Dante's POV
The pack went silent the moment Dante carried her through the main gates.
He held her unconscious form against his chest, her dark hair hanging down his arm, her body limp and broken. Every wolf in sight stopped what they were doing to stare. The Alpha was carrying a cursed mage into their home. A dying, dangerous mage that reeked of dark magic and death.
This was insane.
Knox appeared from the training grounds, still in wolf form. He shifted back to human and jogged toward Dante with confusion written all over his face.
"Have you lost your mind?" Knox demanded, falling into step beside him. "That is a mage, Dante. A cursed one. What are you thinking bringing her here?"
Dante did not break stride. He could feel the pack's panic rippling through the bond. Their uncertainty. Their fear. Right now he did not care. All he could think about was getting her somewhere warm. Somewhere safe. Somewhere she could survive long enough for him to figure out how to save her life.
"Do not question me on this," Dante said quietly. His Alpha voice left no room for argument.
Knox shut his mouth but Dante could feel his best friend's worry through their Beta bond. They had known each other since childhood and Knox could read him better than anyone. He knew something huge had just happened. He just did not understand what yet.
Dante took her straight to his quarters. The main house was quiet this late at night but he could feel curious wolves watching from windows as he passed. Gossip would spread through the pack by morning. An Alpha mate brought home from the border. A cursed mage. The story would get bigger and wilder with each telling.
He laid her carefully on his bed. Clean sheets. Soft pillows. Everything she would need if she survived long enough to need it. Her body looked even smaller against the dark fabric. Even more fragile. The black veins were still spreading, creeping up her neck now, pulsing with that sickly purple light.
Dante called for Mira through the pack bond.
She arrived within minutes, her healer's bag already in hand. Mira was in her fifties with grey streaking her dark hair and the kind of calm that came from having seen everything twice. She took one look at Elara and her expression shifted into something deeply worried.
"What happened to her?" Mira asked, already moving to the bed, already examining the curse marks.
"The Arcane Council happened," Dante said. He stood by the window, unable to be still, unable to stop feeling the panic that his mate was dying and he could not stop it. "They cursed her with Wolf's Bane."
Mira's hands froze. She looked up at Dante with wide eyes.
"Wolf's Bane? That is impossible. No one survives Wolf's Bane. It is designed to kill any mage it touches. The transformation alone would tear her apart and then the curse would finish what the transformation started." Mira turned back to Elara, her fingers gentle as she traced the curse marks. "How long has she had this?"
"Hours. Maybe less."
"Then we have days." Mira's voice was grim. "Three days. Four if we are lucky. The curse is accelerating because of the curse work itself. Her magic and the wolf are fighting each other. It is tearing her apart from the inside."
Dante felt his wolf howl inside his chest. Days. They had days before she was gone.
"There has to be something you can do," he said. The desperation in his voice surprised him. He was an Alpha. He was supposed to be in control. Supposed to have all the answers.
Mira turned to him with an expression of careful sympathy.
"There is only one thing that might work," she said slowly. "The mate bond. If she accepts the bond completely, the connection will stabilize her. Her magic and the wolf would merge instead of fighting. The curse would pause. It might even break completely with time."
Relief flooded through Dante for a second. Then reality crashed down.
She had rejected the bond. Rejected him. Had thrown fire at his face and meant every word of her refusal.
"She does not want the bond," Dante said quietly.
Mira looked between him and Elara's unconscious form and understanding dawned in her eyes.
"Oh Dante," she said softly. "You found your mate and she rejected you before she even knew what you were to her."
He did not respond. What was there to say. Mira finished her examination and gathered her supplies.
"Keep her warm. Get fluids into her if she wakes. Do not be surprised if she tries to hurt you. The curse makes mages aggressive. The wolf makes her defensive. And she is terrified, even unconscious." Mira paused at the door. "I will come back in the morning. If she survives the night, we will figure out next steps."
If she survives.
Dante sat in the chair beside his bed after Mira left. His mate lay in his bed, unconscious and dying, and he could not touch her. Could not claim her. Could not do the one thing that would save her because she did not want him.
His wolf paced inside his skin like a caged animal. It wanted to shift. Wanted to lay beside her and pour healing energy through their bond whether she wanted it or not. Wanted to claim her and mark her and tie their souls together so tight she could never leave him.
He forced it back.
She had been betrayed. Used. Cursed by the people she trusted most. The last thing she needed was an Alpha forcing a bond on her.
So Dante sat and watched her sleep. Watched the black veins pulse with each heartbeat. Watched her chest rise and fall in a rhythm that was too irregular. Too fragile.
Hour after hour he sat there. Just watching. Just being present for the one person his soul had recognized as his the moment their eyes met.
Around midnight her body convulsed suddenly. Her eyes snapped open.
Violet eyes. Bright and afraid and immediately looking for an exit.
"No," she gasped, her voice raw. She was already moving, already scrambling backward toward the other side of the bed. Her body was shaking violently. "Where is this. What did you do to me."
Dante held up his hands to show he meant no threat.
"You are safe," he said quietly. "You collapsed at the border. I brought you to my quarters so Mira could examine you."
But Elara was not listening. She was already rolling out of the opposite side of the bed, already trying to run toward the door. Her legs gave out immediately and she stumbled but did not stop moving.
"Do not come near me," she snarled, backing toward the exit. Her hands were glowing with weak violet light. "I will not be trapped. I will not be controlled again. Let me go."
Dante stood but did not move toward her. His wolf was screaming at him to block the door. To keep her here. To not let her run and hurt herself more.
He forced himself to stay still.
"The door is not locked," he said. "You can leave whenever you want. But you are dying, Elara. The curse is killing you. Leaving will not change that."
She reached the door and grabbed the handle. Her hands were shaking so badly she could barely hold on. She pulled and it opened easily. Cold air rushed in from the hallway.
For a moment she stood there, silhouetted in the doorway, like she was actually considering it.
Then her legs buckled.
She collapsed to the floor with a sound of frustration and rage and desperation all twisted together. The black veins had spread to her face now, creeping up her jaw. Her breathing was getting harder.
Dante moved carefully toward her. Not fast. Not threatening. Just approaching like she was a wounded animal that might bolt.
"Let me help you back to bed," he said gently.
She snarled but did not have the strength to fight when he lifted her. She weighed even less than before. Like the curse was eating her from the inside out.
He laid her back on the bed and pulled the blankets over her shaking form. Her violet eyes tracked his every movement, filled with anger and fear and the absolute certainty that everyone would eventually betray her.
"I will not hurt you," Dante said, sitting back in the chair where he had been watching over her. "I will not force anything. I will just be here."
Elara turned away from him and curled into a tight ball.
She did not speak again that night. But Dante stayed in that chair, watching her, feeling her pain through the bond that she did not want but could not escape.
His wolf was going insane. Howling. Clawing. Desperate to protect and claim and save the female who was slowly dying in his bed.
And there was nothing Dante could do but sit and wait and hope she was strong enough to survive until she understood the only thing that could save her was the one thing she was most terrified of.