Brooke POV:

The pack cells. Silver alloy bars.

The air smelled of ozone and despair. Every brush against the bars sizzled my skin.

Footsteps. Easton appeared.

"Have you learned your lesson?"

"Is that why I'm here? A lesson?"

"You stole a sacred artifact. The council wants to banish you. But I can stop them. Confess. Apologize to Kelly. I'll keep you in the servant quarters."

I looked up.

"Safe? You pushed me into a table. You let them feed me raw meat. I am not safe with you."

"I am trying to protect you!"

I stood up. My legs shook, but my soul was steel.

"I, Brooke Rollins, reject you, Easton Spencer, as my mate."

The words hung in the damp air.

Easton flinched violently, grabbing his chest. The snap of a spiritual cord.

"What... You can't... we aren't marked..."

"The Moon Goddess knows. And now, so do you."

He laughed, strained. "Fine. Play the martyr. You are just a delusional Omega."

"Mr. Spencer." The desk sergeant. "Her bail has been posted."

"By whom?"

"Her mother."

My heart clenched.

I walked out. My mother was in the lobby, pale but fierce.

"Let's go, baby."

Outside, I asked, "Mom, the money... how?"

"I sold it," she signed, eyes wet. "Your father's watch. The Patek. It was the last thing we had."

My chest hollowed out. That watch was supposed to be her retirement. Her safety net.

I removed my SIM card and snapped it, dropping it into the gutter.

"Goodbye, Easton," I said to the air.

Behind me, Easton stood in the doorway, clutching his chest, looking like a man who had lost a limb but hadn't realized it yet.

Brooke POV:

Two weeks later. Phoenix City airport. Glass, steel, and freedom.

I pushed my mother's wheelchair.

"Watch out!"

I collided with a solid wall of muscle.

Zzzzt!

Static electricity shot through my arms.

I looked up. Dark hair, eyes like molten gold. Cedar wood split open in a thunderstorm.

My lungs expanded. My inner wolf purred.

Mine.

The man froze. "You," he breathed.

I pulled away. "I'm sorry."

He looked at my mother. Instead of disgust, he knelt.

He signed. Are you hurt, Elder?

My mother gasped. No. Thank you, Alpha.

He stood up. "I am Dominic Cannon. Alpha of the Phoenix Pack."

"I know who you are." Easton's rival.

"You have a powerful spirit," Dominic said. "But it is sleeping. Why?"

"I'm just an Omega."

"I don't see an Omega. I see a survivor. And the 'Ghost Designer' behind Spencer's success."

My eyes widened.

"I see everything," he smiled. "I need a Lead Tactician. Someone who understands war. Come work for me."

"I have baggage. Dangerous baggage."

"I like danger." He handed me a black phone. "Encrypted. You are under my protection."

I took it. The spark jumped again.

"Okay," I said.

Dominic grinned. "Welcome home, Brooke."

As we walked away, I caught my reflection. My eyes flashed white.

Easton POV:

The amusement park was a sensory nightmare.

"Easton! Look at this!" Kelly squealed.

My chest had ached for three weeks. A dull, hollow throb. The pills didn't work.

My Inner Wolf was silent. Not calm-catatonic.

We walked past a gift shop. Plush unicorns.

Memory hit me. Brooke, two years ago, staring at a window like this. Her eyes lighting up, then dimming as she remembered she wasn't allowed to ask for things.

"I want them," I said.

"The bear?"

"No. The unicorns. All of them."

I bought fifty stuffed unicorns. I didn't know why. A desperate, clawing need.

In the car, I checked my phone. "Wife".

I tried the Mind-Link .

Usually, I felt a wall. Resistance.

Now... Void. Infinite darkness. The bond wasn't blocked. It was gone.

Panic spiked.

"Easton, listen to me!" Kelly whined. "I want to go to Le Pierre ."

I looked at her. Makeup caked like plaster. Scent like chemical roses.

"Fine," I muttered.

I put the phone away. I should delete her number.

My thumb hovered. Trembling. I couldn't do it.