Dante's POV
The pack meeting was getting boring.
Dante sat at the head of the table listening to the territory disputes between the eastern and western packs. Same argument as always. Border lines. Hunting grounds. Who had the right to what piece of land. He had been Alpha for fifteen years and these conversations never changed.
Knox sat beside him, his Beta, and Dante could tell his best friend was trying not to fall asleep.
"The eastern hunters crossed the line three times last month," the western pack leader complained.
"Your line is unmarked," the eastern leader shot back. "How are we supposed to know where your territory ends?"
Dante was about to respond when something hit him like a physical blow.
The border wards. Someone had triggered them.
His entire body went rigid. The other Alphas stopped talking, sensing the shift in him. Dante stood slowly, his wolf rising to the surface. An intruder. On Blackwood Pack land. In the middle of winter with the weather turning nasty.
"Meeting is over," he said simply. No one questioned him. They knew better.
He strode from the hall and by the time he reached the main courtyard, his clothes were already falling away. His body shifted with the ease of practice. Bones cracked and reformed. Muscles expanded. His human mind merged with his wolf's instincts until they were one thing.
The transformation took seconds.
His pack was already gathering. At least forty wolves shifted and ready. They looked to him as he emerged, massive and black with eyes that burned gold in the darkness. He did not need to speak. They felt his intention through the pack bond.
Run.
They moved as one unit through the snow covered forest. Dante led them toward the disturbance, his wolf senses alert for danger. The border wards had not been breached with magic. Someone had just pushed through them physically. Desperate. Reckless. Either very brave or very stupid.
The scent hit him first.
Magic. Old and powerful. And something else. Something wild and feral that did not belong in this form. The smell of curse work and desperation and fear so strong it almost choked him.
They found her in a clearing surrounded by pine trees.
She was on her knees in the snow. Her whole body was shaking. But it was the black veins covering her skin that made Dante's wolf freeze in place. Curse work. Dark magic carved into her flesh. She was dying. Actually dying, and they could all smell it.
This was a mage. A cursed mage. His wolf should have seen her as a threat. Should have wanted to protect his pack from whatever dark magic she carried.
But then she lifted her head and their eyes met.
Violet eyes. Bright and burning with magic and rage and desperation all twisted together. For a moment time stopped. The world stopped. Everything stopped.
The mate bond hit Dante like lightning striking directly into his heart.
MINE.
His wolf howled so loud every wolf in his pack felt it ripple through the pack bond. Mine. Mine. Mine. This female. This cursed, dying, dangerous female was HIS. The one person fate had designed for him. The one he had stopped believing existed years ago.
Dante was thirty four years old. Most Alphas found their mates by twenty five. By thirty, you knew fate had skipped you. He had made peace with that. Had decided to live alone. To focus on his pack instead of searching for something that was not coming.
Now his entire world shifted.
She was magnificent even broken. Dark hair falling down her back. Combat trained from the way she held herself. Powerful even though the curse was eating her alive. And those violet eyes were looking at him with absolute terror.
"Stay back," she snarled, her voice raw like she had been screaming. Probably had been. "I know what this is. Another curse. Another trick. I will not fall for it."
His pack moved closer but Dante raised a hand. They stopped instantly, feeling his command through the bond. He kept his human mind in control even though his wolf wanted to shift back and claim her right now.
Her magic flared. Weak but still dangerous. Violet light sparked around her shaking hands.
"I do not need help from a wolf," she spat the word like it was poison. "Your kind murdered my family. Now the Council cursed me to become one of you. This bond is just another way to control me. I reject it. I reject you."
The rejection hit Dante's chest like a physical wound. His wolf howled in pain and he felt his pack react to his sudden suffering. But he forced it down. He could not let her see how much that hurt. Could not let her feel his weakness.
She was dying. That was what mattered. The curse spreading through her veins like poison. The black veins had reached her neck now. Her heart was probably stopping and starting. He could hear it stuttering in her chest.
He had maybe hours before she was gone.
"You are dying," he said quietly, keeping his voice level even though everything inside him was screaming. "The curse is killing you. I can help."
"I would rather die."
Her legs gave out and she stumbled backward in the snow. Dante moved without thinking. His pack shifted away to let him through and he approached her slowly, keeping his movements non threatening even though his wolf wanted to run straight to her.
Her eyes tracked his movement. Violet and bright and so terrified.
"You can reject me all you want," he told her, still calm, still controlled. "But I will not let you die in my territory. You are coming with me."
She raised her hands and fire erupted from her palms.
Violet flames. Beautiful and deadly and absolutely unexpected. Dante's wolf actually admired her for trying. For fighting even though she was barely standing. For refusing to give in even when everything was working against her.
The fire came straight at his face.
Dante did not move. Did not dodge. Just let the flames wash over him. His pack flinched but no one intervened. They felt his certainty through the bond. This female was his mate. She was allowed to attack him.
The fire died as her body gave out. Her eyes rolled back and she collapsed straight toward the snow.
Dante caught her before she hit the ground.
She weighed almost nothing. Like the curse had hollowed her out from the inside. Her skin was ice cold and covered in black veins that pulsed with sickly purple light. Up close he could see the ritual scars. Could see how systematically the curse had been carved into her flesh.
Someone had done this on purpose. Had tortured her with intention.
His wolf wanted to find them and make them pay.
"Take her to my quarters," he commanded Knox, who had shifted back to human form. His Beta nodded, understanding the weight of the order. "Get Mira. Tell her to bring everything she has. Move fast."
Knox did not waste time with questions. He was already running toward the house.
Dante held his mate carefully against his chest, feeling her heart stutter in an irregular rhythm. Feeling her magic dying inside her. Feeling the time running out.
She had rejected the bond. She did not want him. Probably thought he was just another threat, another way to be controlled.
But he had waited thirty four years for her.
He would earn her trust if it took the rest of his life.
Even if she hated him for saving her.