Miranda woke with a jump, and instantly Braydons grip around her waist tightened so she was pulled back down beside him. She was still adjusting to her new surroundings, and since she was barely awake it took her a few seconds to work out where she was, what had happened and that included how Braydon was back beside her. A content sigh escaped her lips as she settled back against him and glancing towards the window, the light lacked the brightness of the morning.

This wasn't how she saw her day going at all; not that she was complaining.  

Her eyes had just closed when Braydons chin was pressing into her shoulder, before she felt the barely there sensation of his kisses as he moved down her arm. Leaning over her smaller frame, he made the most of her current, naked, state of dress and Miranda giggled as his fingers left their place entwined in hers and brushed over that sensitive little spot on the curve of her hip. Every time it got her laughing; the sound she made just one more thing he added to his growing list of things he had missed about her.

 "Please tell me you have food in this house?" Braydon mumbled against Miranda's stomach, having rolled her over now.

"Of course I do. Mums already stocked up the freezer!" She laughed, before remembering her breakfast plans that had been otherwise interrupted. Glancing at the clock it was mid afternoon so really, they had just been delayed.

Going down stairs, Braydon ignored Miranda's protests and carried instead carried her down, carefully thrown over his shoulder. Once there, Braydon watched her go about trying to find a frying pan and other things from the boxes that filled the space completely at ease and content with the world. His chest felt so swollen to the point of bursting with the love he felt for her. Miranda was on the same level, and keenly aware of the way Braydon was watching her; glowing with his affections. She never really understood how or why their breakup had affected her so much, but now they were back together it literally felt like a part of her returned. Screw fate.

Once dinner was cooked, they sat in the empty living room on a picnic blanket, eating bacon and egg sandwiches off disposable plates. Braydon told her about the fair and the shifter with the human mate as well as telling Miranda more about the pups now he knew them all better. He told her about Amber as well, asking Miranda if she knew about Harry Potter; which she did. Most of it was taken in quiet reflection, even when Braydon told Miranda about Nicholas's plans for him and Carolina and the harsh truth about Manuel Corbani. 

"I actually feel really bad for Carolina," Miranda admitted.

'What? Why?" After finding out Miranda had been trying to contact him, he was beyond done with the she-wolf. Not that he wasn't before.

"If she's got pressure from your Uncle to get you to join his pack, and her Dad is a jerk, she is really left dealing with all that and those pups on her own. Are they even safe there?"

"Yeah. I think they will be fine. It'll just go back to how it used to be before I was there. Besides I got Chad a new phone and he knows he can call me when ever." He shrugged, unable to deny that he now felt a little guilty at leaving too. Why did Miranda have to say that?

"If only they could know, that I know about shifters. Like the human in that other pack!" Miranda sighed. 

"Bianca and her family are pretty awesome. I wish you could meet her!" Braydon thought out loud, before moving on. "So where's all your furniture?"

"I was planning on going shopping today to buy new stuff, but then someone decided my time was spent better elsewhere."

"Oh?" Braydon smirked, feeling almost proud at his efforts. Just like when he was introduced to kissing, he was an eager student, determined to learn as much as he could. Miranda had been all too willing to teach him and he was left even more satisfied once she showed him what she could do all on her own.

"Don't act so innocent," she playfully scolded, getting up to put their rubbish in the bin. "Um, I also told my parents you got your memory back and that was why you left."

"Why don't we just tell them the truth?"

Miranda nearly dropped the rubbish when she realised he was serious. "What?"

"Well, maybe leave out where I've been, but I trust them to know." He shrugged.

"Would you trust say, Abby and Rory too?" Miranda busied herself with the bin, and Braydon quickly picked up on that.

"You told them?"

"No!" Miranda defended, before barely whispering the next part. "Maybe just Abby."

"What? Miranda!" Braydon was up in a blink, remembering how scared Abby had been after she slapped him. "How could you?"

"I was drunk! I'm sorry! But we'd watched a lot of Sex in The City and The Notebook, which may I add I will get you to watch as payback for all the times I had to watch Spiderman!" She promised. "It just kind of happened."

