Severed Bond, New Beginning

I jolted awake, my heart hammering against my ribs like a caged bird desperate for escape. The nightmare clung to me with suffocating intensity—Brooks's hands on my shoulders, his face twisted with rage, the sickening sensation of falling, and then... nothing. Just devastating emptiness where something precious had been.

My hands instinctively moved to my flat stomach, trembling fingers searching for something that had never been there. Yet the ache in my chest felt so real, so profound, that tears spilled down my cheeks before I could stop them.

"It was just a dream," I whispered to the pre-dawn darkness of our shared bedroom. But even as the words left my lips, they felt like lies. The emotional pain lingered, raw and bleeding, as if I'd actually lost something irreplaceable.

Sage stirred restlessly in my mind, her presence unusually agitated. *Something's wrong,* she whispered, her voice carrying an edge I'd never heard before. *That wasn't just a dream, Miranda. It felt... like a memory.*

I shook my head, pushing away her unsettling words. Memories of what? I'd never been pregnant. Brooks and I had been careful, waiting until after our mate ceremony next month to start a family. The very idea was impossible.

But the phantom ache in my womb suggested otherwise.

Hours later, I stood outside the Grand Pine Hotel, clutching the territorial agreements Brooks needed to review with the neighboring packs. The autumn wind whipped through my hair, carrying the scent of dying leaves and the promise of winter. I'd volunteered for this errand, hoping the fresh air might clear the lingering shadows from my nightmare.

The hotel's marble lobby gleamed under crystal chandeliers, all polished elegance and whispered conversations. I approached the front desk, my omega instincts automatically making me smaller, less noticeable.

"I'm here to deliver documents to Alpha Brooks Mendoza," I told the clerk, who barely glanced up from her computer.

"Presidential suite, top floor. Elevator's to your right."

The ride up felt endless, my reflection in the polished doors showing a pale, haunted version of myself. Dark circles shadowed my eyes, and my usually neat appearance looked disheveled despite my careful grooming this morning.

I knocked softly on the suite door, expecting Brooks's familiar commanding voice to bid me enter. Instead, silence stretched between us, broken only by the faint sound of... voices? My enhanced werewolf hearing picked up low murmurs from within.

"Brooks?" I called, turning the handle. It wasn't locked.

The sight that greeted me shattered something fundamental inside my chest.

Brooks stood by the floor-to-ceiling windows, his strong arms wrapped around a woman with cascading auburn hair. Her face was buried against his neck, her body molded to his with intimate familiarity. Even from behind, I recognized her—Talia Green, the she-wolf who'd haunted the edges of my relationship like a persistent shadow.

Time crystallized into sharp, cutting fragments. The way Brooks's hand cradled the back of her head. The tender whisper of her name on his lips. The devastating tenderness in his touch—a gentleness I'd rarely experienced myself.

Something primal and fierce erupted from deep within me. Power I'd never felt before surged through my veins, making the air around me shimmer with silver light. My Luna aura—dormant for so long—blazed to life with the force of my betrayal and rage.

"What the hell is this?" The words tore from my throat with Alpha-level authority that surprised even me.

Brooks spun around, his face cycling through shock, guilt, and then—most damning of all—irritation at being caught. Talia turned more slowly, her green eyes holding none of the shame I expected. Instead, she looked almost... satisfied.

"Miranda." Brooks's voice carried his Alpha tone, trying to establish dominance even as he stood there holding another woman. "You should have knocked."

"I did knock!" My power flared brighter, and I saw both of them take an involuntary step back. "I called your name! You were too busy with... this... to hear me."

Talia's lips curved in a subtle smile that made my wolf snarl. "Hello, Miranda. It's been a while."

The casual greeting, as if we were old friends meeting for coffee instead of rivals in this devastating tableau, sent fresh fury coursing through me. My hands clenched into fists, the territorial agreements crumpling in my grip.

"Don't you dare act like this is normal," I snarled, my voice carrying power that made the windows rattle. "Brooks, explain this. Now."

For a moment, I saw fear flicker in his dark eyes—not of me, but of losing control of whatever game he'd been playing. Then his expression hardened into the mask of Alpha authority I knew too well.

"Talia is dying," he said, each word carefully measured. "Wolfsbane poisoning. She came to me because... because she wanted to say goodbye."

The words hit me like physical blows, but something deeper—some instinct I couldn't name—screamed that he was lying.