The birthing ward reeked of iron and wolfsbane.

On the day my twins were due, Natalie loomed over me like a storm cloud.​

My body convulsed with preternatural contractions. Werewolf healers surrounded my bed, their hands trembling as they injected another dose of the forbidden serum.

"Alpha, please," she whimpered, "the pups' heartbeats are fading. They'll shift inside you and tear you apart."​

Because in my last life, Luna had been diagnosed as infertile. To secure an heir, she kept a harem of eighty-eight male models, each one fawning over her day and night.

She sweet-talked me, promising that if I could just help her get pregnant, she'd ditch the models the moment our pup was born, and our child would be the heir.

I bought it.

I crawled on my knees for three days and three nights to the holiest church I could find, praying for a miracle to have a child with her.

When Luna got pregnant with twins, I was over the moon.

But on delivery day, she flat-out refused to give birth. I dropped to my knees, pleading with her to save our pups' lives before it was too late.

Later, when she finally came out of the delivery room, I held our wolf and she-wolf-twins, a perfect pair-tears of joy streaming down my face as I handed them to her.

But her face twisted into something dark.

She grabbed the babies and threw them to the ground. Blood splattered everywhere.

Ignoring my screams, she ordered her bodyguards to drag me to a fresh grave, forcing me to kowtow until my forehead was a bloody mess.

"If you hadn't driven Lucian away," she spat, "his pup would be in my belly right now. Our pup would've been the heir. I planned to claim Lucian's son as my first child, my heir, before these cursed twins were born. But you forced me to go through with it!"

"You and those brats stole what belonged to Lucian and his pup. You broke their hearts, drove them to suicide. Now you're gonna pay."

I was beaten to death in front of Lucian's grave.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back on that same day-the day she refused to give birth.

This time, I didn't fight her. I let her have her way with her precious "family" of three.

The nurses and healers were still shouting, "Natalie, you have to deliver! Any longer, and the babies won't make it!"

Luna waved them off, annoyed, and had her goons drag the staff out. She shot me a wary look.

"Mark, if you dare sign that form, I'll break our bond faster than you can blink."

I froze, the realization hitting me like a freight train: I'd been sent back to my past life.

Hearing her threat, I didn't fall to my knees like before, begging her to save our pups.

Instead, I sat down quietly and said, "Alright. Whatever you want."

My compliance threw her off. She squinted at me, suspicious. "Don't think you can trick me with reverse psychology. I'm not having these pups."

Before she could say more, one of her bodyguards burst in. "Lucian and his son just landed back in the Cernis-pack!"

Natalie's face lit up like it was Christmas morning. "Perfect!" she crowed. "I'm declaring Lucian's pup as my firstborn, my heir!"

She turned to her team, barking orders. "Get these two out of me already! I need to go see my Lucian!"

Even after the hell of my last life, hearing her talk about our pups like they were garbage still ripped my heart to shreds.

Half an hour later, Natalie didn't even bother with postpartum recovery. She slipped into a skintight, red-hot dress and strutted out.

A nurse came running, screaming, "You can't take the babies! Their heartbeats are gone-they need the NICU, now!"

My chest seized. I saw Natalie's bodyguards yanking my pups away.

I bolted after them with the nurse, desperate to save my babies.

But before I could reach them, one of the guards clocked me with a fist, and everything went black.

I came to as the bodyguards dragged me into a press conference. Natalie's entourage of male models was there too, all of us surrounded by her hired muscle. They started swinging-thick clubs crashing into our legs, our groins.

The room filled with screams, wails, and the sickening stench of blood.

"Natalie had her pups, so it figures Dawson would want us out of the picture." one of the models howled. "Why're they trying to ruin us? God, it hurts-help!"

I was kicked to the ground, nailed clubs tearing into my flesh. Within seconds, I was a bloody mess.

My cries startled the models. They looked around, panicked. "Why's Natalie's mate here too? Who's doing this to all of us?"