"I guess if you trust her, but oh. You didn't tell Jason did you?" Instantly Braydon went on guard.

"No! He'd be the last person I'd tell about that!"

They both went quiet.

"Miranda, are you, serious about us? I mean it when I say I'm yours." Braydon held her gaze, looking for doubt or some kind of sign that she didn't believe just how invested he was in their relationship now.

"Well now that I've had what you've got to offer, I guess there isn't much use for you anymore." She kept a straight face for above five seconds, which was enough to make Braydon's stomach churn with anxiety. "I'm kidding. Why would you ask that?"

She wrapped herself around him, and noted how he held her a little too tightly.

"I just wanted to make sure. Things aren't going to be easy for us."

"Have they been so far? As cliche as it sounds, as long as we are together, we'll get through it. Don't worry so much!" Miranda kissed the tip of his nose before tidying the kitchen and sorting out the washing, yet the weight of his decision was heavy on his mind.

He'd have to defend her against other shifters, and who knew if he could really just walk away from the Corbani's that easily. He wasn't going to be naive enough to think it was over, especially when Miranda was involved. Not only that, but were other threats too. Would they have pups of their own and if so, would Miranda be strong enough to carry a shifters young? Would they be able to shift like Chad, would they even survive the change? 

While Braydon was completely zoned out; lost in thought, Miranda put the roses in a vase and once she was done, saw the smaller bag that Braydon had brought with him.  Snapping her fingers in front of his face a couple of times, he came out of his daze. "Whats in the bag?"

"Oh. Um. Stuff." He mumbled.

"Okay, well we can share a wardrobe here if you wanted stake a claim on some of the hanging space before I started to unpack?" Miranda went to go over to his things to take them upstairs only Braydon ran over and stopped her.

"It's not, well this one isn't clothes or anything." He held is possessively, guarding it like a dog with a bone.

Miranda hesitated, before nodding. "Okay, well you store it on some of the shelving space if you like? I was just going to fill it with my shoes."

Braydon began following her back upstairs, yet the urge to tell her hit him hard and unlike last time where it resulted in a stalkerish voice mail filled with heavy breathing, he blurted it out. "It's stuff about my family."

"Your family?" Miranda stopped, her eyebrows dropping as she frowned at him; not understanding.

"I'll show you." He snapped, not meaning to. Since he got it he hadn't really known how to deal with it. He'd been angry thinking about being abandoned, upset because they were still his parents and gone, before going back to being furious with his Uncle for messing with him like that. Now, Braydon was only scared of what Miranda would think and went straight to sit on the unmade bed. He hadn't even told Carolina about it all.

"You don't have to show me if you don't-"

"No, I want too. I tried, before, but you didn't answer." Miranda understood and hid her hands in the long sleeves of her jumper as she went to sit beside him. 

Together they went through the photographs and Braydon showed her his family, and who he was back before his life was completely turned upside down. Nothing was held back, not the tears or the anger or the truth behind each image and Miranda helped him through each part until he eventually fell asleep from being mentally, emotionally and physically exhausted. 

Putting his things away, Miranda saw one particularly nice photo of Braydons parents and going down stairs, she took down one of the few photo frames she had put up Friday night and put that picture up to join the couple that were of her own family. Braydon had made it clear they weren't going to be a temporary fling and Miranda now knew and had seen all of what had made Braydon, well Braydon. It seemed only right to her to include his family with hers.

Braydon barely stirred as Miranda climbed into bed and rather than giving her a chance to cuddle him, he rolled over and spread out over her smaller frame. She didn't care, feeling the need to comfort him, she wondered if maybe they got it wrong. Like Jay's girl - could she be a human mate or had them taking their relationship to that next level sealed their fate?

If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine the presence of his wolf within her mind, checking on her; watching her. Making sure she was safe. It was bizarre to say the least. Dropping her arm over Braydons shoulders, Miranda gently stroked the back of his head, wondering if the gesture was understood as something not just for Braydon, but for his other half. 

Something told her he knew.

-x-

Carolina was in constant rotation of four out of the five stages of grief. Denial. Anger. Depression. Bargaining. All that was missing was acceptance. Pacing around her room, she didn't know what to do. Everything she knew, well thought she knew had turned out to be so wrong. Deep down, she had accepted the fact Braydon wasn't supposed to be hers, no matter what connection she had felt. 

