Clara was born an Omega healer, the lowest rank in the pack hierarchy—gentle, obedient, and expendable. Her destiny was never her own. When the powerful Alpha Killian Thorne of the Thorne Pack was injured during a rogue ambush, fate—or rather, the Moon Goddess—twined their lives together through a reluctant mate bond. But to Killian, Clara was never a choice; she was a replacement, a substitute for the woman he truly loved—Selena, his first love and the Luna everyone believed was destined for him.

From the very beginning, their bond was poisoned by resentment. Though Clara healed his wounds, supported him through every trial, and served as his silent shadow, Killian’s words were always sharp enough to pierce her heart. “If you really want to please me, Clara… then disappear.” And so, she learned to live unseen—bound to a mate who never wanted her, tied by duty instead of love.

But tragedy struck when fate turned its cruelest blade. During a violent confrontation with rogue wolves, Killian was fatally wounded while protecting Clara. As he bled out in her arms, his final words shattered her completely:

“If only I’d never met you…”

At his funeral, Clara was not seen as a grieving mate but as a curse. Killian’s mother wept for the son she lost and whispered, “He should’ve been with Selena. I never should’ve let him mate with you.” His father’s eyes burned with contempt. “Killian saved you three times, girl. Why wasn’t it you in that grave?”

And Clara—already broken—couldn’t argue. In her heart, she wondered the same. She regretted surviving when the one she loved was gone. With no pack to call her own, no Luna title, no home, and no purpose, she wandered alone, stripped of everything but her grief.

It was then, at her lowest, that the Moon Goddess appeared.

One night, beneath the blood moon, as the world fell silent around her, Clara cried out—not for love, not for forgiveness, but for a chance to change the past. A blinding light enveloped her as the Moon Goddess appeared, her silver glow filling the air with sacred power. Without words, she offered Clara a mysterious relic—the Moon’s Time Key—a divine artifact capable of turning back time. The only warning whispered by the goddess echoed like thunder in Clara’s mind:

“What the Moon gives, she may one day reclaim.”

Clara accepted. She had nothing left to lose.

Before dawn, she climbed the mountain trail to the Forgotten Temple, where an ancient priestess awaited her. The priestess’s eyes gleamed with both pity and knowing. She took Clara’s hand and said, “Before you turn the key, you must understand the price. If you wish to sever the mate bond without death, you must fulfill his three deepest regrets. Only then will fate let you go free.”

Clara didn’t hesitate. Her heart was heavy with guilt, but her resolve was unshakable. If she could rewrite fate—if she could save Killian from the pain their bond brought—she would do it, even if it meant erasing herself from his life entirely. With a whisper of thanks and a trembling hand, she turned the key.

When the blinding light faded, Clara found herself standing in front of Killian Thorne once more—alive, whole, and ten years younger. He looked less burdened, his features softer, but the same disdain filled his eyes when he looked at her. They were standing in the Bond Council Registry, the very day they were supposed to finalize their mate bond—the day that sealed both their fates.

Killian’s words echoed like a cruel déjà vu:

“My parents threatened to die if I didn’t mate with you. Clara, you’re really something. But even if we complete the bond—what do you think you’ll get out of it? You really think we’ll be happy?”

Clara’s chest tightened, but this time, she wouldn’t beg. She wouldn’t cry. The Moon Goddess had answered her plea and given her a second chance—to do what she couldn’t before. She looked at Killian with quiet strength and said, “Killian, you don’t want to bond with me because the one you truly love is Selena, isn’t it?”

For the first time, his confident smirk faltered. His jaw tensed, eyes flickering with something—maybe guilt, maybe surprise. “So what if it is?” he muttered. “We’re already standing at the Council. What now, you think you can still back out?”

Clara nodded. “I do.”

Her simple defiance startled him, but he quickly covered it with a bitter laugh. “I don’t have time for games, Clara. Just sign the damn contract. I’ll be outside.” Without another word, he turned and left, his cold presence retreating like a fading storm.

Clara’s heart ached, but this time, her pain was lined with purpose. She would not cling to the love that destroyed them both. She would not beg him to see her worth. Her mission was clear: to fulfill his regrets, to untangle the threads of fate, and to free them both from the curse of their doomed bond.

In her first life, Clara had always wondered why Killian, despite his harshness, had saved her so many times—three, to be exact. His parents used to say, “Killian’s heart is hard on the outside, soft on the inside. If he didn’t care, why would he risk his life for you?” She had believed them once. She had taken those words as proof that he loved her deep down. But now, looking back with the clarity of heartbreak, she understood that his actions stemmed not from love, but from duty, guilt, or instinct.

Still, she had loved him deeply—enough to die for him. But the Moon had given her a cruel mercy instead: a second chance to live without him.

Now, ten years in the past, Clara vowed to use this new timeline not to change Killian’s heart, but to change their fate. She would make different choices, avoid the chain of tragedies that had killed Selena and led to Killian’s own death. Most of all, she would protect him—from her bond, from her curse, from herself.

But the priestess’s final words haunted her even as she began her journey:

“The Moon never grants anything without balance. What she gives, she may one day reclaim.”

Clara didn’t yet understand what that meant, but deep inside, she sensed the truth: changing fate would come at a terrible cost. And when the time came to pay that price, she feared it would demand more than just her love—it would demand her very soul.

Still, she whispered to the night sky, to the goddess who had given her this fragile miracle:

“This time, I won’t beg for his love. This time, I’ll sever the bond before it begins.”

And somewhere far above, under the silent glow of the Moon, fate began to move again.