The Goddess's Deal

First Person POV

The suffocating darkness shattered. The agonizing cold that had crept up my legs and settled in my chest vanished, replaced by a sudden, jarring sensation of weightlessness. I opened my eyes. I expected the damp stone ceiling of the dungeon. I expected the squeal of the pulley, the rattle of the heavy iron chains, the metallic stench of my own blood pooling in the golden bowl beneath my dangling head.

Instead, a vast, cloudless blue sky stretched above me. It was blinding and brilliant, yet I could not pinpoint a sun.

I was no longer hanging by my ankles like a slaughtered animal. Soft, lush blades of grass brushed against my bare skin. I pushed myself up. Sprawling hills of golden and emerald grasses rolled out in every direction, swaying in a gentle, invisible breeze. The air smelled of fresh morning dew and sweet earth. I drew in a deep breath, and for one fleeting, fragile second, a profound peace washed over my soul.

Then, I looked down at my naked body.

The peace shattered. My breath hitched in my throat. I was dead, yet my corpse still bore every horrific testament to my suffering. I traced the deep, mangled trench in my left wrist. The flesh was carved open, the raw edges peeled back to reveal the stark white bone beneath. I was no longer bleeding, but the phantom pain throbbed. I touched my cheek. The skin was ruined, raised and blistered where the searing iron had branded the word 'PIG' into my face. My torso was a canvas of nightmares—lacerations, bruises, and the withered, sunken look of someone who had been drained of life day after day.

I shivered. The nakedness exposed my shame. I remembered my final moments. I remembered the cold steel of the blade against my neck. I remembered Giselle’s cruel sneer, her toxic breath fanning across my cheek as she mocked me. *My Alpha will feast on his wedding day.*

The wolf within me stirred. Rheana, suppressed for so long by the burning agony of wolfsbane shoved up my nose, surged forward with a feral, bloodthirsty roar. The memories of Giselle taking my place beside my mate, of the daily torture, of the darkness stealing my life, fueled a sudden, explosive rage.

"I'm Celine Mercer!" I screamed.

My voice tore through the silence. It echoed across the golden hills, carrying a raw, unbridled power I had not possessed in years. I pictured my fangs sinking into Giselle’s pristine throat. I craved the taste of her blood. I had been robbed. Death had stolen my vengeance.

I scrambled to my feet. The endless grasslands whispered around me. Then, a shift in the landscape caught my eye.

On the crest of a distant hill stood a towering woman. Her face was pale and luminous, her eyes carrying the weight of centuries. Hair the color of a blue-black starry night cascaded down her shoulders, trailing over her bare breasts and spilling into the grass. Instinct clawed at my chest. The Moon Goddess. She opened her arms, a gesture of maternal welcome.

Rheana lunged for control. I let her take it. Bones snapped and reformed in a fluid rush, and for the first time in years, I shifted.

I bounded across the ethereal plains as a wolf. There was no heavy iron collar crushing my windpipe. No chains shackling my paws. No guards kicking my ribs to set a grueling pace. I ran full-stride. My paws barely grazed the earth, kicking up golden dust as my muscles stretched and bunched with glorious, unrestrained power. The wind whipped through my fur.

When I reached the crest of the hill, I skidded to a halt and shifted back. The exhilarating high of the run vanished the moment I stood in my scarred, human skin before the deity. I looked at my withered, torn flesh. I lacked the youthful luster my twin possessed. Giselle’s mocking voice echoed in the cavern of my skull. *Imagine him mating with you, when he could have me.*

My knees buckled. I collapsed into the Moon Goddess’s waiting arms, burying my ruined face in her chest. I wept. I sobbed with the broken, primal grief of a child. She held me tight. Her skin radiated a soft, soothing warmth, like the gentle light of a full moon piercing through a dark forest. I had forgotten this sensation. I had forgotten what it felt like to be held without cruelty, to be touched without a blade.

But the comfort twisted rapidly. The warmth morphed into a suffocating, burning fury.

My sister should have loved me. We shared a face. We shared a womb. Darius should have loved me. He was my fated mate, destined by this very Goddess to protect me. They had all thrown me to the slaughter.

I tore myself out of her embrace, stumbling backward. The air between us turned icy.