The wolf within her was in mourning, while the human no longer had a guide to tell her what or to do,or assure her it was going to be okay. Random fits of rage had her destroying her room, before she'd sink down in despair amongst the ruins.

Up and down, happy and sad, around and around. 

The pups were on their own. Manuel was gone and the sounds they heard coming from Carolina's room had Chad tempted to call Braydon. The second they had got home they went to try and comfort her only for Carolina to declare them all traitors for siding with Braydon and since then, she hadn't left her room.

"This is your fault!" Oliver declared, glaring at Chad.

"Mine? How?" Sitting around the dinner table, they were self-sufficient enough to fend for themselves. It wasn't exactly the weekend they had in mind, considering Saturday nights were usually a family movie night, but right now no one felt like sticking to routine.

"You talked him into being with that human!" His voice held more than anger; they were all sad to see Braydon go.

"That human is called Miranda!" Chad kept answering Oliver, unable to stop himself. It was no secret Chad was the weakest of the shifters thanks to his lineage.

Thing is, Chad knew that was in wolf form only. Thanks to Braydon actually believing in and seeing him as something more than just a runt; Chad had the ability to see himself as more too. After he had heard about the move Nicholas was making to get Carolina and Braydon to be pack leaders, he had no doubt Braydon would be a good, fair leader. He had seen how protective he could be; that under his skin his wolf was as strong as the human - even if he didn't know it yet.

He wasn't like Carolina and definitely not like her father. This family was all Chad had known of how shifters were supposed to live and act. Stories from his mother had told him how barbaric they all were and she had prayed constantly he wouldn't turn into one of them. Being here wasn't like what he was expecting, but it wasn't great either. From what he had heard from Bianca and Connor, they all had a lot to learn here as their family pack were just that; family. Even with the human mate.

Half the time here, one of them felt like an outsider, like they didn't belong. Having Braydon around had bought them all closer in a way that had been missing. There was kindness, understanding and acceptance. It didn't matter to him Amber wasn't shifting yet. It didn't matter that the twins preferred to sleep in their wolf forms or that Oliver enjoyed wrestling rough with him and Alicia was smarter than all of them and doing school work ahead of her age. Braydon saw them, for who they were.

Carolina clearly had Oliver as a favourite because he arrived first. Alicia was given more time during lessons because she showed more potential and in order to blend into society, shifting was only encouraged during certain times. Chad had already imagined Miranda taking her place and while he owed the Corbani's for saving his life, the longer he stayed the more he wanted something else.

"Who cares! A human is a human and Braydon should be treated like the lone wolf he is!" Oliver growled.

"I'm sure he won't care about that, because unlike you, status doesn't mean anything to him!" 

A nervous look was shared between the other pups as Chad had the courage to stand and face Oliver. There was no Braydon to defend him anymore, and he didn't care. Yet it was Carolina who prevented the fight from starting as she reappeared.  Instantly they all focused on her and Amber was the first to leave the table to go to her side.

"Are you okay Care?"

"Yes. I'm great!" She caught the awkward silence, and looked over at them all "You want to know why? Because, I know he will come back!" There it was; once again she was back in denial.

"But-" Amber silenced as Chad shook his head.

"So, what should I cook for dinner?" She wasn't with it. They all sensed something seriously wrong as she moved about the kitchen and started to get out some meat from the freezer.

"We've got dinner Carolina." Alicia spoke, glancing down at her plate which was half empty.

"Oh not for you. For him. When he comes back!" She sang out.

Their own issues were forgotten as Oliver and Chad looked at each other. Since he declared himself boss of their group, and was the oldest, it was up to Oliver to deal with this.

"Care, he isn't coming back." Oliver told her firmly.

"Ollie, don't be stupid. Of course he will!"

"He's right, Braydon isn't coming back." Chad confirmed.

"Guys, trust me. He'll be back!" She smiled, and put the meat in the sink to defrost before walking out.

"What do we do?" Jude and Jake asked at the same time. The twins kept to themselves most of the time and this was only unsettling them.

