Chapter 1

My sister and I ended up marrying twin werewolves.

My sister got the big, strong one, the heir to the pack, but he was a total jerk. Cold, mean, and always taking his anger out on her. She was basically walking on eggshells all the time.

Me? I got stuck with the sickly, pale twin. But Liam was sweet, thoughtful, and he was secretly a genius. He used his brains to steal the pack leadership.

My sister was so jealous. She poisoned me.

Then I woke up, and we were both back at the Choosing Ceremony, where we picked our husbands.

My sister practically jumped on Liam.

I just smiled. Did she really think he was such a prize?

Grandma Wolf, the matriarch of the Blackwood pack, presented the twins, Liam and Ethan Blackwood, to my sister and me.

“These are my grandsons. Take your pick, girls.”

I stared. Ethan and Liam Blackwood. Right in front of me. It wasn’t a dream.

Ethan, the elder twin, built like a brick wall, the golden boy.

Liam, Ethan’s younger brother, had a bum ticker since birth, always popping pills.

This was really happening. I was back, back at the day we chose our werewolf husbands.

My sister, Brittany, grabbed Liam’s hand, all goo-goo eyes.

“Liam, darling, I’m going to be your wife.”

She shot me this smug look.

I got it. She remembered everything too.

Our family’s company, Hawthorne Enterprises, had been in business with the Blackwood pack for generations. That’s why my sister and I were sent to marry into the family.

Last time around, Brittany heard that Ethan was the heir, Mr. Alpha Male, and she wanted to be the queen of the pack. So, she snatched him up.

Too bad for her, Ethan didn’t have a clue about feelings, and he had the temper of a honey badger.

She spent her whole life trying to please Ethan, but all she got was a black eye.

I got Liam, who treated me like gold.

Took me out, showered me with gifts, and made me feel like I was the only woman in the world.

He even outsmarted Ethan and took over the pack.

I was the First Lady of the werewolves, calling all the shots.

Brittany couldn’t stand it. She snuck poison into my room.

I’ll never forget the look in her eyes.

Pure hate. “Scarlett, you think you’re so special now that you’re married to the Alpha? I’m going to take you down!”

With my last breath, I grabbed a letter opener and took her out with me.

Now, here we were again.

And watching her cling to Liam, I knew my new life was about to begin.

I wouldn’t let anyone control me ever again.

The wedding was a double ceremony.

Liam was all over Brittany, holding her train, fixing her hair.

Ethan just scowled the whole time, like he couldn’t wait for it to be over.

Brittany saw me standing alone and strutted over, dragging Liam with her.

“Scarlett, honey, you’ve got to know how to keep your man happy, or you won’t survive in this pack.”

I glanced at Liam.

He was gazing at Brittany with those puppy-dog eyes. I saw the silver promise ring on his thumb.

I took a step back, my heart pounding.

I forced a smile. “I can handle myself.”

I turned and walked away.

Even though it was the past, my body still trembled.

Brittany thought she’d won the lottery, but she didn’t know the real Liam.

I’d rather take my chances with Ethan.

And, this time, she was giving me exactly what I wanted.

That night, I put on a red lace robe.

Ethan was propped up in bed, eyes closed, a black wolf tail twitching on the sheets.

A werewolf’s tail is super sensitive.

They don’t let just anyone touch it.

I took a deep breath and walked over.

I reached out to touch his tail, and he shoved me onto the floor.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

He glared, his voice full of fury.

“Ethan, it’s our wedding night.”

I spoke softly, trying to sound shy.

Inside, I was cursing him out.

I was making all the moves, and he was throwing a tantrum!

“So what?”

He grabbed my throat, his hazel eyes burning into mine.

“I’m telling you now, I’m not interested in any of that crap. You want to stay alive, you’ll stay out of my way!”

I choked, my face turning red.

I’d heard stories about his temper.

Even the Blackwood pack’s mutts knew he was a maniac, a killer.

If Brittany hadn’t been his wife, he probably would’ve eaten her alive.

I swallowed hard, terrified.

No way was I giving up that easily.

I’d suffered enough in my past life.

I managed to choke out, “Okay, okay… I won’t bother you.”

He threw me back to the ground.

Gasping for air, I coughed.

Seeing his annoyance, I scrambled into the bathroom.

I quickly realized that Ethan was a total caveman.

In his world, women were just a nuisance.

Since I was his wife, I had to tread lightly.

Last time, Brittany kept throwing herself at him, and he beat her black and blue every time.

She got kicked out of the bedroom on her wedding night, and the whole pack laughed.

So, to avoid that, I slept in the bathroom all night.

Ethan woke me up by dumping a pitcher of water on me.

“I need to pee.”

He stood there like a king.

“Sorry, sorry! I’ll get out of your way.”

I scrambled out, not even bothering to wipe my face.

Ethan got ready and left without a word.

I grabbed his arm.

“Ethan, Mom wants us to come over for dinner tonight. You have to come with me.”

He frowned.

“I’m busy. Can’t you go alone?”

I put my hand on his forehead, smoothing out the lines.

“Don’t frown. You’re not as handsome.”

It was a natural reaction.

I used to do that with Liam.

I thought frowning brought bad luck.

“It’s fine if I go alone.”

“But, in my family, if the husband doesn’t go with his wife to her parents’ house the day after the wedding, people will whisper that he is going to leave her alone.”

“What is this, the 1800s?”

Ethan shoved my hand away. But he didn’t frown.

