Claimed by My Ex's Father, the Alpha King: Crowned His Luna Queen

Enola POV:

Death had not ended when my heart stopped.

My soul had torn free of my poisoned body and drifted above the earth, condemned to watch everything that followed. I saw Archer and Colette celebrate the destruction of my family. I saw every lie they had buried, every ally they had bought, and every enemy who would eventually turn against them.

I also saw Fremont Reynolds—Archer's father and the Alpha King who had surrendered his throne to his son—learn the truth too late.

He stormed the royal dungeon to save me. Archer's guards drove silver blades into his back, but Fremont fought his way to my cell and collapsed beside my body. With his last strength, he gathered me into his arms and pressed his bloodstained lips to my cold forehead.

"Forgive me, Enola," he whispered. "I loved you. I should have chosen you before duty made a coward of me."

The man I had known only as my father-in-law died because he tried to save me, my name still on his lips. Until my own death, I had never imagined that the distant, honorable Alpha King had carried such forbidden devotion for me.

Then I watched Archer's reign rot from within. He emptied the royal treasury, executed loyal Elders, and allowed famine and rebellion to tear Eldoria apart. Three winters after my murder, enemy armies breached the capital and the kingdom fell.

I remembered it all—every betrayal, every death, and every turn the kingdom would take. The Moon Goddess had forced my wandering soul to witness the complete ruin of everyone bound to me.

Now the stench of rot and Wolfsbane was gone. Dried lavender, polished cedar, and morning rain filled my lungs. Golden sunlight poured through the arched windows, illuminating the familiar carved laurel wreaths of Northwind Castle.

I held up my hands. The skin was pale and smooth, unmarred by chains or poison. My inner wolf paced behind my ribs, alive and strong.

I threw aside the velvet blankets and stumbled toward the gilded vanity mirror. The reflection staring back at me was my face at twenty years old—youthful, unscarred, with dark brown hair tumbling past my waist.

I had returned to the past with every memory intact.

The heavy latch of the bedroom door clicked.

My entire body snapped rigid. My inner wolf bared her fangs in primal defense.

"Enola? Oh, thank the Goddess, you're awake!"

A woman stepped through the heavy curtains, carrying a steaming porcelain bowl.

She wore a gown of Hanson green, her brown hair pinned in practical braids. Her face was lined with gentle worry, completely untouched by the horrors of execution.

Mother.

The breath punched out of my lungs. My knees gave way, and I dropped to the floor beside the vanity.

"Enola!"

Camila Hanson dropped the bowl onto a table and fell to her knees beside me, wrapping her strong, warm arms around my trembling shoulders. The familiar scent of white camellia enveloped me, real and pulsing with the warmth of a living, beating heart.

I buried my face into the crook of her neck, my fingers bunching into her woolen sleeves as a ragged sob ripped from my throat.

"I have you, darling. You're safe," she murmured, rocking me gently as she used to when I was a pup. "The doctor said it was only a minor fall from your mare, but you slept for three whole days. Your father almost rode down the physician with his guard."

A fall from a mare.

I pulled back, using my thumbs to wipe the tears from my eyes. My hands were steady now, hardened by a chilling clarity.

"Mother," I said, my voice hoarse. "What day is this?"

Camila blinked, brushing a stray lock of hair behind my ear.

"It is the fifteenth day of the Silver Moon, my love. Why do you ask?"

The fifteenth of the Silver Moon.

A full year before the purge. A full year before Carlisle's forged letters, before the slaughter of my bloodline, before Archer and Colette locked me beneath the earth to rot.

I had twelve months.

Twelve months to save my family, prevent Fremont's death, dismantle a prince, shatter a kingdom's treachery, and burn every enemy to ash.

This was no longer merely revenge. The Moon Goddess had once woven the threads of our fate toward ruin. This time, I would tear those threads from her hands and weave our destiny myself.

"Enola?" Camila's brow furrowed, her gaze scanning my eyes. "Your stare... it looks different. Are you in pain?"

I forced my lips into a gentle, reassuring smile and squeezed her warm fingers.

"No, Mother. My head is clearer than it has ever been."

I rose smoothly from the floor, smoothing down my nightgown.

"Send for Felix. Tell him to meet us in Father's study immediately. There are matters concerning our pack's future that cannot wait another hour."