"I don't know!" Oliver admitted.

 All at once the six pups chased after Carolina, who they found re-folding washing in the laundry room. The whole time she mumbled to herself; saying it was okay repeatedly, in an effort to make herself believe it. They were so distracted, they didn't even notice Manuel had returned until he shooed them all away.

"Go to your rooms, I will deal with this." His command was obvious and while they did retreat to their bedrooms, they all ended up going into Chad's. Well everyone except for Oliver who refused to show some kind of emotional weakness.

"Do you think we can get Braydon to come back. I have a bad feeling about all of this!" Alicia put her arm around Amber's shoulders as the pair curled up together. The Twins had already shifted and Jude had half disappeared under Chad's bed. "Surely you can contact him Chad?"

"I can't." He lied, "I don't think he'll have the same number as before."

"I don't understand how your mate can do that to you!" She sighed, resting her head on top of Ambers.

"Maybe she was never his mate? Maybe their wolves got confused?" Amber asked hopefully.

"There is a wolf that has a human mate, I met him at the fair we went to." Chad admitted.

"Really?" Both girls said in unison.

"Braydon didn't think Miranda was his mate, but he was the one he chose on his own and his wolf accepted it."

"So if we don't like our mates, we could choose someone else?" Alicia asked a little sarcastically.

"But we're meant to like them!" Amber argued.

"I guess we're all different?" Chad sighed, leaning back against his pillows.

Yet the crying from downstairs had them all going silent and needing the comfort being together provided, they stayed in Chad's room for the night.

The rest of the weekend went by much the same until exhaustion won out and Carolina slept through Monday. She understood what it felt like to be alone, lost; her wolf deserting her. She couldn't have shifted even if she wanted to and on Tuesday morning, her father came in and opened up her curtains and window, letting in fresh air and sunlight.

"You need to get up Carolina. I will not see you destroy yourself over this!" He demanded.

 "What do you even care? Leave me alone!" Came the deadly response.

In seconds the blankets were ripped off the bed and instinctively she curled into a foetal position, not willing to admit defeat just yet.

"Get up, take a shower, get dressed. We leave in an hour!" With that he walked out.

Leave in an hour? Carolina thought, processing his words. Leave to where?

 Just as quickly she presumed her father was going to take her to see Braydon and that had her scrambling out of bed in an effort to get ready. There wasn't an inch of her that wasn't given attention too. She did her hair, put on makeup and found something new in her wardrobe she hadn't worn before. Seeing her emerge looking as if she was going to some kind of uptown party had all the pups feeling even more uncomfortable.

"Ah, there is my girl!" Manuel beamed, adjusting his tie in the mirror before taking a second to admire his daughter. 

"Are you ready?" She kept her tone aloof, barely glancing at her audience as she finished strapping on her high heels. Once Braydon caught sight of her, Miranda would be forgotten.

"Yes my dear. Oliver, you're in charge, we might be back late." Manuel mentioned as he ushered his daughter of the house.

The second the door was closed the pups all let out the breath they had been holding.

"I have a really bad feeling about this!" Alicia spoke first and Chad had to agree with her, so while the others organised breakfast and what they were going to do since they had free run of the house, Chad went up to his room and got out the phone Braydon had given him. Something was going on and he had to give him some kind of warning.

If only Chad knew how right he was. Getting out of the car at her fathers office, Carolina didn't want to admit to herself this could be a bad idea. She didn't want to face further rejection if what ever his plan was didn't work and as they went into the building, the scent she caught wasn't Braydon at all.

Nicholas.

"Good morning Carolina! You look stunning this morning!" He greeted, getting up to kiss her on the cheek before shaking hands with Manuel.

"Thank you. What is going on?" He had no reason to be here, unless her father hadn't told him what happened between her and Braydon.

"Just like your father. Straight to the point!" He smiled, taking a seat.

"There is no Braydon now. You'll have to source another replacement!" Focusing on her anger, Carolina refused to let herself crumple again. Not here. Not in front of him.

"You say that now. But I've been looking into this, situation," He smirked and Carolina felt her stomach drop. Her wolf was back, warning her to end this now. "It seems we have a mutual problem. The human."