"Why me?" I screamed, my voice cracking under the weight of my tears. Heat flushed through my veins. "Why did you let me live that life?"

The Moon Goddess looked momentarily stunned by my outrage. But unlike Giselle, her expression didn't twist into disgust. Her ancient face softened into a mask of sweet, agonizing pity. "I can feel all your pain, my child. It was not yours alone."

"Bullshit!" I roared, throwing my hands in the air. "I was alone! Your blessing killed me! Don't you see? It's your fault. Fuck this pure blood, fuck the Clan Mercer, especially Giselle! Fuck Darius too!"

My chest heaved. I gasped for air, my vision blurring with fresh tears. I didn't care if I was blaspheming. I didn't care if she struck me down. I remembered Giselle bragging that Darius knew about the blood harvesting the entire time. The mere possibility that my mate had orchestrated my slaughter ripped a hole in my soul.

The Moon Goddess stepped forward and pulled me into another embrace. I fought her for a second, but my ruined body gave out. I sagged against her, soaking up the warmth because I was so starved for it. Realizing that a living being—even a divine one—actually cared for me only made the tears fall faster.

"Child," she murmured, her voice a soft hum against my ear. "There is a reason you were the chosen one. Your suffering would have made you stronger."

"I never asked to be the chosen one!" I shoved her away again, my skin crawling at the word 'chosen.' "I don't want this blessing. Take it back! Give it to someone else!"

I dropped to the golden grass, curling into a tight ball. I had forced myself to go numb during those years in the dungeon. I had locked my emotions away because crying only brought the guards with their whips. Now, the dam broke. I sobbed until my throat bled. The pain crashed over me in a tidal wave of betrayal, humiliation, and sheer, unfiltered agony.

The Goddess did not speak. I felt her gentle hand rest on my trembling shoulder. She sat beside me in the dirt. She rubbed my back in slow, rhythmic circles. She let me cry. I lost track of time. Hours, maybe months, bled away on that golden hill. I poured every ounce of my shattered soul into the earth.

When the violent tremors finally subsided, I wiped my face and sat up. I looked at the Moon Goddess. Her round face was stained with wet tracks. Her sparkling eyes were red. She had been crying with me.

I turned away from her, gazing out across the endless plains. Far in the distance, where the emerald hills kissed the blue sky, a towering gate of pure, blinding light stood. The gates of the afterlife. They were cracked open, just a sliver. I could see the promise of eternal rest glowing beyond the threshold. I could shift to Rheana and reach it in minutes. I was ready. I just wanted it all to be over.

"I'm sorry, my child," the Moon Goddess said softly. "But the gate will close for you right now."

I whipped my head around. "What do you mean? I don't deserve to go to the afterlife? After everything you put me through?" The fiery rage ignited in my chest again. The anger of being a pawn, of being tortured and bled dry at eighteen. "But I've suffered… so much."

Tears cascaded down my cheeks once more.

"I chose you for a reason," she said, her voice steady and commanding. "I need to send you back. You still need answers, and I still need you there."

"No!" I scrambled backward in the grass. "I am never going back! Look what happened last time!" I thrust my left arm forward, shoving the deep trench in my wrist toward her face. "Look at the bone! Look at my face!" I dragged a trembling finger over the raised, burnt letters on my cheek. "PIG. That is what they made me. I will not go back to that dungeon."

"I will give you a new identity," the Goddess said calmly, unfazed by my outburst. "You can start over, but you will retain your memories. You will have a new face, a new body, and a new life. You still have a purpose."

Her words washed over me. I stared at my mangled hands. A new body. A body free of the brand, free of the chains, free of the scars. The idea of roaming the world without the constant shadow of the Mercer Clan looming over me was intoxicating.

But the terror still choked me. What if the new life became another cage? What if I was captured again?

I opened my mouth to reject the offer, to demand entry into the glowing gates. But then, a low, feral growl echoed in the back of my mind. Rheana. My wolf had been denied a life just as much as I had. She had never been allowed to hunt, to run under the real moon, to live.