“Yeah, but it’s okay. I’ll go by myself. I don’t care what people say.”

I turned towards the door, counting down in my head.

When I got to three, Ethan stopped me.

“I’ll go with you tonight.”

He grabbed his jacket and left.

I smiled to myself.

I’d called it.

I used to read a lot of psychology books.

With guys like Ethan, you can’t push them. You have to play along, use a little guilt, and they won’t explode.

Brittany tried to sleep with him, hoping to win him over.

But that just made him hate her more.

You can’t rush things.

This time, I just wanted to change my fate, to avoid the misery of my previous life.

I got all dolled up and headed to Ethan’s office.

I ran into Brittany and Liam in the garden.

They were holding hands, all cozy, like they were in a romance movie.

“Scarlett, going home to Mom and Dad’s? Is Ethan coming?”

Brittany’s eyes sparkled with smugness.

“Ethan’s at work. He told me to meet him there.”

Liam’s eyes flashed with something like hate.

He’d always been jealous of Ethan’s strength and success.

He was stuck at home because he was sick.

Jealousy is a dangerous thing.

It made Brittany kill me last time.

It made Liam kill his own brother.

I said goodbye and left.

I looked back.

Liam was staring at me, his eyes possessive.

I quickly turned away, remembering the past.

That night, tons of relatives came to my parent’s house.

Ethan and I arrived last, and everyone looked surprised to see him.

They all knew what Ethan was like.

I stuck close to Ethan, afraid of setting him off.

That would ruin everything.

Maybe because I was quiet, Ethan didn’t get mad at me.

To everyone else, we looked like a happy couple.

Brittany and Liam sat on the couch, feeding each other grapes.

I pretended not to notice. She thought she had it all figured out, but she was just a clown.

I just needed to keep Ethan close, and my life would be better than hers.

Because Ethan was the heir, everyone treated us like royalty.

They kept offering him drinks.

He might have been a jerk, but he had manners.

I could see the jealousy in Brittany’s eyes.

She started bragging about Liam.

“Liam is so good to me. He takes care of me. He makes me breakfast every morning. He told me on our wedding night that he wants to have a ton of babies with me!”

“I wonder if Scarlett slept with Ethan on her wedding night?”

She turned the spotlight on me.

I couldn’t believe she had the nerve to say that in front of everyone.

I clenched my fists. Before I could speak, Ethan snapped.

“A Blackwood wife doesn’t talk like that in public! Shame on you!”

“Liam, control your woman!”

Liam looked angry but couldn’t argue.

“Yes, brother.”

He pulled Brittany away.

Ethan stood up and left. The dinner was over.

I followed him, trying not to laugh.

As I left, I heard everyone saying that Ethan cared about me and that he was sticking up for me.

But it was all because of Brittany’s big mouth.

I knew Ethan didn’t care about me.

He was responsible for the family name.

Hearing his sister-in-law talk like that, he had to say something.

Ethan definitely wasn’t letting me ride with him.

I was just his wife, nothing more.

So, I took a cab home.

Brittany was in the living room, putting medicine on her arm.

Her arm was covered in needle marks, wounds that I had known all too well in my past life.

She saw me and quickly pulled down her sleeve.

Even though she was in pain, she still held her head high.

“Liam was all over me tonight. He said he’d love me forever.”

I thought she was so stupid and childish.

She was trying to make me jealous, but she was just embarrassing herself.

No one knew Liam better than me.

In my past life, he was good to me at first.

But then he changed. He turned into a monster.

He was punishing Brittany because she had made him look bad.

Ethan came home in the middle of the night.

I slept on the small sofa.

He didn’t look at me. He took a shower and went to bed.

Ethan wasn’t heartless.

I had read about his condition in a psychology book.

Something must have happened to him to screw him up.

He didn’t trust anyone. He only trusted himself.

So, he hid behind a tough exterior, but he was really hurting inside.

Last time, to avoid trouble with Liam, I read a lot of psychology books.

I wanted to know how to deal with a psycho.

But I died before I could finish them.

Luckily, the books I did read were about guys like Ethan.

I got up and made soup, carefully handing it to Ethan.

“Ethan, you’ve had a long day. Drink this to help you relax.”

I’d added some calming herbs and something to make him fall in love with me.

I’d gathered the herbs from the mountains.

I wanted him to learn to control his emotions, to fall for me.

In my past life, because I was always getting hurt, I learned all about medicine.

That’s how I knew about these herbs.

But Ethan didn’t appreciate it. He turned into a wolf and laid in bed.

A huge black wolf lay in front of me, eyes closed, relaxing.

I tried again.

“I simmered this soup for hours. Everyone wanted some, but I didn’t share with them. If you’re not going to drink it, I’ll just throw it away.”

He didn’t react.

I bit my lip and continued. “Ethan, it’s okay. I don’t care that I’m a Blackwood wife that no one cares about.”

I emphasized the word “wife.”

He opened his eyes, turned back into a human, and gulped down the soup.

I smiled, and boldly stroked his tail.

“Ethan, can I sleep with you every night?”

“No!”

He swatted me away with his tail.

I didn’t push it and went back to the sofa.

The next morning, I made soup for him again.

He didn’t want to hear me nag, so he drank it down.

After a few days of drinking the soup, his temper would mellow out.

I thought of him in my past life, with no one to help him control his anger, and I felt sorry for him.

Now that I was his wife, I would do everything I could to fix him.

I wanted to rely on him and have a good life.

But the soup wasn’t enough. I needed phase two of my plan.