Choosing the Fall Over Your Pathetic Love

We were ambushed by rogue wolves and chased all the way to the cliff's edge.

Caleb—my mate, Alpha of Ravenrock Pack—was covered in blood, barely strong enough to carry one person across the chasm.

Forced by the alliance marriage between our packs, he ultimately chose me.

Laura was left behind. The feral rogues tore her apart, piece by piece. They didn't even leave a body.

Three days later, Caleb acted as if nothing had happened and completed our mating ceremony on schedule.

After the wedding, he stripped me of every dignity of my position as Luna. He treated me like a prisoner, a punching bag for his rage, making me pay for Laura's brutal death.

When I learned that my entire pack had been slaughtered, I was locked in a freezing dungeon, wanting nothing more than release.

I used the last of my strength to rip apart our mate bond. But Caleb, driven completely mad, tore me to pieces with his own hands.

When I opened my eyes again, I found myself back on the day of the rogue attack.

This time, I chose to step back and give the one he truly loved a chance to survive.

"Hazel, climb up!"

By the time I realized I'd been given a second chance, we were already trapped at the cliff's edge.

Rogues poured down from the ridge to our left, cutting off the main path. To our right, a sheer drop into bottomless darkness. The only way out was a narrow trail snaking along the cliff face.

Caleb gripped my wrist with one hand, Laura's with the other. He was half-kneeling on the crumbling ledge, his back soaked in blood, breathing ragged and heavy.

His gaze flickered between us, knuckles bone-white, his arm muscles tensing and releasing—over and over—but he couldn't make the choice.

Just as he finally clenched his jaw and started pulling me toward his back, I spoke first.

"Caleb. Save Laura."

He froze. Then, slowly, his expression softened—like I'd just handed him the excuse he'd been desperately searching for.

"Hazel, you're my mate." His voice carried a carefully manufactured struggle. "I was going to save you first, but since you insist—"

"Then save her." I finished the sentence for him.

Caleb let go of me.

In one swift motion, he hauled Laura onto his back, leaving me with nothing but a promise shouted over his shoulder: "Hold on! I'm coming back!"

Then he was gone, sprinting down the mountain path with Laura clinging to him. He never looked back. He moved with a desperate speed he hadn't shown moments ago—proving his earlier exhaustion was just another act.

Pathetic.

Did he think I'd actually buy into his noble act?

It was the same in my first life.

That time, he'd dragged me out of the bloodbath first, leaving Laura behind on the cliff.

By the time Ravenrock's reinforcements cleared the perimeter and returned, all that remained was a pool of blood and shredded fabric. Not a single intact bone was found.

On the surface, Caleb had remained perfectly composed.

He personally ordered Laura to be buried with full honors as a hero of Ravenrock. He sent generous compensation to her family and chose the finest gravesite for her—one that would be tended forever.

Of course, I never objected.

Back then, I'd even cautiously asked if he wanted to postpone our mating ceremony.

He'd refused without hesitation.

I still remember the way his eyes burned red as he gripped my hand, teeth clenched: "You're my mate. I will marry you."

It wasn't until later that I understood what he meant.

He'd fully intended to marry me.

Not out of love.

But so he could absorb my pack under the guise of our union, keep me locked at his side, and make me suffer day after day—blaming me for Laura's death on that cliff.

But what did her death have to do with me?

Watching their figures disappear down the path, I immediately turned away and started calculating my own escape.

I couldn't be sure Caleb would actually come back this time.

In my first life, he'd fought tooth and nail to return to the cliff because Laura had been the one left behind.

This time, the person he cared about most was already on his back. To him, I was just someone he could circle back for later—or not at all.

In both lives, the one he truly wanted to protect had always been Laura.

The only reason he'd saved me first before was to silence anyone who might accuse him of abandoning his mate. Who his heart belonged to had never been in question.

In my first life, he'd regretted that choice bitterly—and made me pay for it with everything I had.

Now, I'd made the choice for him. He should thank me for that.

The howls above grew louder. I could hear stones cracking under the weight of the rogues closing in. I didn't waste another second looking toward the path.

Pressing myself against the cliff face, I moved quickly along the narrow ledge. Cold, damp air rushed up from the gorge below.

During my imprisonment in my first life, I'd overheard a guard mention this cliff's secret—hidden near the top ledge, there was an old vine that hung all the way down to an underground river.

I soon found it: a thick, gnarled length of vine hanging from a crevice in the rock face. Rough, but sturdy.

This time, I wouldn't stand around waiting for "rescue."

I tore up some pungent wild grass, crushed it between my fingers, and smeared it over my wounds and the hem of my clothes—anything to mask the scent of blood. Then I grabbed the vine and yanked hard. It held.

Time was running out.

I wound the vine around my forearm in tight loops, backed up to the cliff's edge, and let myself fall backward without hesitation.

The freezing wind slammed into my face. Weightlessness swallowed me whole. The vine snapped taut, biting into my arm with searing pain. Shards of rock sliced across my cheek, and the taste of blood flooded my throat—but I only clenched my jaw tighter, letting my body jerk to a slower descent.

Compared to what I'd endured in my first life—tortured in that dungeon until I begged for death, then torn to pieces by Caleb's own hands when I severed our bond—this pain was nothing.

Above me, the ledge I'd been standing on collapsed under the weight of the rogues, sending a cascade of stone hurtling past me into the darkness.

The vine let out a sharp crack—and snapped.

I plummeted into the void once more.

But this time, the direction of my fall was my own choice.

I knew exactly what lay below: an underground river that led to neutral forest territory. Patrols from other packs passed through regularly.

As long as I didn't get crushed by falling rocks, I still had a chance.