Maybe.
20
DANTE
Dante stood outside Maeve's building for a full minute after she slammed the door, trying to remember how to breathe like a rational being instead of a lion who wanted to break the door down.
She'd called last night a mistake.
Called him manipulation and shoved him out of her apartment like he was nothing more than a distraction she'd used and discarded.
His lion snarled. Furious. Territorial. Ready to fight for what belonged to them.
Except she didn't belong to them. Had made that crystal clear with every accusation and deflection. Had looked him in the eye and told him she couldn't trust him. That he'd destroyed her once and she wouldn't give him the chance to do it again.
The truth of it carved deep.
He'd hurt her when he'd chosen duty and pride politics over following the two people who'd mattered most.
And now she couldn't believe he'd changed. Couldn't risk trusting him when trust had gutted her before.
Dante started walking, needing to do something besides stand outside her building like some lovesick fool.
His body still hummed with last night. Still remembered the taste of her. The way she'd felt wrapped around him, all heat and fury and desperate need. The sounds she'd made when she came apart. The way her lioness had purred against his with recognition.
That they were mates.
Had always been mates.
And she was running from it hard enough to break them both.
The cold air bit at his skin, clearing his head. Snow crunched under his boots as he walked without direction, letting his lion's restlessness burn off through movement.
She was scared. He understood that.But understanding didn't make it any easier to watch her build walls between them. Didn't make it easier to be accused of manipulation when all he'd done was tell her the truth.
He'd changed. He wasn't the lion who'd stayed behind anymore.
But proving that to Maeve meant more than words.
Which meant stopping Hector.
The thought focused him like a blade. Hector was the root of everything. The poisonous uncle who'd made their old pride unbearable. Who'd driven Callum and Maeve away. Who was now using sabotage and Council petitions to strip Maeve of everything she'd built.
Hector who thought women couldn't lead. Who believed traditional pride law trumped everything. Who wanted the Silver Fang not because he needed it but because destroying Maeve would prove his point about female incompetence.
Dante's hands curled into fists.
No more playing by Varric's rules. No more discrete investigation and careful evidence gathering. Hector was escalating. Bringing rogue lions into Hollow Oak territory. Confronting Maeve in her own tavern. Building a case designed to humiliate and destroy.
Time to escalate back.
Dante reached for his phone and texted Emmett.Where do Hector's people camp when they're in territory?
The response came fast.Don't know. Why?
Going hunting.
He pocketed the phone and let his lion rise to the surface. Scent tracking came easier when the beast was in control, senses sharpening until he could pick out individual threads in the mountain air.
