you, Willow. You did well to be admitted to Eclipse Academy on your very first try!"

"Oh, Luna Mary, you honor me too much," Willow sweet-talks, ducking her head with exaggerated, false modesty. "I only did my best to bring pride to the Rosante name."

"And you have!" Asher chimes in quickly, his eyes shining with open adoration as he gazes down at her. "You are going to eclipse every single wolf in that academy, Willow. I have no doubt about it."

They turn and usher us into the grand foyer, their high laughter and endless praise echoing against the tall stone ceilings. The only names falling from their lips are Willow and Asher.

They talk as if the two of them are the only young wolves in the entire region who achieved anything worth celebrating.

They talk as if I did not get accepted into Eclipse Academy too.

They completely ignore the fact that my official admission letter arrived on the exact same morning as Willow's. But of course, in their eyes, my acceptance was just a fluke, an unmerited stroke of luck for the daughter of a disgraced villainess, while Willow's was a divine blessing from the Moon Goddess herself.

We are led through the high-arched corridors into the grand dining hall. A massive, polished wooden table sits at the center of the vast room, laid out with glittering silver plates, tall crystal glasses, and towering silver candelabras flickering with warm candlelight.

Augustine and Bea take their seats near the head of the table on the left side. Leonardo sits right beside them, his posture stiff. Asher quickly pulls out the chair directly across from his own seat, motioning eagerly for Willow to sit down next to him.

I walk calmly toward the lower end of the long table, intending to take a seat at the far edge, out of everyone's direct line of sight.

I don't care about their fine food, and I certainly don't care to participate in their mindless chatter. I just need a seat in this room so I can watch them lay the trap for themselves.

Before my fingers can even graze the carved back of the wooden chair, a sharp, cold voice cuts through the room.

"Why are you standing there?"

I pause, slowly raising my head.

Luna Mary is standing near the head of the table, her hand resting on the back of her husband's tall velvet chair. She's staring down the length of the table at me, her lips twisted in a sharp, violent curl of pure contempt.

Her cold eyes rake over my simple green dress, scanning me as if a dirty stray rat had just wandered into her clean dining hall.

I stare back at her, keeping my face entirely expressionless.

I remember this woman so clearly. Years ago, before the bitter truth about Clara's diary came out, Luna Mary used to pull me into soft, motherly hugs just like the one she gave Willow tonight.

She used to hold my hands, stroke my hair, and whisper in my ear about how eager she was for me to officially join her family. She literally tried to get me to call her 'Mother-in-law' before I was even nineteen years old.

Now, she looks at me like I am a smudge of dirt on her carpet.

I say nothing. I stand completely motionless beside the empty chair, waiting. I wait to see if anyone in this room will raise a voice on my behalf, because as a disgraced omega in the Alpha's house, this is clearly not a place where I can speak up for myself without giving Augustine an excuse to hit me for disrespect.

The silence in the dining hall turns deafening.

I look at Bea, the woman who I once thought was my mother. She quickly averts her eyes, fixing her gaze intensely on her napkin as if it is the most fascinating object in existence.

I look at Leonardo. He stares down at his empty crystal glass, completely unbothered, calmly swirling the faint reflection of the candlelight.

I look at Asher. He does not even glance my way. He's busy leaning over to whisper something in Willow's ear, smiling broadly while Willow giggles softly behind her small hand.

And Augustine simply sits straight in his chair, his broad chest rising and falling, deliberately ignoring my presence to signal to the Alpha that he does not care how I am treated.

I'm an eyesore to every single person sitting at this table. A villainess's spawn with no allies, no defenders, and no voice.

Luna Mary lets out a soft, disgusted huff, waving her hand dismissively in my direction.

"Take a seat in the kitchen and eat there," she orders, her tone flat and completely devoid of human warmth. "The staff will provide you with a plate. You will be called out when everyone is finished dining."

Like a servant.

She's ordering me out of the main room like a lowly maid who isn't worthy to share the same air as her family.

I don't move. I just stand there, my body free of tension, waiting for the predictable play to unfold.

And right on cue, it happens.

Willow gasps softly, putting on her absolute best impression of a benevolent, merciful heroine. She quickly reaches out, clutching gently to Luna Mary's sleeve, looking up at the older woman with wide, pleading eyes full of sweet concern.

"Oh, Luna Mary, please!" Willow begs softly, her voice trembling just enough to sound deeply sympathetic. "Please don't send her away. Leah is part of our family, no matter what happened in the past. It would break my heart if she had to eat alone in the kitchen while we celebrate. Please... let her sit at the table with us."

It's a masterclass act in social manipulation.

In one single move, Willow paints herself as an angelic saint who protects the very girl who supposedly hates her.

She gets to look gracious, kind, and overwhelmingly merciful, while making sure everyone at the table remembers that I'm only being tolerated because of her endless charity.

I stand near the end of the table, watching her play the hero without saying a single word.

I don't snap. I don't defend myself. I do not shed a single tear.

Let her talk. Let her put on her little performance for the Luna. Let her play the benevolent savior all she wants.

Because before I leave for Eclipse, I intend to make sure this is the absolute last time Willow will ever be able to talk so gently to the Luna.

Yes, that's right. Before I leave for the academy, I'll give everyone in this room a taste of what is to come.

