Maeve stood over him in human form, after having just thrown a rogue twice her size across the square with pure alpha strength. Her short black hair was matted with blood, her clothes shredded, her dark gold eyes wild with fury and fear.
"Get up." She hauled him to his feet with surprising gentleness given her violence a second before. "Stay with me."
He coughed and tasted copper. "Behind you."
She spun, shifted, met the charging rogue with brutal efficiency. Dante forced himself upright despite the agonyradiating from his back and shoulder, shifting again even though it felt like his body was tearing itself apart. His lion was wounded but far from finished.
They fought back to back, the mate bond amplifying their coordination until they moved like a single organism. When she went left, he covered right. When he lunged, she defended his flank. Power met power, two alphas fully synchronized.
The rogues began to falter. Some retreated. Others fell.
Then the applause started.
Slow. Deliberate. Mocking.
Dante's head snapped toward the sound. A figure emerged from the shadows near the Council Glade entrance, lantern light catching on golden hair and cold amber eyes.
Hector Cross looked like pride incarnate. Tall, powerful, dressed in expensive winter clothes that somehow remained pristine despite the chaos. He smiled as he surveyed the destruction, the wounded fighters, the terrified families, like a king surveying his future kingdom.
"Well done, niece." Hector's voice carried across the square, smooth and poisonous. "You fight beautifully. Both of you. A shame it won't be enough."
Maeve shifted back to human again, standing naked and unbowed in the snow. Someone threw her a cloak. She wrapped it around herself without taking her eyes off Hector.
"You're done." Her voice cut like a blade. "The Council will exile you for this."
"The Council?" Hector laughed. "The Council will thank me for exposing your weakness. Look around, Maeve. Your people are terrified. Your town is bleeding. All because you insisted on clinging to power you were never strong enough to hold."
"She's stronger than you'll ever be." Dante shifted back, accepting the coat Kieran tossed him, trying not to show how badly he was hurt. Blood soaked through the fabric immediately.
"The prodigal lion speaks." Hector's gaze raked over him with contempt. "Tell me, Deleuve, was she worth it? Coming back after a decade just to watch her fail?"
"I came back home." Dante stood beside Maeve, their shoulders touching. "Something you'll never understand."
"Home." Hector spat the word. "This backward sanctuary that celebrates weakness and calls it progress. I'm going to enjoy tearing it down."
More lions emerged from the shadows behind Hector. Not rogues this time, but pride members wearing formal marks. Legitimate forces following a legitimate challenge. Dante's blood ran cold. So the others hadn’t even been his pride, just recruits…
Shit.
"Here's how this ends." Hector stepped forward, radiating calm authority that made him more dangerous than any rogue. "Maeve Cross surrenders her title, her tavern, and her seat of influence. She leaves Hollow Oak and never returns. In exchange, I'll call off my lions and petition the Council to adopt modern safety protocols."
"Go to hell." Maeve's words dripped with venom.
"Or." Hector's smile turned cruel. "I continue what I started tonight. Every business. Every home. Every family that dares support your failed leadership. I have the resources, the patience, and the pride backing to burn Hollow Oak to the ground piece by piece until the Council has no choice but to remove you themselves."
Silence fell over the square. Even the wounded stopped moving. Every eye fixed on the standoff between the two lions, the two visions of what Hollow Oak could become.
Dante felt Maeve's rage like a living thing, her lioness screaming for blood. He also felt her calculation, her mind racing through scenarios, risks, outcomes. She was actually considering it. Considering surrender to protect her people.
"No." He said it quietly, just for her. "Don't you dare."
"He'll hurt them." Her voice barely a whisper. "The children, Dante. The families."
"And if you yield, he'll hurt them anyway." He turned to face her fully, ignoring Hector's presence. "Just slower. More insidiously. You know I'm right."
Her jaw tightened.
"Ten seconds, Maeve." Hector called out. "Surrender or watch everything you love burn."
