The Last Lunar Phoenix

Chapter 1

The steering wheel crushed my ribs, and all I could taste was blood.

“Zephyr.” Bron’s voice cracked through my shattered phone. “I’m sorry, okay? Father needs your inheritance. You should understand.”

“Bron,” I gasped, blood pooling in my mouth, “you cut my…”

The world tilted as I tried to control the failed breaks. The screeching was loud enough for someone two blocks away to hear.

Then…silence.

Avalon’s name was my last thought just before the darkness swallowed me whole.

When I opened my eyes, I was staring at candlelight.

“What the…” I sat up, clutching my ribs. There was no pain or blood. I was in a silk nightgown I hadn’t worn in years.

A knock came at the door. “Miss Zephyr? Your father sent me to help you prepare. The car will be here in an hour.”

My heart froze. That voice belonged to Emma, my maid. She was supposed to be dead.

I stumbled to the mirror and the reflection staring back wasn’t the broken twenty-eight. My skin was too smooth, almost like porcelain. My eyes, which were once blue, had changed to amber and the scar on my brow was gone.

My fingers trembled as I grabbed my phone to see June 7th, 2020.

A sound escaped my throat. Tonight was the night before my wedding. The night before he rejected me.

I stared at my reflection, the rage rising hot in my chest. Bron had killed me for money while Avalon had destroyed me for pride. I’d cried through five years of humiliation. Not this time.

“Miss Zephyr?” Emma called again. “Should I tell your father…”

“No,” I snapped. “Tell him I’ll be ready in thirty minutes.”

When she left, I gripped the vanity hard. In my first life, I’d spent this morning begging Father not to force me into that marriage. Now? I had just one thought.

I opened my closet and the white wedding gown I had worn in my first life, stared back at me. I reached past it and pulled out the black one. The silk hugged my curves with a dangerously low neckline that showed a good portion of my breasts.

The old Zephyr would’ve cried, not this one.

Just then the door burst open.

“Still not dressed?” Bron leaned against the frame, a stupid smug was across his face. “Father’s furious. You know how he gets when his investments are late.”

I met his eyes. “Get out, Bron.”

He blinked. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” I stood, and the air between us thickened. That strange heat flickered again inside me, curling through my veins. “Get out before I tell Father about the offshore accounts you’ve been skimming.”

His face was drained of colour. “You…how the hell would you…”

“It doesn’t matter.” My lips curved. “Keep testing me, and I’ll make sure the whole pack hears about it before breakfast.”

“Father’s going to…”

“I said get out.” My tone sliced through the room.

He stared like he didn’t recognize