The pain hit me like lightning at three in the morning, tearing through my chest with such intensity that I bolted upright in bed, gasping for air. Thaddeus stirred beside me but didn't wake—five years of marriage had taught him to sleep through my restless nights.
But this wasn't restlessness. This was something else entirely.
Fire coursed through my veins, and I pressed my hands against my temples as memories I'd buried deep began surfacing. The pack house. Smoke. Screaming. And then... nothing. Five years of nothing where my wolf should have been.
*Hello, Juniper.*
I froze. The voice in my head was clear, strong, and definitely not my own.
*I'm Luna. I've been trying to reach you for so long.*
My wolf. After five years of silence, she was here. Tears streamed down my face as I felt her presence fill the empty spaces in my soul, warm and protective and fierce.
*Something is very wrong,* Luna continued, her mental voice growing sharper. *Our mate bond... it doesn't feel right. Let me show you what really happened that night.*
Sudenly, images flooded my mind—memories I'd lost in the trauma. The training equipment sparking. Mckenna Dixon's panicked face as she tried to shut it down. The strange energy that had wrapped around me, suffocating my wolf until she retreated so deep I couldn't feel her anymore.
*She did this to us,* Luna growled. *And he... he covered it up.*
I stumbled to the bathroom, gripping the marble countertop as more memories surfaced. Thaddeus marking me just days after the incident, his eyes not filled with love but with something that looked almost like... guilt?
When morning came, I could barely contain my excitement despite Luna's warnings. My wolf was back. After five years of feeling incomplete, of being treated as lesser, I was whole again.
Thaddeus was already dressed for the day, adjusting his tie in the mirror. His dark hair was perfectly styled, and his Alpha presence filled the room as it always did. But now, with Luna's senses, I could detect something I'd never noticed before—the faint scent of another woman clinging to his clothes.
"Thaddeus," I said, my voice trembling with joy. "I have incredible news. My wolf—she's back. Luna awakened last night."
He went completely still, his hands freezing on his tie. In the mirror, I watched his face cycle through emotions too quickly to catch—surprise, fear, and something that looked almost like panic.
"That's... wonderful, Juniper," he said, but his voice sounded strained. "How do you feel?"
"Complete," I whispered, stepping closer to him. "For the first time in five years, I feel complete. And Luna, she can sense our mate bond so clearly now. I wanted to share this moment with you through our connection."
I reached out through our mind-link, the same way I had countless times over the years, expecting to feel that warm rush of connection, that sense of belonging that had sustained me through my darkest moments.
Instead, Luna recoiled.
*That's not natural,* she snarled in my mind. *That's not how mate bonds work. There's technology behind this—artificial enhancement. Juniper, this isn't real.*
The world tilted. I gripped the dresser to keep from falling as Luna's revelation hit me like a physical blow. Five years. Five years of believing I'd found my fated mate, of enduring the shame of being wolfless because I thought the Moon Goddess had blessed me with Thaddeus's love.
"Juniper?" Thaddeus's voice seemed to come from very far away. "Are you alright?"
I looked up at him, this man I'd loved and trusted completely, and saw him clearly for the first time. The careful way he watched me. The slight tension in his shoulders. The guilt he'd hidden behind Alpha authority.
"Our mate bond," I whispered, my voice barely audible. "It's not real, is it?"
For just a moment, his mask slipped, and I saw the truth in his eyes before he quickly composed himself.
"Don't be ridiculous," he said, but there was something desperate in his tone. "You're overwhelmed. Having your wolf return after so long—it's natural to feel confused."
But Luna was showing me more now, helping me understand what I'd been too blind to see. The mind-link that felt slightly mechanical. The way he never seemed surprised by my thoughts. The careful, practiced responses that felt more like programming than genuine emotional connection.
*He's been manipulating us this entire time,* Luna whispered, her rage building. *And I think I know why.*
My legs gave out, and I sank onto the bed as the full scope of my husband's deception began to unfold. Everything I'd believed about my life, my marriage, my worth—all of it built on lies.
Thaddeus was watching me carefully, and I realized he was probably trying to gauge how much I'd figured out. How much danger his carefully constructed world was in.
"I need some air," I managed to say, standing on shaking legs. "I'll see you at the pack meeting this afternoon."
As I walked past him, Luna's enhanced senses caught something that made my blood run cold—the scent of arousal, recent and intense, mixed with a familiar feminine fragrance.
Mckenna's scent.
All over my husband's skin.
