Ha. Andrew Troy, that son of a bastard. So this was the surprise he had been referring to back then, was it?Because before her stood two surprises indeed. One Beta and an Alpha she knew very well. Or, should she say, a Beta and his she-Alpha fiancee."Beth. You look well." Annalise stepped forward at Beth's greeting, but surprisingly, she didn't reach for her hand or grab her for a hug. Even the usual 'Bethie' nickname was missing from her lips. She only stood there with a small smile, far more reserved than Beth had ever seen her. Indeed, she seemed like she had grown so much over the last half year with an inch more to her height, or had it been even longer than that since they last saw each other?She was only a couple of years younger than Beth and yet had always carried herself with falsely innocent childishness. This strange new maturity and calmness that graced Anna's features didn't suit her at all. Beth hardly knew who she was looking at anymore. What a joke."Why don't you

Beth hadn't been so stupid as to stay out in the open with Anna no matter how tipsy she was. Like hell she was going to fall asleep next to her sister only to wake up in the morning with a literal knife in her back. Well, no. Maybe something more subtle than that, but still. The point remained. Her expert con of a younger sister was putting on a frighteningly convincing act of being a changed and better person, but how many times had she done that before? Far too many to count. Just another notch on the stick, honestly. So Beth had excused herself and gone to bed early, since it seemed Noah wasn't going to be around for the planned strategy meeting anytime soon.Figured. Big important man couldn't be bothered to plan and consult with a she-Alpha. He probably only tolerated Annalise's help as it was because she was his fiancee, and therefore a credit to his manliness as an obedient and useful wife-to-be. But Beth? No. Never.And yet the night wasn't peaceful at all. Beth woke sometim

Noah White. This Beta who had been so proud of his Gold Nation heritage and authority. Beth hadn't thought of cousin James since the night of that birthday celebration for Noah's father, but now she recalled afresh that in the other life, Jim had died in the middle of a massacre while supporting Noah in a failed battle. Back then, all she had known was a name, and only vaguely at that. But with the knowledge she possessed now in conjunction with what she remembered from before, there could be no mistake.Was this what had happened then too? Or was Noah just infinitely more of a coward in this life than the one before? She couldn't stand to think that this was what must have happened in the first life, that this man's sheer cowardice had claimed Jim's life while everyone else sympathized with him, grateful for how at least the Beta could have so narrowly escaped death while heroically fighting in the doomed battle with his comrades.This man. Noah White. If what she suspected was tru

Anna was certainly not who she had been before. Beth didn't know what exactly had been the catalyst for her transformation, but the Annalise who had orchestrated immaculate tea parties and always gasped when even a fleck of mud dotted her dresses, the Annalise who had refused to even touch sticks on the ground because they had dirt or grass blades on them was nowhere to be seen. Maybe she had also come back and was living a second life, Beth thought dryly, but there was no chance of that no matter how amusing the notion. No, the way things seemed, Annalise had simply changed the good old fashioned way, through inner transformation after what must have been hardship and painful lessons.But one thing was for sure. She really did care for Noah. She might even love him. Whatever had happened in the past year, Anna had become someone who didn't turn her nose up at being mated to a Beta and had even deigned to come to the front where she would certainly meet with more than flecks of mud a

Beth could see now with dispassionate eyes that she, too, had changed, more than she realized. Of course Beth was nothing like the weak, manipulable, gullible woman she had been in her first life, and of course she still had her doubts about Anna's miraculous change of heart over the last year. But it wasn't just vengeance and bitterness that stopped her from leaping to Anna's aid when Noah left that horrid wound on her leg. It was cold logic, the calm reasoning that told her if she interfered now, it would only be to Anna's detriment later no matter how one sliced it. So holding back and leaving her sister to her own devices was for Anna's benefit, not just a result of Beth's lingering hatred.Or maybe there was both mixed in. But either way, the fight was decided and there was only one victor, Annalise. Now was Beth's moment to back her up and solidify her sister's authority over Noah's share of the troops, and then after that, they could get down to the real business since Noah w