She Killed Me Once, So This Time the Whole Pack Is Watching novel · Chapter 1 of 24
Chapter 1: The Day Before
Rosalind wakes in the past with her gown torn and her sister's hand in her hair, then walks out on the family that excuses it. She decides the next attack will happen in front of witnesses.
My head hit the edge of the dressing table, and I woke up.
Linnet's hand was knotted in my hair, the same hand that used to braid it for me.
Her other hand held my bonding gown, and her claws were tearing the skirt open.
"Why are you wearing this?" she screamed.
I wasn't wearing it. It had been laid across my bed since morning, silver-white, ready for the ceremony.
I looked at the calendar on my wall.
Then I looked at it again.
It was the day before I bonded with Bram.
The last thing I remembered was the floor of this room and a silver blade in my chest.
My family had stood around me while I bled.
Mother had said, "No healers. A report will name her."
Then I had died.
Now my chest was whole, and there was no blood on my shirt.
The gown was the same gown. Linnet's hand was the same hand.
And I knew exactly what she would do next.
"Let go of me, Linnet."
She shoved me into the wall.
"Once he marks you, Bram won't come and see me anymore."
"He's my mate."
"He used to sit with me!"
Six years ago our healer had asked Bram to open a short mind-link, so Linnet could call him during one of her episodes.
He had closed it after two months.
It was never a mate bond, and Linnet had never forgiven him for closing it.
She grabbed the teacup off my nightstand and threw it at my face.
I knew it was coming, so I turned.
The tea missed my face and burned across the back of my hand.
I didn't scream. I had screamed the first time.
The door opened.
Mother and Tobin ran in, and by then Linnet was kneeling on the floor.
Her claws were gone. Her hands lay open on her knees, and she stared at the ruined gown.
"Mom?" she said.
Mother dropped beside her and pulled her into her arms.
"It's all right, sweetheart. It's over."
Linnet's eyes filled at once.
"Did I lose control again? I only remember seeing Rosalind in the gown, and then my wolf just went."
Mother stroked her hair.
Both of them had the same white streak at the left temple, and the whole pack joked about it.
Tobin looked at the gown. Then he turned to me.
"The ceremony isn't until tomorrow. Why did you put it on?"
"I didn't. Linnet came in, tore it, and attacked me."
"She's ill, Rosalind," he said, frowning. "You know that gown sets her off. Why would you let her see you in it?"
"This is my room."
My blood was on the corner of the dressing table, and the tea had raised a blister on my hand.
The torn gown lay between us on the floor.
Tobin saw all of it. His face did not change.
Mother stood and took my hand in both of hers.
She looked at the burn and nodded.
"It's a small one. It will heal by tomorrow."
I waited.
"Linnet almost went fully feral," she went on gently. "Please don't argue with her right now."
Nothing in her voice was unkind.
That was how she had said it every other time, too.
I looked at Linnet, still kneeling with her face in her hands.
One of her fingers moved. She was checking, through the gap, whether I was watching.
I held Mother's eyes.
"You said that after she pushed me off the balcony."
"Rosalind," Tobin said.
"And after the stairs. And the kettle."
"Because she's your sister," Mother said. "She can't help it."
I pulled my hand out of hers.
I had spent twenty-four years being the one who forgave.
On the last night of my life, they had stood around my body and kept the healers away.
So I stepped out.
I walked past Tobin, down the hall and out the front door, in the shirt I had been wearing.
"Where are you going?" Mother called after me. "The family needs you here."
I didn't answer.
The yard was cold and bright, and Bram was crossing the grass toward the house with a bundle of cedar for the ceremony hall.
He saw my hand first.
The cedar hit the ground.
"Who did this?" His voice was very low.
"Linnet. Tobin and my mother watched her do it and told me to be quiet."
His jaw set.
He took my wrist and looked at the burn.
I let him.
"Bram, listen to me. I'm not going to cry and I'm not going to ask you to believe me with no proof."
"Then say it plainly."
"She is going to stab me tonight, in my room, with a silver blade."
His hand tightened on my wrist.
"I know, because she already did."
He stared at me.
Behind us the house door banged open. I heard Tobin shout my name.
I kept my eyes on Bram.
"I need you, and I need two people from the pack who can't be told it's a family matter. Tonight she comes with the blade, and this time I'm going to be ready."
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