My Sister Stole My Blessed Fate

My adopted sister, Selene Vale, and I were transported to the Beast Realm, where the Beast God allowed us to choose our fate. One path was to become a Warrior Female, blessed with powerful strength, sharp claws, and the ability to hunt and fight. The other was to become a Blessed Female, gifted with rare fertility, a beautiful human form, and a scent that naturally attracted the strongest males. In our last life, Selene was afraid she would not survive in this brutal world, so she chose the Warrior Female path. I became the Blessed Female. Selene was sent to the poorest clan in the north with three injured outcast males: a one-eyed wolf, a hawk with a broken wing, and a young feline shifter everyone believed was weak. Meanwhile, I was claimed by Theron, Darius, and Lucan, three of the strongest and most powerful males in the Beast Realm. Everyone envied me. Later, the three of them rose to rule the Beast Realm, and I was crowned Queen Consort at their side. Selene thought I had received everything she deserved. Consumed by jealousy, she dragged me into the poisonous Black Mist Swamp, determined to die with me. But she never knew the truth. The crown she envied was a cage. The three males who once worshipped me eventually locked me away, stripped me of my freedom, and treated my body as nothing more than a tool to produce powerful heirs. When I opened my eyes again, we were standing before the Beast God. We had both returned to the day we chose our fate. This time, Selene rushed forward first. “I choose to become a Blessed Female.” Then she turned to me with a victorious smile. “Sister, this time, the crown will belong to me.” “As for those three useless outcasts, you can have them.” She thought she had stolen my destiny. She had stolen my prison. Chapter 1 When I opened my eyes, I was standing on the Fate Platform again. Moonlight covered the ancient altar of beast bones, and the endless forest stretched beneath us. Beside me, Selene’s breathing changed. She remembered too. The Beast God’s wolf-shaped shadow rose above the platform. “In the Beast Realm, you may choose one of two paths. A Warrior Female will gain strength, claws, speed, and the power to hunt. A Blessed Female will gain rare fertility and a scent that attracts powerful males.” Before the Beast God could say more, Selene stepped forward. “I choose Blessed Female.” Her voice was almost eager. “And I want Theron, Darius, and Lucan as my mates.” The Beast God lowered its golden eyes. “Once fate is carved, it cannot be undone.” “I won’t regret it.” Selene turned to me with a smile I knew too well. “Sister, this time, the Queen Consort’s seat belongs to me.” Then she pointed toward the other side of the platform. Three males waited beneath the moonlight. Ronan, a one-eyed wolf. Kael, a hawk with an injured wing. And Ash, a young feline shifter small enough that most beasts dismissed him at first glance. “Those unwanted ones can go with you,” Selene said. “Take them to Frostbrook Clan and survive there if you can.” Ronan. Kael. Ash. In our last life, they had been given to Selene. She had seen only Ronan’s missing eye, Kael’s damaged wing, and Ash’s small body. When war reached the northern border, she abandoned all three to save herself. She never learned what they could have become. Ronan could hear movement through a blizzard. Kael could strike faster than most healthy warriors even with one damaged wing. And Ash was not a common cat shifter at all, but a rare lynx whose strength would terrify far larger beasts once he fully matured. Selene saw three useless burdens. I saw three warriors who had never been given the chance to survive. Golden light wrapped around her and carved the Blessed Female fate into her body. A soft scent spread through the air. Theron, the white tiger, looked at her first. Darius, the black lion, followed. Above them, Lucan folded his eagle wings and watched her closely. Selene stood in the center of their attention as though the crown were already on her head. When she passed me, she lowered her voice. “Try to stay alive long enough to watch me rise.” I almost smiled. She had no idea how many times I had wished someone would take that life from me. I walked toward the Beast God. “I choose Warrior Female.” The golden eyes settled on me. “This path gives you strength, speed, and the power to survive by your own claws. No clan will value you for your fertility. No powerful male will be drawn to protect you by instinct.” “I know.” That was exactly why I wanted it. In my last life, protection had become locked doors. Love had become control. By the time I understood the difference, even leaving my own room required permission. I would never live like that again. The Beast God touched my forehead. Power rushed through me. The wind sharpened. I could smell snow far to the north, hear movement deep beneath the trees, and feel strength settle into muscles that had once been too weak to defend themselves. White claws slid from my fingertips. For the first time since entering the Beast Realm, my life belonged to me. The clouds opened beneath the platform. Selene descended toward Sunspire Clan with Theron, Darius, and Lucan, toward the life she had fought so hard to steal. I fell toward the frozen north. Ronan, Kael, and Ash followed. She thought she had taken my crown. She had taken my cage. And without realizing it, she had handed me the three males who would help me build something far greater. Chapter 2 I landed in Frostbrook Clan with the north wind cutting down from the ridge. Low wooden huts crouched beneath old snow, their walls dark from years of weather. Hungry pups huddled together near the shelters, and wounded wolves rested around the central fire. The few adults still strong enough to stand looked thin enough for winter