Chapter 3

DANTE

My frown turned into a small smile as I nodded. It was at that moment I realized that the thing which had been missing in my life was her. Ziyah was my missing piece. That knowledge was freeing.

Brynn did say that she saw me kissing a woman with white hair at a Luna ceremony. She saw Ziyah.

“She is my younger cousin. She went missing thirty-seven years ago. We searched everywhere for her, but it was like with Lady Elle. There was no sign of her. We sought every source to find her, but it seems that the Dark Fae had her this entire time.”

My eyes darkened with that bit of information. I could not even begin to imagine what life had been like for her if she had been a prisoner of the Dark Fae this entire time. They were sadistic fuckers that delighted in pain, torment, and evil.

‘Your mate will get vengeance, but you must be patient until the right time comes. I sent her to you so that you can protect her. She will need you to help her heal for all she has suffered,’ the Goddess’ voice filtered into my mind.

My eyes looked up at the moonlight and sent a thank you up to her. I would never be able to thank the Goddess enough.

“The Goddess apparently helped bring her here from wherever she was,” I murmured.

I caressed her cheek with my thumb. Little jolts of the mate-bond coated my thumb. That was how I knew she was truly my mate. Feeling the mate-bond sparks could not be fabricated. She really was made for me.

Chris and a couple of warriors pulled up on four-wheelers so that they could carry the wolves back.

One of the biggest pieces to this puzzle was the connection between the wolves and the Dark Fae. Were they just coincidental? I highly doubted it. If there was a connection then we needed to figure out what it was because those two species never worked together. Dark Fae always believed they were the top of the food chain, and every other species was significantly below them.

“Woah. She’s gorgeous,” Chris said absentmindedly as he tossed me a pair of shorts.

“Don’t fucking look at her, fucker,” I hissed at him.

His hands immediately rose up, showing that he was not a threat. He looked between Ziyah and my protective nature towards her and drew the right conclusion.

“I meant no disrespect,” he promised. Then he switched to the link and asked if she was my mate.

‘Yes, but please don’t tell anyone. Fuck. She doesn’t even know. I don’t want to overwhelm her and would rather the fewest as possible know until she does. She was unconscious when I found her.’

He nodded and started loading up the wolves without further questions. I always appreciated that about Chris. He accepted what people were willing to say without forcing them to divulge anything further unless they allowed it.

“Take them to Nightshade. Their forensics team is state-of-the-art. Run blood work, DNA analysis, and see if there is any Dark Fae essence on their bodies,” I told him. Then I paused for a moment and added for them to also run a quick analysis to see if they were gifted.

I wanted to run the entire gamut because I needed to find out every single thing about them that I could. They were after her for a reason. It was not just a random occurrence.

“Will do,” Chris said as he put the last fucker on the four-wheeler.

“Thanks. I appreciate it,” I told him sincerely.

Chris saluted me as he turned around and left for Nightshade with the other people. Luckily, they had left when they did because Caiathus’ people materialized right after that.

I had never met any of Caiathus’ family except his siblings. His father looked exactly like him but just older. He dressed in slacks and a sweater. I remembered a time when Elle was very confused with Caiathus’ modern attire. It seemed most were modernized in the fashion department.

“Oh, Ziyah. What happened to you?” his father asked softly.

The healers came over, so I moved away even though I did not particularly want to. Everyone was silent while they took stock of all her injuries. They turned her onto her side, and I growled quietly when I saw the obvious punctures made by the claws of the dead bastards. Fuck. How I wished that I could resurrect them just to kill them again.

“Father, this is Alpha Dante. Lady Elle’s brother. He is the one who saved Ziyah,” Caiathus said, as he moved next to me.

The other Fae who was not healing her all looked at me curiously. I was not a self-conscious person by any means, but having so many sets of eyes on me was certainly nerve-wracking. I held my head up though, just as any good Alpha should. Plus, this was my mate’s family even if she did not know that we were mates or they that we were. Fucking jittery – that was what I felt.

“We give you our deepest gratitude. Caiathus speaks highly of your family, and I can see that it is warranted. My name is Belorne, and this is her mother Naymostian and father Delorne, my twin brother,” Belorne said, shaking my hand.

“Yes. Thank you for saving her. We always prayed and hoped that we would see her again, but we feared we might not. We never stopped looking for her though,” Delorne said.

I shook his hand too before looking back at her. The healers were definitely helping her quite a bit, but I knew that she would still need to be examined at the hospital.

“I was just thankful that I got here when I did. The Goddess told me that she led her here, but I’m not certain where she came from. I did kill the four wolves that were attacking her and sent them to Nightshade to have forensics analyze them to see what we can find out,” I explained to them.

Their eyes all flashed in the darkness as they heard about the wolves. I could understand that anger because I was still seeing it.

“Why risk your life for hers?” her mother asked me curiously.

“First and foremost because she needed help, so I gave her the help that she needed. It’s the same that I would do for anyone in the situation I found her in. Recognizing her as my mate simply caused me to kill them as quickly as possible so that she wouldn’t be caught up in the middle of it,” I admitted.

They needed to know about the bond so that they would hopefully not try to take her away. That was one small fear of mine. I never fully got over the fact that Elle had been taken like she was as a pup. I still held onto that small insecurity of those I loved or needed being taken away. Obviously, I did not know Ziyah yet, but the mate-bond meant more than any other bond possibly could.