"What about her?" Carolina glanced at her father who merely sat their silently.

"The way I see it, if there is something preventing you from getting what you want, the obvious solution is to remove it."

"Remove it?" It took her a few seconds to work out what he was implying. "You want to remove Miranda?"

"I do."

'Hurt her. Hurt him. It won't end how you want it!' The voice of her wolf warned as all eyes stared at Carolina expectantly.

"No. He'll never forgive us and it will make things worse!" She decided, knowing her wolf was right.

"What if it can't be traced to us?" Nicholas could already sense the change in the air at that.

"How do you propose to do that? If anything happens to her, we wil instantly be blamed!"

"People die everyday Carolina. Cancer. Suicide. Drugs. Car accidents... Afterall, accidents happen and not everything can be prevented."

She was hooked. Against the advice from the voice in her mind, her grief won out as her depression and anger returned to denial as she was willing to do anything for another chance. "Tell me more Mr. Winters."

"I was hoping you'd say that!" And by the time he was done, Carolina was onboard his plan to remove Miranda once and for all.

-x-

"Seriously, Rory is taking this thing back today!" Miranda groaned, restarting the old hire car as it stalled at the traffic lights for the third time. "I'd rather pay a taxi than drive home in this piece of junk!"

Braydon stayed silent, watching as Miranda's face flushed with her anger and slamming down the gears, they lurched forward. Black smoke billowed out behind them and from somewhere behind them a car honked it's horn. All Miranda did was put her arm out the window and gave them a show with her middle finger in response. 

Now Braydon laughed.

"It's not funny! I don't even know why he accepted this car!" Miranda roared back, settling back in seat as they found the right speed for the vehicle to run at happily. She knew why, it was the only one available at the time and she had been desperate to get out of the city on Friday. It also had a large trunk space, which had the intention of filling with new furniture, but that didn't happen. 

"Calm down. I can see why you used to walk everywhere now. You don't like traffic do you?" Braydon teased.

"Is it that obvious?" She smirked, daring to try the radio again. The static that greeted them had Braydon laughing once before Miranda slammed the off button. "We'll have to get you driving soon!"

"I have a drivers licence!" Braydon had found one in that documents Manual had given him. Considering he had never had the chance to drive a car before, he didn't know how he had managed that.

"I'm going to get the validity of that checked by the way, but if you think you're fine to drive, I'll pull over and you can get me to work?" 

"Your sense of humour is outstanding this morning my love!" 

Miranda's bad mood finally cracked at that and reaching the outskirts of the city, she was nearly at the finish line. "So I'm going to be in a meeting until one, then I have Finn coming in at two to start hand over. I probably won't be done until five, but he is back tomorrow anyway so I'll make sure we get out on time."

"I know, I know. It's fine. Rory and I will sort out this car situation and then I'll get the keys to your old place to the realtor." Braydon had been told the schedule, not just for the day but the week a hundred times and it was obvious how nervous the move and her resignation was making Miranda. 

"Right. Great," she mumbled, before slamming on the brakes. "What a fucking asshole!" Miranda hit the horn hard as a garbage truck cut her off.

Just when Braydon thought he knew everything about Miranda, she still managed to surprise him.

Finally pulling into the loading zone outside Jasons' building, the duo got out as Rory came running over. "Morning!"

"Hey!" Braydon greeted, the pair fist bumping. Now the air was clear between them, it was as if nothing had ever happened.

"Rory, dump this piece of crap off the bridge for all I care. I've made a few calls and-"

"And I know you need me to pick up your brand spanking new Land Rover. How about a travel allowance at this new job boss? I could do with a new set of wheels too!" He asked hopefully.

"Well if you ever checked your conditions of employment, you might find something nice appearing in your bank account once you're finished here!" Miranda grinned before going to Braydon, who was already waiting to take her in his arms. "I love you and I'll see you later!"

Braydon didn't think he'd ever get tired of hearing her say that, pulling her close as he inhaled her scent deeply. "I love you too!"