Writhing in pain, I shouted into the chaos, "Somebody help!"

That's when Lucian strolled in, all smug in a crisp white suit, Natalie on his arm and a little boy at his side.

The second Natalie saw her lovers sprawled out, beaten to a pulp, her face went pale.

"Who told you to touch them?!" she snapped.

Lucian pinched his nose, feigning disgust. "Yikes, who did this? Who'd be cruel enough to mess them up like that?"

Before he could finish, Natalie's eyes locked onto me. She stormed over and drove her heel into my stomach.

"You jealous bastard!" she snarled. "While I was gone, you tried to take them out? You're pathetic!"

I could barely move, pain radiating through me. I glared past her at Lucian, his smug grin burning into me.

"It wasn't me..." I gritted out. "It was him-"

"Still lying?" she roared. "You think I don't know your games? This isn't the first time your jealousy has hurt someone. Not this time. I'm done letting you slide."

She turned to her bodyguards. "Line up the models. Each one gets to slap him. Anyone who goes hard gets a million bucks and a trip to the best hospital for their injuries."

The guards pinned me down in the middle of the room, blood still pouring from my wounds.

One by one, the models stepped up, some muttering, "Sorry, Mark..." as they slapped me. My ears rang, my vision blurred, one ear completely deaf by the end.

When they were done, Natalie, satisfied, pulled Lucian's pup close and dragged Lucian over to me.

She looked down at me-covered in blood, face swollen, tears mixing with the mess. For a split second, her eyes flickered with something like doubt.

But then her chin jutted up, and her voice turned ice-cold.

"Don't blame me for letting them hit you. You needed to learn your lesson. Try to pull this jealous crap again, try to hurt anyone else, and this is what you'll get."

"So you don't go stealing Lucian and his pup's rightful place as heirs."

My body shook as I looked up at her.

It wasn't just me who'd come back to this life.

No wonder the second Lucian opened his mouth, Natalie was dead certain it was me.

No wonder she said this wasn't my "first time" pulling something like this.

Because in my last life, she framed me the same way, sentencing me to death for Lucian's sake.

My eyes stung with tears. Natalie's voice was ice-cold:

"Mark, save your pathetic act. This time, I didn't fall for your tricks and pop out those pups early, letting them steal Lucian's son's chance to be my firstborn and heir."

I let out a bitter laugh, clutching my bleeding body, my voice barely above a whisper:

"Natalie, I didn't stop you from delaying the birth this time. I stepped aside for you, Lucian, and his pup. So why won't you let me go? Why do you still want my babies dead?"

She froze, her brows knitting together.

"You're the one who beat my wolfs to a pulp, and now you're whining over a few slaps? You saying I'm not letting you go? What have I even done to you?"

"The pups are fine, chilling in the nursery. Quit dragging them into this."

I begged, my voice cracking, pleading for her to give me back my babies-they needed the ICU, stat.

She rolled her eyes, disgusted, and shoved my hand away.

"Cut the drama. Behave yourself, and I won't touch those brats. Oh, and at tomorrow's press conference, you're gonna admit you're the one who's sterile, that you're the useless one, and that's why I had Logan with Lucian."

"Then you'll sign over all your shares and assets to him and his pup. From now on, you'll serve them like a good little lapdog."

"If you try any funny business or lay a finger on Lucian, it won't just be you and those brats I come for-your dad, rotting away in that VIP hospital room, won't get to stay there peacefully."

I stared at her, eyes wide, barely believing what I was hearing.

"Natalie, have you lost your damn soul? My dad's a vegetable because he saved you! How can you threaten his life like this?"

She waved me off, annoyed. "Just do your job, keep Lucian and Logan happy, and don't piss them off. I won't touch your dad."

With that, she hooked her arm through Lucian's and sauntered off.

"Lucian, thank you for bringing me such a perfect heir. I'm gonna reward you big time."