Starting with the 'bond' between Willow and Luna Mary.

LEAH'S POV

I look up at Luna Mary, keeping my face smooth and unbothered.

"I'll eat in the kitchen, then," I say softly, my voice cutting cleanly through the heavy silence of the dining hall.

A collective gasp ripples through the table. Augustine slams his silver fork down against his porcelain plate, his knuckles turning white as he glares across the long room at me.

In their eyes, my easy acceptance looks like a childish tantrum. They fully expect me to cry, to stomp my feet, or to beg on my knees for a small place at their table.

"Look at her," Asher sneers, shaking his head with deep disgust as he leans back in his velvet chair. "Still playing the dramatic victim. She can't even accept a dinner invitation without throwing a fit."

"She's just trying to make us all look cruel," Augustine grunts, his heavy voice dripping with annoyance. "Let her starve in the back with the house staff if that's what she wants."

Right on cue, Willow steps into her favorite role as the angelic saint. She gasps softly, placing a delicate, pale hand over her heart, looking up at Luna Mary with wide, tear-filled blue eyes.

"Oh, please, Luna Mary!" Willow begs softly, her voice trembling with sweet concern. "Don't let her go to the kitchen! Leah is just hurt and confused right now. It breaks my soft heart to see her isolate herself like this. Please, let me go bring her back. I want us to be a real, happy family!"

I don't give her the satisfaction of a loud scene. I don't fight back, nor do I shed a single tear.

"Thank you for your concern, Willow," I say, my voice quiet as I slowly turn on my heel. "But I think it would be better if I just left."

I leave the grand dining hall behind, walking down the cool stone corridor toward the back staff kitchen. They think I'm retreating in shame or anger. They think Willow won another easy victory in this little power play.

They have no idea that every single step I take is part of my design. I wanted to be in the kitchen. I needed to be far away from their noisy table so I could think clearly and set things up.

The kitchen is massive, empty, and very quiet. High copper pots hang from the tall ceiling, and the long wooden counters are piled high with leftover warm bread, cuts of steak, and bowls of fresh fruits.

The house servants have all stepped out to serve the main hall, leaving me alone in the dim room.

I sit down on a low wooden stool near the back preparation table, pulling a small wooden plate toward me. I do not touch the food. I just sit in the dim light, staring down at my unburned hands.

My fingers tremble slightly-not from any fear, but from the raw, cold rage burning deep in my chest.

'They looked at me and did not see Leah', I whisper to the quiet walls of the kitchen, testing the raspy sound of my own voice. 'They did not see the girl who spent eighteen long years doing everything to bring honor to the Rosante name. They only saw Clara.'

Every single cold glare, every spat insult, and every heavy wooden door slammed in my face over the past year was framed as justice for Clara's sins.

I run my thumb over the rough edge of the wooden table.

And the irony? Clara died by her own hands. She took the easy, coward's way out with a concoction of poison and a diary she probably never meant for anyone to read.

Clara gets to rest in the cold earth, completely untouched by the terrible mess she left behind her. Meanwhile, I was left behind to drown in the rot of her choices.

I was forced to pay the ultimate price for a crime I did not commit, all under the angry, watchful eyes of a pack that already called me guilty by birth.

Overnight, I went from the quiet girl who brewed herbal tea for sick pups to the villainess's cursed child.

In my first life, I spent twelve miserable months weeping in my drafty attic room. I spent every single day begging Augustine for a tiny drop of fatherly love. I tried so hard to prove I was good, gentle, and useful to the pack.

And what did it get me?

It got me locked inside a burning wooden barn while the entire academy danced around as I burned to ash.

A dark, cold smile slowly curves the corners of my lips in the shadow.

'Not this time', I think, my dark green eyes narrowing in the dim light. 'If they've made me out to be a villainess, then I will play the part properly.'

Before I leave for Eclipse Academy I'll leave them a little parting gift. I don't need strength or loud arguments to tear their happy world apart. I'll start small.

I'll start by fracturing the sweet, fragile bond between Willow and Luna Mary-a little taste of what is to come before I even step onto that academy campus.

From down the hallway, the loud sound of cheerful laughter bursts through the heavy wooden doors. I hear Asher's loud, booming voice praising Willow, followed by Luna Mary's high laughter.

They're celebrating Willow's admission to Eclipse Academy, talking as if she is a divine gift from the Moon Goddess herself.

They're happy. They feel completely safe. They think I'm sitting here cowering in the dark, eating leftover scraps like a beaten dog.

Footsteps echo down the stone hallway. High heels click sharply against the hard floorboards.

Luna Mary is coming toward the kitchen, stepping away from the noise of the dining hall to check on the sweet dessert trays.

I stand up slowly from the wooden stool. I smooth down the simple skirt of my green dress, fold my pale hands neatly in front of my waist, and drop my gaze to the floor-acting every bit the timid, disgraced omega they expect to see.

The heavy wooden kitchen door swings open with a soft creak. Luna Mary steps into the room, holding her rich silk skirt high above the dusty floor, her cold eyes instantly locking onto me with pure contempt.

"Still standing here like a pathetic ghost, Leah?" she sneers, walking slowly toward the center island. "You really are a continuous disappointment to this family."

I look up at her, my posture modest and my face a soft mask of total innocence, though a dark, razor-sharp smile plays at the corners of my lips.