Chapter 3 Second Chance At Life

FIONA/CIARA

I absorbed that slowly. One hundred fifty days. Five months to be exact.

I had to find someone who would mark a wolfless girl like me.

"And there's one more rule," the voice continued. "You cannot reveal the truth of who you are. Not to anyone. The moment you speak of your past life or this arrangement, you will die instantly."

The hope flickered and nearly died. "That's impossible. How am I supposed to..."

"Nothing is impossible if you truly want to live."

I thought about Bale. Shania. About being buried alive in the dark while they laughed and planned their wedding.

I thought about dying before I ever got to make them pay for what they'd done.

"I'll do it."

"You understand the terms? One hundred and fifty days. Find your true mate. Receive their mark. Tell no one the truth."

"I understand."

"Then close your eyes, child."

I closed them.

The white light grew brighter even through my eyelids. I felt something pulling at me, tugging my soul somewhere else.

"One hundred and fifty days. Use them wisely."

Then I was falling down and down through darkness that had no bottom.

I gasped awake.

Air rushed into my lungs. My chest heaved. Pain shot through my entire body but it was different pain.

I opened my eyes.

A ceiling. An expensive looking one at that. White and smooth.

I was alive.

I sat up fast and immediately regretted it because my head instantly spun.

I looked down.

I was in a bed. A massive bed with silk sheets that probably cost more than everything I'd ever owned.

And I was naked.

A man lay next to me. Also naked. Dark hair. Strong jaw. Still asleep.

I screamed.

The man jerked awake. His grey eyes opened and they focused on me immediately.

"What's wrong?"

I scrambled backward, hitting the headboard. "Who are you?"

He stared at me. "What?"

"Who are you?" I repeated. My voice panicked.

"Ciara, what are you talking about?"

Ciara. That wasn't my name.

I looked down at my hands. They were wrong. Longer fingers. Different skin tone. A ring on my left hand I'd never seen before.

I looked at the man. At his confused expression. At the concern starting to creep into his eyes.

"What's my name?" I asked.

"What?"

"Tell me what my name is!"

"Ciara. Your name is Ciara. Are you feeling alright?"

I threw the sheets off and ran out of the bed.

I walked across the room and through a door I barely registered opening.

I found myself in another smaller room. A closet maybe. I grabbed the first piece of clothing I saw. A blue dress, and pulled it on with shaking hands.

"Mummy?"

I spun around.

Two children stood in the doorway. A boy and a girl. Maybe six years old. They stared at me with wide eyes.

"Mummy, what's wrong?" the girl asked.

My mouth opened but no sound came out. 

The man appeared behind them. He'd put on pants but his chest was still bare. "Ciara, you're scaring the children."

I looked past them, a mirror was hanging on the wall.

I walked toward it slowly, the children moving aside.

I looked at my reflection.

The face staring back wasn't mine.

Different eyes. Different nose. Everything is different.

I touched my face. The reflection touched back.

"No. No no no."

"Dad, what's wrong with Mummy?" the boy asked.

The man stepped into the room. "Ciara. Look at me."

I looked at him.

"What's the last thing you remember?"

I opened my mouth and closed it. The Moon Goddess's warning echoed in my head. You cannot reveal the truth.

"I don't know. I don't remember anything."

Worry replaced his confusion. "Nothing at all?"

"No. I don't know where I am. I don't know who you are. I don't..."

My voice broke.

He reached for me but I stepped back.

"Don't touch me."

He held up his hands. "Okay. It's okay. We're going to figure this out."

"How can we figure this out when I don't even know who I am?"

"Your name is Ciara," he said gently. "I'm Lucien. Your husband. These are our children. Richard and Rita."

Husband. Children. None of it made sense.

"I need to sit down."

Lucien guided me to a chair and I sat. The children watched me with worried faces that looked so young and so scared.

"I'm calling the doctor," Lucien said, already leaving the room.

I sat there with my head in my hands trying to understand what had happened.

The Moon Goddess had put me in someone else's body. Someone with a husband and children and a life I knew nothing about. She certainly didn't mention this when stating her terms.

My phone buzzed on a nearby table and I looked at it.

A text message preview lit up the screen.

SHANIA: I'M GETTING MARRIED TO BALE SOON. I CAN'T WAIT FOR YOU TO SEE HIM, SISTER.

The air left my lungs.

Shiana?

Bale?

Sister?

Which meant...

"We're going to the hospital," Lucien interrupted, coming back into the room. "I called our doctor. He'll meet us there."

I looked up at him. At this stranger who thought I was his wife.

"Okay," I said quietly.