to finish what war had started. So this was the clan Selene had left me with: poor, isolated, and stripped of its best hunting grounds. An old gray wolf came forward and bowed his head. “I am Maren, acting leader of Frostbrook.” His eyes moved to Ronan, Kael, and Ash behind me. “From today on, they are assigned to your household. By clan law, they will fight beside you and answer to you in camp.” He held out a thin obedience chain. I left it in his hand. “How many hunters can still leave camp?” Maren hesitated. “Twenty-seven. Half are injured. Ironfang drove the deer north, and Sunspire controls the western river valley. Winter begins in half a month. Our stores will not last.” I lifted my face into the wind. Beneath the scent of snow and pine was blood, faint but fresh, coming from the northern slope. Injured snow-horn sheep had passed through recently. “Wait here.” I ran into the trees. My new body responded faster than thought. I could read broken branches beneath the snow, follow blood through the wind, and hear movement farther ahead than I ever could before. Two injured sheep had separated from the herd. I circled downwind, drove them toward a narrow stone hollow, and killed them before either could turn its horns on me. When I dragged both carcasses back into camp, Frostbrook went silent. Ronan looked at the sheep, then at the blood on my claws. He said nothing, but I saw the change in his expression. I dropped the prey beside the fire. “Pups and the wounded eat first. The adults split into two groups. One clears the old traps. The other comes with me to the northern slope. We will set barriers and drive smaller prey toward the valley.” No one answered at once. I turned to Ronan. “How good is your hearing?” His single eye lifted. “Better than my missing eye.” “Then listen for movement in the wind.” Kael raised his head before I spoke to him. “Can you still fight at close range?” His talons flexed. “Yes.” “Then take the high ground and watch the river valley.” Finally, I stopped in front of Ash. A few young wolves glanced at his smaller body and gave low snorts. “Ash comes with me,” I said. “He can move through places larger shifters cannot.” The laughter stopped. “Anyone who judges a warrior by size alone will not live long enough to regret it.” Ash slowly raised his head. By dusk, Frostbrook had begun to move again. The sheep were divided, the wounded repaired the outer rails, Ronan led hunters toward the northern slope, Kael climbed to the highest dead pine, and Ash helped me uncover old burrows beneath the snow that could be sealed and used for food storage. That night, an elder brought me the first bowl of meat broth. Ronan, Kael, and Ash remained beyond the firelight. By Frostbrook custom, males assigned to a female’s household ate after she finished. I pushed the bowl back. “Divide it into four.” The elder blinked. “You brought the hunt down yourself.” “Then I decide who eats.” I looked toward the three males. “If they are expected to fight beside me, they need the strength to survive.” Ronan came first. Kael watched me for a moment before sitting near the fire. Ash approached last, lowering his nose to the bowl as though he still expected someone to take it away. I did not expect their trust. Not after what Selene had done to them in the last life. And judging by the way they watched me, I was beginning to suspect the Beast God had returned more than two souls to the past. Deep into the night, I slept in an old guard hut with cracked walls and a leaking roof. My new body ached from its first hunt, and exhaustion pulled me under before the fire outside burned low. Beyond the thin wall, claws shifted over packed snow. Kael’s scent lingered near the doorway. Ash’s stayed farther back, sharp and watchful. Neither entered. Ronan remained between them and the hut until dawn. When morning light finally crossed the floor, I opened my eyes to the sound of Frostbrook waking outside. The three males had not accepted me. They had only chosen to wait. For now, that was enough. Chapter 3 When I woke, the snow had stopped. The fire outside had burned low, but Ronan, Kael, and Ash’s scents still lingered near the hut. They had come close enough last night to decide whether I was a threat. They had also chosen to leave me alive. That told me enough. If they remembered the last life too, I had no reason to force the truth out of them. Selene had already given them every reason not to trust the female who now stood in her place. Outside, Frostbrook was already moving. The wounded repaired the rails, young hunters carried stakes toward the northern slope, and the pups slept near the fire with full stomachs for the first time in days. Ronan stood near the wind gap. His ear twitched as I approached. “Three sets of footsteps on the northern slope,” he said. “Ironfang scouts.” Kael dropped from a dead pine, keeping his injured wing close to his side. “They’re watching the smoke. Last night’s hunt drew them here.” Ash looked toward a narrow break between the trees. “I can circle behind them.” I nodded. “Ronan tracks them. Kael takes the high ground. Ash cuts off their retreat.” Then I added, “Bring them back alive.” Ronan glanced at me. “Alive is harder.” “Dead scouts disappear. Living ones carry a message home.” That was enough. Ronan drove the three Ironfang wolves toward the frozen creek bed. Kael blocked their escape from the rocks, while Ash slipped through the narrow trees and reached the far side before they noticed him. Half an hour later, all three scouts were tied to Frostbrook’s outer posts. The clan looked at Ronan, Kael, and Ash differently now. Until today, they had seen a one-eyed wolf, a hawk with a damaged wing, and a young shifter too small to take seriously. Now they had seen what each of them could do. I released the scouts