Chapter One: What Have You Done?

Dante’s POV

All my life, I’ve known there was evil in me.

Something twisted. Vile.

And all it took was getting my heart broken for the world to know it too.

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“Please, Riven,” I whispered softly, like I was afraid I would fall apart if even a gust of wind blew past me. I could feel my heart breaking with every step as he slowly backed away from me. “Please, don’t do this.”

Big blue eyes stared back on a familiar face but somehow it felt like I was looking at a stranger. His dark hair was packed in a rough bun and his tan skin seemed to glow under the light of the setting sun that rolled in from the only window in the room.

Even while breaking my heart Riven Calder looked like a god among men.

“I have to Dante. This isn’t right,” Riven replied. I couldn’t tell if it was pity in his eyes as he stared at me or something else. “I reject you, Dante Blackthorn.”

A white searing hot pain ripped through me as he said those words, clawing at my lungs and throat, bubbling out from inside me till it brought tears to my eyes. The pain of his rejection.

I fell on my knees gasping for air. 

“I’m sorry,” I heard him whisper and then his footsteps clicked against the tiled floor as he left me in the room.

This couldn’t be happening. This had to be a nightmare.

I just got rejected by my mate, who for some reason happened to be my straight best friend.

I heard another footstep hurry inside and I heard the voice of my other close friend, Nathan. “I heard everything, Dante. I’m so sorry,” He whispered as he sat on the floor beside me, cradling my head against his chest, my white hair contrasting sharply against the black tee he wore.

“How could he do this? We’ve been friends since we were kids, why would he reject me?” I asked, even though I knew Nathan had no answers for me, all he could do was whisper sorry to me over and over again as we both sat there on the cold floor.

“I don’t know, Dante. Are you certain he is your mate? We’ve known him since we were kids, we should know firsthand that Riven is as straight as they make them.” 

He was right. I’ve known Riven all my life and I could describe him as a lot of things; son of the alpha, a serial womanizer, the pack’s most eligible bachelor… but I could never in a million years have said he was gay, not even bi.

“I’m just as confused as you are, just as confused as he is, but I wasn’t expecting him to just reject me, we could have tried to at least figure out what was happening together, I just—” my voice broke and Nathan hugged me even tighter.

“Come on, Snowflake. Everything is going to be right as rain.” His attempt at comforting me felt like a punch in the gut. Snowflake was the same nickname Riven called me whenever he was teasing me for my white hair and frail, pale build.

“You don’t get to say that, Nathan,” I said, punching his chest lightly, not that I could hurt him. He was a wolf and I wasn’t. “You have Amelia. Would you be alright if she had rejected you?” I asked.

Silence followed.

“You’re right. I wouldn’t,” He answered honestly.

“I just want my own person, Nate. That’s all I’ve ever wanted, is it asking for too much?” 

“Not to kick you while you’re down, but I have even worse news,” Nathan said gently and I raised my head from his shoulder to look at him, his dark hair was in a low buzz cut that complimented his warm brown eyes nicely. I was so happy I had a friend like him I could rely on right now.

“What is it?” I asked even though a part of me dreaded the answer.

“Alpha Nolan just sent a message through the pack link and summoned us to the assembly hall. He’s announcing Riven’s engagement to Beta Arman’s daughter.”

What?

Alpha Nolan was the leader of our wolf pack, although calling it ‘our’ might be a bit of a stretch. 

I wasn’t a part of their pack and I’ve been shunned on several occasions till I got the hint.

I was born wolfless, and in this world, it simply meant I was useless to the pack. 

I couldn’t defend the territory or hunt like other male shifters. I was treated like I had the plague by everyone except Nathan and…

Riven.

Just thinking about him made my heart hurt even more

Riven was  practically royalty here but he treated me like I was his equal. I’ve lost count of the number of times he had beat up bullies on my behalf while we were younger till he traveled six years ago.

I was so excited to see him today. So excited for my friend’s return… I never expected this.

A rejection and an engagement the same day?

Word’s failed me and I struggled to find a way to express the wave of emotion that was ripping me apart from the inside out.

“Dante, I’m so so sorry. You don’t deserve this. Is there anyway I can—” Nathan paused, staring at me with concern. “Are you alright? You’re shivering really badly.”

I was. 

My entire body was trembling like I walked out naked on a cold winter night. Except I wasn’t cold. I was hot. Very, very, hot.

“Should I get help? Are you hurt? Dante! You have to say something. Please.”

I could see the fear and panic in Nathan’s eyes as he held me in his arms but my tongue felt like lead, I couldn’t speak, I couldn’t move, I just kept trembling.

“Dante, you’re scaring me,” Nathan yelled as he held me closer.

Heat gathered in my stomach, warmer and warmer till it got almost unbearable.

This didn’t feel like the pain of a broken mate bond.

This was different.

Something was trashing wildly in me, begging to be let out, threatening to rip its way out of me if I didn’t let it.

It hurt too much. 

“Let go,” a soft sultry voice whispered at the back of my head. “You have to let go. You’ll kill yourself if you try to hold it back.”

Who was speaking to me?

Kill myself?

“I don’t want to die,” I replied out loud out as a single bead of tear rolled down my cheeks. It felt like tiny needles were prickling my skin.

The pain was too much.

“Die? What are you talking about?”  Nathan asked, still panicking about how I was shaking.

Couldn’t he hear the voice?

“You’re going to be alright! I’m right here with you. I’ve got you, Dante. I'm not letting you go,” Nathan said, cradling me in his arms as he picked me up and dashed out of the room and towards the direction of the pack doctor.

“Someone! Anybody?! Help us!” Nathan yelled as he ran into the room for hurt wolves and medicinal herbs in the pack house.

He set me down on the bed and one of the pack doctors came over.

“Calm down, son. Your friend will be alright,” she said to him.

I let out a soft whimper. I couldn’t believe her. The pain was too great.

“You have to let go!” The voice in my head yelled, there was something almost compelling about the way he spoke. I couldn’t resist.

So I took a deep breath. 

Fighting through the pain, I reached deep within me.

I dug past the pain I felt, past the pain of Riven’s rejection, past the always present ache of being shunned by the pack. 

I dug deep within me till I could feel the heat bubbling inside me at my finger tips and then…

I let it go.

Flames burst out from every pore in my body, setting everything and everyone around me on fire.

Screams filled the air as well as the sharp stench of burning flesh.

The fire licked my skin, like we were kindred spirits. It was warm but it didn’t hurt me, so all I could do was watch in horror as the flames climbed higher and higher.

Pack warriors burst into the room with buckets of water, desperately trying to put out the fire.

“He did it! That witch did it!” A woman cried pointing at me with her hand that wasn’t burning and peeling off her skin. 

I saw Riven’s face among the crowd that formed and just as chants of, “Kill the witch” filled the air.

I saw him look at Nathan’s charred body and then back at me.

“What have you done?”