Dark desires

Dante Milburn

“She’s leaving first thing when dawn breaks. Find one of our ally packs to dump her if you care so much.” I growled heatedly as my eyes narrowed on the bony woman’s retreating back.

Who in the world left wounds like that on a defenseless maiden?

My throat tightened as the bond we’d all felt earlier stretched taut in my chest.

“None of them will take her, Dante, come on! We both know they’re going to throw that woman out into The Darkness once they see that shadow sigil on her neck!” Caius barked exasperatedly, sidestepping to block my path so that we were almost eye level with each other.

I shook my head, realizing I’d given the men too much leverage to challenge my decisions as Alpha King.

“You’re not getting rid of her because she's out mate, Dante…are you? We all know what happened with Leila—” Ronan started, before I leveled him with a look that could have turned water to ice.

“Don’t you dare take her name!” my hiss was dangerously low when I gripped the lapel of his shirt to slap him up against the black brick wall.

Nobody spoke about Leila in the pack. Not after the way she’d left.

The one woman I had dared to let into my heart has burned it to a crisp on her way out.

It was an embarrassment I didn't like to be reminded of, and I‘d be damned if I was going to make that mistake again.

“Enough! Stand down! Both of you!” Laziel’s lazy murmur carried a power that made my skin pop with goosebumps and I was feet away before I knew it.

His hazel eyes were steady on mine as he dragged a lungful of the cigar he held lazily between his fingers.

“You’re not telling me you agree with them, are you? What kind of maiden made it through those woods without getting devoured?” I hedged, watching his eyes darken before he glanced away…defeated.

“She's bad news, boys, I'm telling you.” I finished, wondering if I was trying to convince myself or them.

Deep inside, I struggled to tear the memory of the woman’s prone body lying in the sand put of my mind.

It had been Caius’ screaming that had made me leave the throne room to find her getting swept up in his arms.

Her long red hair was just as stunning as her face…long and narrow…regal even.

And when she’d opened those heart-wrenching green eyes to stare at me, I thought it would be the last thing I saw before I met the moon goddess.

“We’ll see,” Laziel finished finally, grinding the cigar to dust under his boot before turning to lead the way to the drawing room.

“We have better things to discuss. I have one shipment of cannons and fire power coming in from the high seas, Alpha. We need men on the fore front to retrieve it.” the hazel-eyed wolf hissed, his brown hair limp as it fell over one of his eyes, as dead as his voice.

Sometimes I wondered if there was anything the quiet beast thought of besides war and bloodlust.

Had he felt the jolt when he'd touched the woman as well?

And her scars?

I tried not to remember the fading red stints that i’d seen all the way down the side of her leg.

No…It was none of my business whether or not there was  a story there to find out.

I had enough shit on my plate to deal with without all this!

“I say we kill her before she can become a problem.” I said again, cutting the brunette off before he could speak and watching him pause as he unrolled a map of the forest plains on the table before us.

Red dots covered the marked green fields and open sea. 

The treasure would fortify our walls against the Darkness that had begun eroding more of the blessed concrete every night.

I couldn't afford to have that woman in my head. Not now.

“You’re desperate to kill our mate when she could make us stronger?” Ronan echoed, and heat bloomed in my chest.

“That reject is not my mate. She would be the death of us.” I shouted, making the Alphas shift warily, their lips tightening grimly…as if I was the one overreacting to their bullshit.

Could they not see what the woman was doing?

Had they forgotten how the old Alpha was murdered by rascals from that woman’s pack?

Ones who infiltrated our fortress just like the wench was doing now?

Taking her in would mean declaring war of Shadow Pack, and our fortress wasn't anywhere near ready to handle that madness just yet.

I could feel myself spiraling as rage clouded my vision but I ground my teeth, forcing myself to concentrate.

“Is that an official rejection?” Caius was the first to break the silence, and I resisted the urge to sink my fist into his teeth when he flashed me a grin.

His idiocy must have worked, because the tension in my shoulders loosened and I cursed under my breath.

The red ceramic lamp shattered against the black stone walls when I knocked my fist into it, feeling the temperature in the room plunge even lower.

Damn it all to hell!

I couldn't bring myself to reject the woman before the court despite myself.

There was something about her that drove me insane. And I would not be able to get rid of her until I had cured the malady.

“Your Highness! We’ve just received words from the out gates…we’ve got troops incoming.” A uniformed guard suddenly crashed into the drawing room with wide eyes. 

A thin sheen of sweat coated his porcelain nose that peeked through the slit in the iron silver helmet he wore.

“You what?” Caius’ incredulous echo beat me to it as he angled his body to face the guard, his wolf bruising his tan skin with its haste to be set free. 

“It’s horrible, Your Highness. We’ve lost four thousand men already…The South has declared war.” He deadpanned, and my body moved before I could think.