"I'm not engaging. Just tracking. Gathering evidence."
"I feel like that’s a lie." Emmett's frustration bled through. "We need you alive to testify when Varric brings charges."
"I'll be careful." Dante followed the tracks deeper into the woods, snow crunching under his boots. "They're heading toward the lake again. Same pattern as before."
"Then let them go. We know their route. We know their purpose. Don't give Hector grounds to claim you're harassing his people."
Dante stopped, jaw tight. Emmett was right. Confronting the rogues would play into Hector's hands. Give him ammunition to claim Hollow Oak's Council was aggressive and unwelcoming to traditional pride values.
But letting them prowl around Maeve's tavern unchallenged made his lion snarl with territorial fury.
"Fine," he said. "I'm turning back. But someone needs to guard the Silver Fang. They're testing her defenses."
"I'll talk to Callum. We'll set up patrols." Emmett paused. "You sound pissed."
"I am pissed. They were here while we were snowed in. While Maeve was vulnerable."
He ended the call and stood in the woods, staring at tracks that led toward the lake. Toward wherever Hector's people camped between reconnaissance missions. Toward a fight he wanted desperately to finish but couldn't engage without making everything worse.
Time was running out.
Hector was escalating, bringing rogues closer, testing boundaries, building toward something Dante couldn't quite see yet. The Council meeting tomorrow would expose his conspiracy. Would destroy his petition and get his people expelled.
But until then, Maeve was vulnerable. And she'd made it clear she didn't want Dante's protection by running the moment he fell asleep.
His phone buzzed again. A text this time, from an unknown number.
Stay away from Hollow Oak. Final warning.
No signature. No identification. But Dante knew who'd sent it.
Hector, making his play. Trying intimidation now that sabotage wasn't working fast enough.
Dante pocketed his phone. Threats wouldn't work. Neither would warnings. He'd come too far, invested too much, changed too deeply to walk away now.
Even if Maeve wanted him to.
Even if waking alone proved she wasn't ready to trust what they'd built.
He turned back toward town, leaving the rogue tracks behind. The sun climbed higher, turning snow into blazing white that hurt to look at. Hollow Oak slowly woke, people emerging to dig out driveways and clear paths.
Normal life resuming after the storm.
Except nothing felt normal. Not with Maeve's absence or the rogue lions prowling around her territory. Not with Hector's threat sitting in his phone.
Tomorrow they'd take evidence to Varric. Tomorrow they'd destroy Hector's plans.
Tonight he'd figure out how to prove to her that leaving his side was the worst choice she could make.
That they were stronger together than apart that the mate bond humming between them wasn't something to run from but something to fight for.
His lion settled, purpose replacing frustration. One crisis at a time. Stop Hector first. Win Maeve's trust second.
Though lately those goals felt more connected than separate.
Like saving her tavern and winning her heart were two sides of the same fight.
And Dante Deleuve had never been good at losing.