Blood poured from my wounds as I begged the bodyguards left in the room to get me to a hospital, to bring my babies back.

Natalie's mom, Vivienne, rushed in, her face going ghost-white when she saw the blood-soaked scene and me, legs shattered, barely clinging to life.

"Get him to a hospital now! Where are my grandpups? If anything happens to them, you're all done for!"

They finally carted me and the pups to the hospital, but no healers showed up.

Vivienne was livid, demanding to know where the hell they were.

The nurses hesitated, then spilled:

"Natalie called every healer in the city to their riverside villa. Lucian got a tiny cut on his finger drawing blood, and she's worried he might 'have an accident.' She's got every healer on standby."

"There's... no one left in the city."

Vivienne was shaking with rage, dialing number after number. "She's lost her mind! Her mate and pups are dying, and she's got every healer babysitting some homewrecker and his sketchy pup!"

On her tenth call, Natalie finally picked up, her voice dripping with irritation, asking if I was stirring up trouble again and begging Vivienne to back her up.

Vivienne screamed into the phone: "Mark's bleeding out, unconscious! The babies' hearts have stopped-they'll die without help! And you've hogged every healer in town! Are you trying to kill your mate and pups?"

Natalie just laughed coldly. "What, Mark put you up to this? A few slaps, and he's 'bleeding out'? Gimme a break."

"I saw those pups get dropped off at the nursery myself-they were fine. Now they're suddenly in trouble? If you're gonna lie, at least make it believable."

"Whatever, I'm busy taking newborn pics with Lucian and his son. He wants healers? Fine, I'll send some."

Vivienne hung up, gripping my hand so tight her knuckles went white.

"Hang in there, Mark. The healers are coming."

I clung to my babies, feeling their tiny lives fading.

In my last life, they never even opened their eyes, never made a sound before Natalie smashed them to death.

My body shook as I grabbed Vivienne's hand, my voice barely holding together.

"Vivienne, three years ago, my dad went into a coma saving Natalie. You promised you'd treat me like your own son, that if Natalie ever turned on me, you'd help me break the bond."

"I'm begging you-let me break the bond with her. I won't stand in the way of her making her old flame's pup the heir. I just want my babies to grow up safe."

Vivienne's face was streaked with tears. She kept muttering:

"I only took you in as my godson to repay your dad's sacrifice. But Natalie-she's the one who confessed to you, proposed to you. She loved you so much... how did it come to this? It's all that bastard Lucian's fault. If he hadn't come back, you two wouldn't be here."

I gave a broken smile. Yeah, how did my childhood sweetheart end up like this?

The she-wolf who blushed at our coming-of-age party, swearing she'd love me forever, promising that if she ever betrayed me, she'd deserve a thousand cuts and a miserable death.

Now, for another wolf, she was the one cutting me to pieces.

"Please, Vivienne," I rasped, each word a struggle.

Her eyes met mine, and she finally nodded.

"Alright. When you two got married, I made her sign a bond-breaking agreement, just in case things ever went south. I'm going home to grab it and get it processed ASAP."

"Tomorrow, I'll announce that your pups are my only heirs. As for that ungrateful daughter of mine and her shady little sidekick, I'm done with them."

Vivienne stormed out to handle it.

I lay on the hospital bed, pain-inside and out-crashing over me like a tidal wave. I screamed until my voice gave out.

Vivienne's assistant stayed, anxiously waiting for the healers Natalie promised.

Finally, someone showed up.

But it wasn't a healer-it was a freaking delivery wolf.

He froze in the doorway, staring at the blood-soaked room, then nervously handed over a bag. A Band-Aid fell out.

"Natalie said it's just a scratch, not like it's gonna kill you. Stick it on and quit bothering her and her lover on their 'bond night.'"

The assistant's eyes were red with tears. She hurled the bag to the floor.

"Mark, I'm getting you to a hospital in another city right now. Hold on."

I kept screaming, my vision fading to black, until I finally passed out.