My Mate Chose My Best Friend, So His Uncle Claimed Me

It had been a year since I found out that my fated mate was none other than Redmund Franciosa. During that year, our relationship had been a secret just as he wished.

"Soon, love. Soon." He would lovingly whisper those words to my ear whenever I pressed him about it. His warm breath shivered against my skin, and his voice was low and hypnotizing was enough for me to agree with his promises.

Yet to my disappointment, those words had never changed. I wanted more. I had been eager to tell the world that I had finally had a mate I could call mine and couldn't wait for the day we would get married in the near future.

I couldn't wait to be marked by him and have a family with him. I had already dreamed about us living in his pack, where we had a pup we both created.

Redmund, was first in line to inherit the Golden Eclipse Pack, already holding a respected position as one of the captains in the royal military. His uncle was the current Alpha of their pack and hadn't married yet, which served him as the next in line in case his uncle retired. He entered in the royal military to make himself known where his uncle was working as a commander as he had a very supportive parents who were so proud of him aiming this position.

I, on the other hand, was working as a tactical keeper in the same field as him. Unlike him, I came from a smaller pack, the Starry Shadows Pack, which never held much influence outside its borders. I was already an orphan, living in the pack house only, after Father died from the rogue ambush when I was eight, which happened in our pack. I grew up not knowing who my mother was and became one of the gammas when I joined the royal military as soon as they allowed women could join.

Thanks to Commander Rachelle, the first woman to enter the military, the one who proved women were just as capable as men to serve.

He was twenty-seven. I was twenty-six. 

Yet despite our differences, status, age, and pack, I believed the Moon Goddess had chosen us for a reason.

I could really hope that Redmund would finally introduce me to his parents soon. I couldn't wait to meet them.

When the royal military finally granted me a short leave, after begging it from my superior for a month, I decided it was the perfect chance to see him.

Even though we were in the same field, Redmund and I had a little time to spend time to each other. Other than that, to the eyes of our comrades, he and I were nothing more than colleagues... or rather, friends, which hurt me the most because we couldn't expose our relationship yet.

So under that pretext, I planned to visit him. I wanted to see the glad and surprised etched on his face once he saw me outside, not being barred by our military duty. Even though others would see my purpose as being a good friend to him.

But when I arrived at his stationed post, my whole world shattered. Redmund wasn't alone—only to see Lilith Haven with him.

Lilith was my best friend since we were little, and we lived in the same pack and were the same age. She was also one of the gammas in our pack. She befriended me when she saw me alone as our other peers almost cast me away for having no parent, and only her had dared to approach me and befriend me. She was also an orphan like me, living in the pack house.

She was also working under the platoon of Redmund and was aware that Redmund was my mate. She was against Redmund for me because he came from the bloodline of the House of Franciosa, which somehow had a bad reputation because of Redmund's uncle, and how powerful he was.

But why were they laughing together? Why were they so close to each other?

Had they known each other without me knowing? 

And then, I saw it. I watched how my world collapsed before me.

The tender look Redmund gave her, the one that was supposed to be mine. The way their hands accidentally brushed against each other until he captured it and intertwined his fingers with Lilith, before their faces grew closer until their lips attached.

I froze, almost forgot how to breathe for a moment.

I felt like everything around me seemed to vanish. The loud chatter of the soldiers, the busy streets, the clang of steel... all of them were gradually vanishing, and I felt like my heart had stopped beating.

All I could hear right now was my heart breaking apart as they shattered into tiny pieces. Even my knees weakened from the sight behold in front of me. 

Redmund, my fated mate... Lilith, my dear best friend...

The two people I trusted the most...

As I walked away, I felt like every step I took, my heart kept being stabbed by a thousand arrows. And so many questions clouded my mind.

"Why?" I whispered. I could feel like any moment I would collapse on my knees.

Why did they betray me like this? Why would they do this to me?

Was this the reason why Redmund wanted to keep our relationship a secret and why Lilith was so against him being my mate, because she wanted him even though he and I were mated to each other?

Had I been a fool all along? Since when did they have a relationship? 

Was this the time he told me we couldn't expose our relationship to others?

Those traitors... What did I do for them to do this to me?

My hand pressed to my chest as if that could hold together the pieces of my heart. But I knew it was futile. This betrayal burned my whole being.

And yet... why did it feel so achingly familiar? Why did it feel like I had been in the same pain before?

Just by closing my eyes, I could feel like my head would about to be burst as I could vividly remember those memories I thought were buried, and they had surfaced like floodwaters, making me hold my breath.

I remembered being a healer, abandoned for who I was. A woman with ink-stained fingers, begging a man not to trade her for the power.

I remembered being a warrior, discarded for duty. My bloodied sword slipped from my hand as the commander I loved turned his back to march beside another.

I remembered being a Luna, cast aside for another. Standing beneath the moon, my pack bowing not to me but to the woman he chose instead.

Those vague faces... muffled voices... coincided lives I'd live before... Each of those endings ended the same way. 

A thousand lifetimes.

A thousand betrayals.

And now, once again, history had carved me into its cruel pattern. The history had repeated itself.

I was cast aside. I had been forgotten. I had been replaced.

My breath caught as the truth struck me.

This pain wasn't new. This wasn't the first time. I was certain of it. I couldn't be wrong.

I had been here before.

I had lived.

I had died.

And now I live again.

No.

This could only mean one thing...

I had been reincarnated.