Elara paced the length of the room, her bare feet brushing over the rough stone floor. Outside the window, the sky was turning the muted glow of late afternoon, and with every passing second, her restlessness grew sharper.
Her parents are out there, and every moment trapped here felt like another nail hammered into their fate. She needed to do something. Find Caius and negotiate.
"Rowan?" she said softly.
"I'm here,"
"You've been standing for hours." She forced a gentle smile to add to the moment. "You should rest."
"Dante told me to watch you,"
She paced again, fingers tapping nervously against her thigh. Then she stilled.
Water.
A need he could easily satisfy. A need that require him to leave his post.
"I need water, Rowan. My throat is burning."
He hesitated.
"You can't let me die like this,"
He disappeared down the hall before she could say more, boots thudding as his steps receded.
She didn't waste a heartbeat.
She crossed the room, and climbed onto the window ledge. Her heart hammered violently against her ribs as she pushed the the windows shutters opened, letting in the crisp forest air. Her wolf jumped in glee, inhaling freedom.
Her wolf tore into the forest with desperate ferocity, black paws pounding over damp leaves and thorny underbrush. She needed to reach them. The night was cold. Her lungs burned. The pull of the bond tugged tightly in her chest but she blocked him out.
Her village rose in the distance, quiet as an abandoned dream. Her chest hammered with yearning to see someone she recognizes.
Silence.
No chatter of neighbors. No crackle of cooking fires.
The door creaked when she pushed it open and darkness greeted her. Dust floated in the moonlight slicing through the window. Her heart thudded painfully as she stepped over broken pots, a toppled chair, and her mother's woven basket torn open across the floor.
"Mother?" Her voice was a trembling whisper. She moved deeper, eyes darting across the shadows. The herbs she had hung above the window were wilted, brittle.
Something shifted behind her. A shadow. And before she could turn, a large hand clamped over her mouth. Her breath caught instantly, fear exploding through her veins. The strong arms circled her waist, hauling her backward against a hard, heated body.
She turned her head to meet his eyes. An impossible color that met her gaze with a feral intensity that stole her breath.
Dante.
His chest heaved against hers as his grip tightened. "You shouldn't be here," he rasped, voice dark and rough with barely controlled fury. "Do you want to die?"
She shook her head, her pulse racing wildly.
"My parents...They're gone."
"I know," he murmured, voice low. "You are coming with me. Now."
His ears rose, his whole body tightened like a drawn bow. He smelled them before he saw them.
"Caius," he whispered, and the word tasted like poison.
He didn't wait. The attack hit with a terrible speed, like a storm that can unmake a day. They poured through the clearing, teeth baring violently. He shoved Elara into the hands of Rowan and the others.
"Get her out," he barked. "Protect her with your life."
Rowan nodded, gathering Elara with the others and fled, shadowing between trees as Dante and the rest met the charge. He moved with brutal grace, rippling through Caius's men as if every swing and tears has been rehearsed by his bones for years.
She could not stop glancing back at him.
He bled. He fought for the sound of her name in the wind. But she couldn't understand why he came to the village.
Night settled heavy. The men drifted into turns of sleep, alert only in the way exhausted predators are. She noticed he remained awake, occasionally snatching shallow sleeps and jerking awake at phantom sounds. He tore a piece of cloth, and cleaned the cut that bled along his side.
She took an herb she recognized in the dark and walked to him kneeling with a careful steadiness. "Let me," she said quietly.
"No," he snapped, "go to sleep."
But she ignored him. Some part of her had decided to be needed, to be useful. She believed she could heal him. She crushed the leaf and pressed them to the cut. He flinched and exhaled.
"Stay calm, I know what I'm doing." she insisted, wiping the cut clean. She reached to feel chest, but he caught her wrist in one hand.
His skin burned against hers. Heat shot through her arm, sinking deep, pulling her suddenly, helplessly closer.
Dante inhaled sharply, nostrils flaring as though her scent hit him at once. His other hand rose slowly, until his fingers brushed the back of her hand.
"What are you doing?"
Her pulse kicked. "I'm helping you."
"You're feeding the bond."
She should have stepped away, go to sleep or distract herself in another way. She couldn't.
"Hold still." she murmured.
Ignoring the electric heat crawling up her arms, she dipped her fingers into the crushed leaf and pressed them gently against the wound.
"I can't when you touch me like that." he hissed.
She swallowed, fingers trembling against his skin. "I'm just treating the wound."
"You're killing me, Elara." he said quietly.
She raised her head slowly. He was already watching her. His chest rose and fell in a sharp, uneven breaths.
For a heartbeat, neither moved.
She didn't have time to gasp before his mouth crashed to hers. Heat. Wild and fierce. A kiss that swallowed her breath, tore the world away, and replaced it with him. Her fingers curled against his skin, his hands slid at the back of her neck, pulling her in deeper. The bond roared to life, hot against their skins.
She felt the cave vanish.
Felt only his mouth, his breath, the way his bare chest felt against her palm. He kissed her like he'd bled for her. Like he'd been holding this for in too long.
When she finally broke for air, his forehead rested against hers, breaths mixing, hearts pounding in the same frantic rhythm.
"I told you to stay away." He whispered, his voice almost a growl.
"I will," she said, moving away but his mouth found hers again, stealing her resolve.
"Dante..." she whispered, knowing what would happen under the full moon. His thumb brushed her cheeks.
"I know." His voice was making her yearn for more. "But the bond doesn't care what we should do."
He rose, turning from her before he changed his mind.
Elara woke up to the thin hush of morning. It was not the peace of dawn that stirred her, but absence.
The cave no longer carried the weight of his presence. That low, commanding pull that wrapped around her even in sleep. and protected her. The air felt cold without him, emptier, as though something essential had been torn out and taken with the night. She pushed herself up, the rough stone biting into her palms.
Only two figures remained.
A young woman sat by the fire. Dark hair braided tightly down her back. There was something steady about her as though danger was an old companion she'd long stopped fearing.
"You're awake," she said, voice calm.
"Where is Dante?" she asked, looking around.
"Where's who? You speak as if you were conscious, wolf. He left before first light."
The words struck harder than they should have.
"He'll be back by dawn," the woman added easily, as if this were a certainty she'd spoken a hundred of times before.
As if she knew him well enough to say it.
"And you are?"
"Lysa," she said rising to her feet. "Dante wants me to watch the eastern paths when he's gone."
She pushed the tight feeling in her chest down.
"I need to shift and get some air." She stood, walking forward but a man blocked her.
"Air is circulating enough here. He ordered you to wait." he said simply as if he knew she would say that. "Back in the tower."
Her jaw tightened.
"Wait for what?"
"For him."
She was escorted back to her room in the tower. Before she could speak, the door closed with finality. A sharp click followed. Metal scraping metal. Silence pressed in around her as she sat on the small bed.
She was locked in, again.
A high, broken sound sliced through the stillness. She ran to the window, gripping the stone sill and leaning out. Below, in the yard, chaos unfolded. Dante's men formed a tight circle around a wolf collapsed in the dirt. Blood darkened the earth beneath it, soaking into the dust. The wolf trembled, breath hitching, its form flickering violently as bones cracked and reshaped.
Rose.
Elara gasped as she saw her wolf shrank, fur dissolving into skin until she lay curled on the ground, naked and bleeding.
"Open the door!" she screamed, slamming her fist against the window. A moment later, the door behind her burst open. She flew down the stairs, skirts gathered in her fists.
"Oh gods," Elara breathed as she pulled Rose in her arms. She turned to Rowan.
"I need clean water, cloth, and moonleaf, if you have it."