Chapter Five

"Kill that bitch! She's a traitor to the pack!"

Sasha's voice rang through the boutique, shrill and triumphant. Miranda's vision was going dark, Daniel's fingers crushing her windpipe while his magic lifted her off the ground. Her feet dangled uselessly in the air.

"Sasha," Miranda choked out, forcing the words through her collapsed throat. "You were my best friend. You stole my boyfriend and now—"

"Without your father, you are nothing!" Sasha cut her off, stepping closer with that vicious smile still plastered across her face. "An idiot who thought she was special just because daddy was Alpha. Well, daddy's dead now, isn't he?"

Daniel released his grip suddenly. Miranda's body dropped, crashing onto the marble floor. She landed hard on her side, coughing violently, gasping for air that burned like fire going down her throat. Every breath felt like swallowing glass.

Through her watering eyes, she saw Daniel raise both hands. His fingers began to glow with the same sickly green light that surrounded Sasha. So he had magic too. Of course he did. They had planned this together, practiced together, probably laughed together about how they would use it to kill her.

"I should have done this in the ceremonial hall," Daniel said, his voice cold. "But watching you suffer a little first was worth the wait."

The green light intensified, forming into sharp points like daggers hanging in the air above Miranda's prone body. She tried to move, to crawl away, but Sasha's paralysis spell still held her limbs frozen. She could only lie there and watch as Daniel prepared to end her life.

The daggers dropped.

A blur of silver-grey crashed through the boutique window.

Glass exploded everywhere. The magical daggers shattered mid-air, dissolving into harmless sparks. Daniel flew backward as if struck by a truck, slamming into a display case that collapsed under his weight. His body went rigid, frozen in place by an invisible force stronger than anything Sasha could produce.

Hayden landed in a crouch between Miranda and her attackers, his eyes blazing with fury. His wolf power radiated outward in waves that made the air shimmer.

Sasha screamed and threw her own magic at him, but Hayden raised one hand and her spell simply stopped, suspended in the air like a fly trapped in amber. With a flick of his wrist, he sent it flying back at her. It hit her square in the chest and she crumpled, unconscious before she hit the ground.

Miranda's body was still suspended slightly off the floor by the remnants of Daniel's magic. As his concentration broke, gravity reasserted itself. She started to fall.

Hayden moved faster than her eyes could track. One second she was dropping toward the hard marble, the next she was cradled against his chest, his arms wrapped around her like steel bands that would never let go.

"No one is ever going to hurt you again, baby," Hayden said, his voice rough with emotion. "I have got you."

The moment his skin touched hers, the world exploded.

Lightning shot through Miranda's entire body, the same electric shock she had felt with Lucas but somehow more intense, more visceral. Her wolf surged forward, howling with recognition and desperate need. The mate bond snapped into place like a physical chain connecting her soul to his.

Miranda's eyes went wide with shock. Her hands clutched at Hayden's shirt as she tried to process what was happening.

No. This is not possible.

She had felt this exact same thing with Lucas just minutes ago. The same overwhelming pull. The same certainty that screamed MATE in every cell of her body.

How can I be feeling this again? With a different person?

Hayden stared down at her, and she saw the exact same shock mirrored in his face. His pupils were dilated, his breathing ragged. He felt it too. He had to.

"Miranda," he whispered, and the way he said her name made her want to cry.

Lucas burst through the broken window, his arms full of shopping bags that he dropped immediately when he saw the scene. His eyes went from the unconscious Sasha to the frozen Daniel to Miranda in Hayden's arms.

Something dark flashed across Lucas's face. His jaw clenched as he took in how close Hayden was holding her, how neither of them had moved apart yet, how they were staring at each other like the rest of the world had disappeared.

"What happened?" Lucas asked, but his voice came out tight, controlled in a way that screamed jealousy.

Miranda pushed weakly against Hayden's chest, and he immediately loosened his grip but did not let her go completely. Her legs were still shaking too badly to support her weight.

She looked between the two brothers, feeling both bonds pulling at her now. Two separate threads wrapped around her heart, both equally strong, both equally impossible to ignore.

Oh no. Moon Goddess, this cannot be happening.

Her throat was still raw from Daniel's attack, making each word painful. But she forced them out anyway, her voice barely above a whisper.

"How can I be mated to two people? Is that even possible?"