Theron's lips curved. He pulled Corvina closer against him, his arm tightening around her shoulders. His Alpha aura settled over the room, warm and satisfied, the aura of a wolf who believed he owned everything in it. "No matter what it takes, I'll give Corvina and this pup a home."
I stood in the doorway and watched the man I'd loved for seven years hold another woman in his arms.
My fingers curled at my sides until my nails bit into my palms.
Something deep inside me made a sound. Not my voice. My wolf. A low, thin keening that vibrated through my bones and never reached the air, the kind of sound a wolf makes when it finally understands that the bond it has been pouring itself into has been hollow for a long, long time. I felt it in my sternum, in the backs of my teeth, in the place behind my ribs where the mate bond lived. The bond that should have been a golden thread between us. It had been fraying for years, I realized. I just hadn't wanted to look at it. And now, standing in that doorway with the scent of scorched iron and honeysuckle filling my lungs like poison, I could feel every remaining thread pulling taut, ready to snap.