"Stop sniffing me wolf boy!" She whispered into his ear as she felt the pressure of his nose against her neck. He instead licked her, which made Miranda squeal and pull back. Quickly she wiped her scarf over the wet patch as if it was poison he'd put there. "Yuck!"

"You two really are!" Rory rolled his eyes and snatched the keys from Mirandas other hand as a laughing Braydon went back around to the passenger side and got in. He didn't let Rory leave until Miranda was inside the building and it was then his phone beeped.

Seeing Chad's name, he froze, unable to hear Rory as he babbled on about how he was thankful he was single and not one of those couples.

Something is going on. C just left with her dad. Got a bad feeling. 

That wasn't something Braydon wanted to hear.

"Yo, Bray? You okay?" Rory nudged his arm and Braydon quickly deleted the text.

"Yeah, ah, fine."  Ignoring the look Rory gave him, Braydon quickly phoned Miranda.

"Hey, whats up? Did you forgot something?" She asked, the smile still in her voice.

"No, no. I just ah, I forgot to tell you to be safe. You're in that meeting all morning right?"

"Yeah. Braydon, is something wrong?"

"No, it's probably nothing. Just don't go anywhere alone." He warned.

"Okay. I won't. I'm going to be stuck on the nineteenth floor in a boardroom all day, I'll be fine. But if something is going on and you're not telling me, be careful too!"

"I will." He hung up and clearly Rory was waiting for an explanation. "What?"

"What was all that-" Rory never got to finish that sentence as from out of no where the taxi slammed into the drivers side of the car, sending it rolling onto it's side. It was pushed along the gravel, catching the corner of a nearby SUV before slamming into a power pole. Glass that hadn't yet shattered in the windows, exploded into the car as the airbags were deployed.

The screech of grinding metal echoed in Braydons ears as all he could taste was blood, and managing to look to his left, Rory was unconscious beside him. The sound of panicked voices replaced the sound of the metal, while his neck was aching from the impact. Somehow he managed to undo his seat belt and nudged Rory's arm.

"Rory? Rory!" Braydon called, groaning as he tried to move and his head felt like it took the impact of the hit, not the car. "Rory!"

From beside him the door was yanked open and as he felt hands touching him and the shouts of the rescuers got louder, clearer until he felt the cool air in his mouth. Opening his eyes, he saw red and managing to reach up and touch his face, he felt the sticker warm blood running down his forehead.

"I'm Riley, what's your name?" The kind voice made Braydon focus and he realised he was laying flat on the road. Turning his head back to the car, he realised the hire car was actually on it's wheels, despite the roof being crushed from where it had totally rolled over. He didn't remember that happening.

"Bray-Braydon." He coughed, realising the pain wasn't just in his head, but chest too. "Mirand, Miranda. Call Miranda!"

"Slow down there buddy, the ambulance will be here soon. You're going to be fine!" Riley reassured him as the crowd of parked cars and people started to come into focus.

"No. Miranda!" Braydon said more forcefully.

"We will. Don't worry. Was it just two of you in the car? Was Miranda there too?" The guy asked, looking back to wreck. 

"There was only two in the front. The back was empty!" Someone called out.

"No, she's. Work." Braydon struggled to get up, reaching into his pocket his phone wasn't there. He had it in his hand when they were hit.

"Okay, stay down buddy. You don't want to hurt yourself anymore that you already are!" 

The guy didn't know Braydon could already feel his body starting to repair itself.

"I'm okay!" He said more forcefully just as the sirens of the ambulance arriving drowned out all other noise. "I need to call her!"

Shoving the guy away, Braydon went to stand, yet the second he made it to his feet, he was falling back down. Someone put a phone in his hand and by instinct he called her number.

"Hi, you've called Miranda Wright. Leave a message-" Braydon groaned as he heard the message. She was going into a meeting. She was going to be fine. No one could get to her there.

"Miranda, there was. A car crash. I'm being taken to hospital." That was all he got out before he dropped the phone. Feeling dizzy, he fell back against the road and once he reopened his eyes, he was being loaded into the back of an ambulance. Braydon managed to catch sight of Rory being worked on near where he had been laying minutes before - but then the doors closed shut and the sirens returned as he was rushed away from the scene of the accident.