Dante the Magical Unicorn eats gems, and he is starving.
ZIYAH Breakfast went really well. Everyone got along, and thankfully Grandmother Ayla kept herself contained for the most part. I had warned her that shifters were not as sexually open as Fae were. Dante, however, was a fucking traitor when he called her out on being reserved. Then she told him about my warning. They were both fucking traitors. Suffice it to say that she was a hit. Everyone loved them some Granny. It was great to see everyone was like this because it gave me a glimpse of the future. A future where our families were just one family. I could tell that Dante had the same thought too. My family even brought Byron into the conversation, and my heart warmed so much at that. I could tell that it meant everything to my mates as well. Mates and bonded were essentially the same concept, so both Dante and Byron were now their in-laws just like I was now the in-law to Dante’s family. “Hey, I have something in the suite for my mother. I’ll be right back,” I said, kissing Dante’
DANTE Caiathus did not respond but took us to the hospital. I had never been more thankful for the fast mode of transportation than I was right then. “Alpha, follow me,” one of the nurses said. I looked down at my precious mate and wanted to fucking cry, but she needed me to be strong right now. She had a broken nose, bruised jaw, and a black eye. That was just what I saw on her face alone. I was almost afraid to find out what other damage he caused. The nurse led us into an examination room and had me lay her down on the bed before asking me to step outside. You could call me paranoid, but I did not want to be separated from her at all. No offense, she was just attacked while in the packhouse. I knew for a fucking fact that anyone could have ill-intentions. It was not that I wanted to think of my packmates like that, but my own mate came first. “With all due respect, I would prefer to stay in the room with my mate,” I told her. She nodded when she heard that. We had not made an
DANTE My arms were wrapped around my mate all night. It took forever for me to succumb to sleep because my body and mind were still on edge over what happened to her. Images of what she looked like when I found her were all I saw when I closed my eyes. Bloodied face, broken nose, and torn dress… My mate went through so much in her life. It was entirely unfair. I felt like a failure for this happening under my nose. Yet, she did not blame me at all. That was one saving grace at least and gave me hope that we would be able to find our way past this in time. I was not looking forward to taking her to the cells where the fucker would be. He dared to lay his hands on my mate, hurt her, broke her bones, touched her body in a way that was meant only for me, and had every intention of taking it further. Last night, I reached out to Elle and let her know that Ziyah had requested that to be with me when he was interrogated. I was not certain if my mate would want her there, but it did seem
ELLE Dante finding his mate had been the best and worst part of his life. Ziyah was perfect for him. It did not matter that she did not have a wolf spirit within her because she found a way to still give Byron his mate and created her own wolf form. It was easy to see how much she truly loved them both and they her. It was the worst part because Ziyah had been mistreated more than anyone I had ever known before. Finding a way for him to help her heal from her trauma was a harsh reality that he must learn to navigate. It had all been past tense until this asshole decided to use her as a punching bag and tried to force himself on her. I had never seen my brother so panicked as he did when he came rushing into the dining room to tell us that he could not find her. We knew the moment that we heard his gasp of pain and saw the blood from the cuts that were slicing his skin open what was happening to her. It caused my own memories to flood through me. How many times had I been in that po
ZIYAH I had stayed composed on the outside while I was dealing with the bastard, but I was anything but composed on the inside. He reminded me about what it was like underneath Toris’ thumb. It would be great if I could just forget all about that part of my life, but that was not possible. Knowing that he planted explosives around the pack made me murderous. I would be damned if I let anything happen to this pack if I could prevent it. There was no telling if I could, but I knew where I could go for answers, and she would tell me one way or another. Dante did not want to let me out of his sight, but he had to work on the bastard while I worked on the bitch. He did relent once Elle offered to go with me. Nate also accompanied us. “I need you both to stand outside the cell. The door can be open, but my power could harm you if I lose control. Marcia’s mind will be even more fortified than his,” I told them before we got to her cell. They both looked hesitant but agreed once I reminde
= DANTE Nate had, per my instructions, kept his mindlink open because I did not trust the bitch anywhere near my mate. I was glad that he did because I had heard everything. Not only did they make explosives to destroy this pack and my family leading it, but she tied it to my mate. Nobody but her could even touch them. If that was not bad enough then a message would be displayed which would point to my mate as the reason why our pack lost lives. She could have just fucking toying with her, but I highly doubted it. Marcia and her mate were that fucked up. ‘Havathi, I put a sleeping and paralysis sigil on her that can’t be lifted by anyone except you and I. She’s part of the Girolamo coven. There’s no way that she realized who I was or else they would’ve been here by now.’ Add that to the list of grievances against the bitch. I would just off her now if there was not even a remote possibility that we would need her to find out what other skeletons were in her closet. Not to mention
ZIYAH Guilt threatened to drown me as Dante and I were getting ready to search out the explosives because my involvement caused her to bind it only to me, resting the fate of the pack on me. This would have been a much easier mission if anyone could touch and disarm them. Disarming them was an entirely different affair. She was a fucking clever bitchy witchy and made sure that only he knew how to do it. That was a great ploy on her part because she knew that he would not last against anyone. Therefore, by the time that his mind was fried, the answer went up in smoke. The bitch was a master manipulator. It made me wonder what else she had manipulated while being in this pack. Was anyone or anything safe? Dante had put out a pack-wide mindlink about going to the packhouse auditorium. That was the only place big enough for the entire pack. Our warriors were tasked with keeping everyone in the auditorium under the guise of a security breech. A couple of my family stayed behind. Dante’
ZIYAH It felt like an eternity passed. In reality it was no more than a few moments. A choked sob let my throat when it was disarmed. By the gods, this had been the most stressful fucking day in my entire life. That included being at odds with my siblings, being the target of attempted assassinations, being held prisoner, and waking up after nearly being taken advantage of. Nothing compared to the worry and stress of pack members dying from this. I transformed back into my wolfy and took the device back to the group. There were encouraging smiles all around. I knew that this was not easy on any of them because it had to be me that did this. We did not have a choice at all, which just made I that much harder for them to stand by when none of them want me to be on the front line. ‘There was an additional layer of security on this one, making it five instead of four like the others. The bitch decided to make it a fucking riddle of all things. What’s next? A tongue twister?’ I pushed o