*Don't you want to get our revenge?* Rheana whispered, her voice dripping with venom. *We should take what is ours. We should make them pay for every drop of blood they stole.*

Rheana was right. I did not care about the Goddess's grand purpose, but I cared about vengeance. I wanted to see Giselle bleed. I wanted to see Darius broken. I would carve the answers I needed out of their flesh. Only then would I be ready to walk through those glowing gates and find true peace.

"Okay," I said, my voice hardening into steel. "I will go back. But on one condition."

I looked the Goddess dead in the eye. My heart clenched, but the resolve in my chest was unbreakable. My fated mate had stood by while I was butchered. Destiny had handed me over to a monster. The mate bond was nothing but a collar, another chain designed to drag me to the slaughterhouse.

"I refuse to have a mate bond," I demanded. "I cannot trust a mate. I will never trust any fated love ever again. If you want me to go back and do your bidding, I walk alone. You will not force me into that bond again."

I would be free of Darius. I would be free of any male the universe deemed perfect for me. My own twin sister, the person who shared my face and my blood, had betrayed me. Trust was a luxury I could no longer afford. I had survived eighteen years without love. I could survive a second lifetime without it. I had a purpose now, and it was vengeance. Love had no place in my heart.

The Moon Goddess stared at me for a long moment, reading the unyielding determination in my eyes. Slowly, she nodded.

I looked toward the horizon. The glowing gates slammed shut, sealing away the afterlife.

"If you insist," she said softly, "I can give you that."

"I do insist," I replied, my jaw set. "I don't need anyone."

"Good luck, my child."

The world went black.

***

A brutal, freezing shock ripped me from the void.

I jolted, gasping for air. Ice-cold water rushed over my legs, biting into my skin with terrifying intensity. I blinked through blurred vision, staring up at a dense canopy of towering pine trees. Was I still dying? Had Giselle ordered her guards to dump my mangled corpse into a river to wash away the evidence? I pictured her parading around in her pristine white gown, and a vicious part of me hoped my blood had ruined the silk.

I lay on a rocky riverbank, shivering violently. I tried to sit up, expecting the agonizing tear of flesh, the pull of the chains, the weakness of blood loss.

Nothing hurt.

I froze. I brought a trembling hand to my face. My fingers brushed against smooth, flawless skin. I clawed at my cheek, searching for the raised, burnt edges of the 'PIG' brand. It was gone.

I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked down. I was wearing coarse, wet rags that clung to my body, but the skin beneath was pristine. I grabbed my left wrist, my thumb frantically rubbing over the spot where the bone had been exposed. The deep trench had vanished. There was no scar. No bruising. No weakness.

The sound of splashing broke through my shock.

I flinched, my head snapping toward the water. A young man was wading through the freezing river, his heavy boots slipping on the slick rocks as he rushed toward me.

Panic seized my throat. A guard. A hunter. An enemy.

He closed the distance before I could scramble backward. He dropped to his knees in the shallows and wrapped his strong arms around my shivering frame. His body heat radiated through my wet rags, cutting through the biting cold of the river. He pulled me up, hauling me out of the rushing current and onto the dry shore.

"You're alive," he murmured. His voice was low, laced with a sweet, soothing timbre that vibrated in his chest.

He set me down on the mossy bank. I blinked up at him, my heart hammering against my ribs like a trapped bird. He looked to be around my age. He had dark brown hair plastered to his forehead and broad, powerful shoulders built like a seasoned fighter.

But it was his face that caught my breath. A jagged, faded scar ran from the peak of his cheekbone all the way down his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his shirt. Yet, despite the rough, dangerous appearance of the scar, his tawny eyes were wide with a profound, unmistakable kindness. He looked at me with genuine sympathy and deep concern. I had never seen a man look at me like that. Not even Darius.

But I knew better. I knew what men were capable of. I knew what happened when you let your guard down.

As he shifted his weight, reaching a hand out to brush a wet strand of hair from my face, the trauma clawed at my brain. I expected a blade. I expected a chain.

I flinched hard, scrambling backward on the rocks, pulling my knees to my chest.

He froze, his large hand suspended in the air. The concern in his tawny eyes deepened. He slowly lowered his hand, keeping his movements deliberate and unthreatening.

"It's ok, don't be afraid," he said softly, his tone steady and grounding. "I'm here to help."