with one message. “The northern slope belongs to Frostbrook. If Ironfang wants it back, send your leader.” Maren watched them disappear into the trees. “Ironfang has pushed us around for years because they know we lack strong fighters.” “Then that changes now.” I turned to the wolves gathered around us. “Elders handle storage and repairs. The wounded build traps. The pups learn scents.” Then I pointed toward Ronan, Kael, and Ash. “Ronan trains tracking. Kael trains ambush. Ash trains movement through narrow ground.” A few wolves glanced at Ash. I saw the doubt before anyone spoke. “What he knows, larger beasts cannot always do,” I said. “Anyone who doubts him can try to catch him first.” No one laughed. Ash’s ears lifted slightly. Over the next few days, Frostbrook changed. Old traps were rebuilt. Burrows became meat stores. Patrols stopped wandering blindly around the camp, and young hunters learned to move with purpose instead of fear. The clan was still weak, but it was no longer helpless. Then news arrived from Sunspire. Selene had been given the warmest stone house and the softest furs. Theron, Darius, and Lucan kept her close, and every clan now knew Sunspire possessed a Blessed Female capable of giving them powerful heirs. Maren glanced at me as though he expected me to envy her. I kept hanging dried meat inside the storage pit. “If she likes being worshipped, let her enjoy it.” Ronan stood nearby. “You know what comes next.” My hands paused. I did. In my last life, it had begun the same way. Protection. Devotion. Attention so constant that everyone else mistook it for love. Then the doors began to close. Selene had wanted my place badly enough to die for it. Now she could have it. “She chose that life,” I said. By dusk, Ash had found antlers we could cut into trap hooks, Kael returned with two snow hares, and Ronan came back from the border carrying a torn Ironfang flag. “They pulled back.” A low cheer spread through Frostbrook. For the first time in years, the clan had taken something back from an enemy and kept it. Winter was still coming. But Frostbrook was no longer waiting to die. Chapter 4 Ironfang had pulled back, but I knew they would not stay quiet for long. Over the next three days, Frostbrook strengthened the northern slope, moved meat into the storage burrows, and reset every trap along the border. A weak clan taking back its hunting ground was enough to attract attention, and sooner or later, the stronger clans would come to see what had changed. On the third evening, a trade party from Sunspire arrived with hides, rough salt, and news of Selene. She now lived in Sunspire’s warmest stone house, surrounded by Theron, Darius, and Lucan. She had begun introducing the human habits she remembered from our old world, including private sleeping rooms, ration ledgers, indoor meals, and stricter storage rules. The traders spoke of her with admiration, as if she had brought something extraordinary to Sunspire. Maren glanced at me, perhaps expecting envy. I opened one of the salt pouches and immediately caught the bitter mineral smell beneath it. “Do not give this to the pups until it has been cleaned.” The trader frowned. “Sunspire considers it valuable.” “Then Sunspire can keep eating it.” I handed the pouch to Maren. “Filter ours through spring water. We need strong hunters, not sick pups.” The trader said nothing more. Selene was already beginning to copy my old life. She remembered the warm rooms, full stores, and admiration. She remembered everything that had looked beautiful from the outside, but she had never understood what came after. Ronan stood beside me after the traders left. “You knew she would do this?” “She wants the life I had.” “And Theron, Darius, and Lucan will let her?” “For now.” I looked south toward Sunspire. “As long as she gives them what they want, they will call it devotion.” Ronan understood and asked nothing more. That night, Frostbrook held its winter rite. There was no feast, only a ring of fire and a clan still recovering from hunger. By tradition, a new Warrior Female had to show her beast form before winter, proving she could fight beside the clan she had joined. I stepped into the firelight and shifted. My white wolf form landed in the snow, and the camp fell silent. I meant only to cross the fire pit, but the moment I leaped, heat tore through my body. My bones shifted again before I could stop them, and I landed on the other side in human form. For one heartbeat, no one moved. Then the pressure of my wolf rolled across the camp. Kael reacted first. He dropped from the dead pine with his talons already out, while Ash rushed from the edge of the fire with his claws cutting through the snow. Ronan crossed between them and me before either could get close. “Stop.” Kael kept his talons raised. “You felt that pressure too.” “I did.” “She had the same power.” My blood ran cold. Ash flattened his ears and stared at me. “Last time, she stood before us under firelight too.” Around us, the Frostbrook wolves began to draw back. I looked from Kael to Ash, then to Ronan. They remembered. Not fragments. Not instincts. They remembered the last life. Kael’s gaze never left me. “She wears Selene’s fate, gives us orders the way Selene did, and now she carries a power no ordinary Warrior Female should have. How many signs do you need before you stop protecting the female who killed us?” The female who killed us. Us. Kael’s gaze never left me. “She wears Selene’s fate, gives us orders the way Selene did, and now she carries a power no ordinary Warrior Female should have.” His talons flexed. “How many signs do you need before you stop protecting the female who killed us?” So they really had been reborn too. They remembered everything Selene had done to them in the last life. And worse, Kael wanted to kill me now.