“I knew when she was born that her path was not one of a Trelinin Protector because her destiny was so much greater than that. I just was not certain what it was. There must be a significant reason for the Gods to have brought our two species together in union,” her mother said to me as she placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

I was thankful for that reaction because it could have gotten difficult had they been against it. It was nice to know that was not the case. It would be nice if Ziyah had a similar mindset at the end of it all. I could only imagine what she went through though.

We lapsed in silence and watched them work. It took another thirty minutes before they sat back and turned their attention to us.

“She is very strong. The wolves damaged part of her liver, but we healed that. Her surface wounds from the wolves are healed. However, there is extensive internal damage that we will have to work on healing a little each day so that it is not too taxing on her body. She is stable and will remain that way,” one healer told us.

My fists clenched hard with hearing that. I was thankful that she was stable, but it killed me to hear that there was extensive internal damage. What the fuck happened to her? Whomever touched her definitely signed their fucking death certificates.

“What type of internal damage?” her mother asked them.

“We will need to do an ultrasound and x-ray just to know for certain. It appears that she has been electrocuted many times. There is much scar tissue, so we need the images to ensure that there is no hidden damage. Where will she be taken?” the other healer asked.

Her parents looked at me for me to decide which was something I was not expecting but was very thankful for.

“We can take her to our pack hospital. Caiathus knows exactly where it is,” I explained.

I picked her up gently in my arms. My heart broke with how fragile she looked and with what she suffered. I only knew a very small portion, but I would protect her no matter what it was from. The Goddess sent her to me for that reason, and I would fucking succeed.

Caiathus placed his hand on my shoulder, popping us to the hospital.

“Alpha, how can we help?” Becky, the charge nurse asked me.

“Ziyah here needs a private room, ultrasound, x-rays, and full workup,” I said to her.

I was thankful when there were no further questions. Instead, they got to work. It did not take more than five minutes for her to be placed on the bed, and we were ushered out of the room so that the doctor could examine her.

It was difficult as fuck to leave the room. I knew that she was safe in there, but it was hardwired into our DNA to protect our mates. Unless someone was a fucking shithead who did not care about the mate-bond at all.

‘Hey, bro. Is everything okay? Chris brought four very dead bodies to our lab. You okay?’ Elle asked me.

Luckily, our packs were close enough that our family mindlink worked when I was within the pack area. I had just been too far out where I found Ziyah to reach out for Caiathus through Elle.

‘Long story short,’ I sighed, running my hand through my hair. ‘Those fucking dead bastards were attacking a woman who turned out to be my mate. She’s actually Caiathus’ cousin. She’s being treated at our hospital now. She was unconscious when I got to her.’

There was a long pause on the other end of the mindlink.

Caiathus looked over at me and smirked as he disappeared. He reappeared a minute later with Elle and the best nephews I could have ever asked for.

“Look. It’s your namesake,” she told Grant Dante, handing him off to me.

I chuckled and took the little man in my arms. They were growing up very quickly. They were six months old right now but looked to be at least a year old. They would be absolute beasts when they grew up.

Their auras were also strong. It was an interesting hybrid aura. Their Fae abilities manifested during their birth. That was when they began to share their emotions. They could also communicate telepathically sometimes by touch. Not to mention that their intelligence was through the fucking roof.

“How’s my little Prince?” I asked him, kissing his cheek.

I felt a wave of love coming from him, so I told him that I loved him too.

Belorne came over and looked at the twins curiously. They knew all about the twins, as told by Caiathus. However, this was the first time that they had met them.

“Your boys are remarkable blessings, Lady Elle. Caiathus has told us all about them, so I am thankful that we got a chance to meet them. They are very strong just like their parents,” he told her, placing his thumb against Grant’s forehead. He then did the same for Gabriel.

They began talking, so I focused on the little man in my arms instead of the woman in the room. Grant cooed as I bounced him while I paced. My nephews were amazing little guys.

‘How are you doing?’ Elle linked me.

‘Going fucking insane. Apparently, whomever had her tortured her with fucking electrocution. Caiathus believes that Dark Fae had her for the past thirty-seven years that she had been missing. I don’t even fucking know Ziyah yet, but I can’t lose her,’ I whispered.

She pushed her love down the family bond, and I focused on it instead of my fear.

‘Selene said that your mate wouldn’t appear until you took over as Alpha. That’s why we pushed it. However, I was warned that I couldn’t tell you beforehand. I’m thankful that you found your completion. That’s how it felt when I found Kade. It made everything whole for the first time in my entire life,’ she said wistfully.

‘Yeah. That’s how it feels for me too. She was my missing piece. Thanks for being here, sis.’

The doctor came out of Ziyah’s room and looked around the group until he spotted me. Dr. Kravitz had been with our pack his whole life and took the position of healer seriously. He became our pack doctor at a very young age.

“We have finished examining the patient, Alpha. Let’s go to the family room to discuss what we found,” the doctor said, leading everyone down the hall.

I looked back at the door and was torn between leaving her and going with the doctor.

“Give me Grant and go on. I’ll stand watch here,” Elle told me with a reassuring smile.

I thanked her, took one last look at the door, and jogged to catch up with everyone.