DANTE'S POV
The gunshot echoed through my phone speaker like the end of the world.
I was halfway home when Aria's penthouse security system triggered an alert—connected to my phone from three years ago when I'd installed it, when she was still my wife, when I'd still pretended to care about her safety.
I'd never disconnected it.
Now I heard everything.
Glass shattering. Aria screaming. Children crying. Marcus shouting orders.
And underneath it all, that laugh.
Sienna's laugh.
"ARIA!" I screamed into the phone, swerving across three lanes of traffic. "ARIA, ANSWER ME!"
Nothing.
Just chaos.
Just my worst nightmare playing out in real-time while I was twenty minutes away.
*Too far. Always too far when it matters.*
My wolf roared, demanding I shift, run, tear apart anyone who touched our mate and cubs. But shifting in downtown Silverpine would cause a panic. Would waste time.
So I drove like a madman instead, running red lights, praying to gods I didn't believe in.
*Please. Please let them be okay. Please don't let me lose them. Not like this. Not when I just found them.*
My phone buzzed. Text from Marcus.
*Sniper. Targeting Kai. Aria threw herself in front. We're evacuating. Meet us at safehouse Gamma.*
Safehouse Gamma. The one I'd built for emergencies. The one Aria apparently still had codes to.
The one I'd never thought we'd actually need.
*Is she hurt?* I typed back, hands shaking so badly I had to retype twice.
The response took forever.
*She's bleeding.*
My vision tunneled.
Bleeding.
Aria was bleeding.
The woman who'd already bled for me once—taking a silver bullet meant for my chest—was bleeding again. Because of me. Because Sienna was MY pack member. MY responsibility. MY failure.
I'd let a viper into my home.
Let her poison my marriage.
Let her hurt my wife.
And now she was trying to kill my sons.
The Wolf Sanctuary—safehouse Gamma—was on the outskirts of the city. Old bunker converted to emergency shelter, reinforced walls, no windows. Safe.
I pulled up twenty-three minutes later.
Twenty-three minutes of hell.
Twenty-three minutes imagining every horrible possibility.
Marcus met me at the door, blood on his shirt.
"Where is she?" I demanded.
"Inside. With the boys." His face was grim. "Dante, she—"
I shoved past him.
The main room was designed for pack gatherings. Now it held my entire family, huddled together under emergency lights.
Ash sat on a couch, pale and shaking. Kai curled in his lap, both of them clinging to each other like the twins they were.
And Aria.
My Aria.
She stood by the medical supplies, Jessica—her assistant—wrapping her arm. Blood soaked through the bandage. Glass cuts covered her face and hands from the shattered window.
She'd thrown herself between a bullet and our son.
Again.
*Why do you keep saving us when we never saved you?*
"Aria—"
Her head snapped up. Those amber eyes—my sons' eyes, the eyes I'd fallen in love with at seventeen and spent seven years pretending not to see—met mine with pure fury.
"Get out."
"You're hurt—"
"I SAID GET OUT!" Her voice cracked. "This is YOUR fault! Sienna is YOUR pack member! YOUR responsibility! And now she's trying to kill OUR CHILDREN because you couldn't see what she really was!"
Every word landed like a physical blow.
Because she was right.
Completely, devastatingly right.
"I know—"
"You don't know ANYTHING!" She advanced on me, leaving bloody footprints. "Do you know what it's like watching someone aim a gun at your baby? Do you know what it's like throwing yourself in front of a bullet AGAIN because the first time clearly didn't teach anyone anything? DO YOU?"
"Aria, please—"
"She called them." Her voice dropped to something worse than shouting. Something broken. "Sienna called while we were evacuating. Said if she couldn't have you, no one could. Said the boys were mistakes. Abominations. Evidence of your betrayal of her."
My stomach turned to ice.
"Her betrayal?" I whispered. "I never—we never—"
"Doesn't matter what's real. Matters what she believes." Aria swayed. Jessica caught her. "In her head, you're hers. You've always been hers. I was just an obstacle. And now the boys are too."
"Where is she?"
"Gone. Disappeared. Could be anywhere." Marcus stepped forward. "But Dante, there's more. We found her apartment. It was... a shrine. Pictures of you everywhere. Some dating back to when you were teenagers. Letters she never sent. A wedding dress with your name embroidered inside."
*Oh god.*
"She's been obsessed for decades," Marcus continued. "The spell wasn't about making you love her. It was about making you forget Aria. Making you available. Waiting for you to finally see her."
"I never gave her reason to think—"
"You gave her everything but romance," Aria interrupted bitterly. "Your time. Your trust. Your emotional intimacy. Everything you refused to give your actual wife, you gave to her. And she took that as love. As promise. As proof you belonged together."
She was right.
Again.
I'd been so careful about physical boundaries with Sienna. So proud of my loyalty. But I'd given her everything else. Every piece of me Aria begged for, I'd handed to Sienna without thinking.
*Because she felt safe,* my wolf whispered. *Because she didn't make us feel.*
And Aria had made me feel everything.
Joy. Fear. Love. Vulnerability.
I'd been too much of a coward to handle it.
"Mom?" Kai's small voice broke through. "Is the bad lady going to come back?"
Aria went to him immediately, kneeling despite her injuries. Both boys wrapped around her like she was the only solid thing in their world.
Maybe she was.
"Not here, baby. You're safe here."
"But what if—"
"I won't let anyone hurt you. Either of you. Ever." She kissed both their heads. "That's a promise."
"What about you?" Ash asked quietly. "Who protects you?"
The question gutted me.
Because the answer should have been *me*. Her mate. Her husband. Her Alpha.
But I'd never protected her.
Not from Sienna's poison. Not from the pack's judgment. Not from my own coldness.
I'd failed her in every possible way.
"I protect myself," Aria told Ash. But she sounded so tired. "I always have."
"That's not fair," Kai said. His eyes—my eyes—found me across the room. "Daddies are supposed to protect mommies. That's what you always said."
Out of the mouths of children.
"Kai—" I started.
"You LIED!" Kai's face crumpled. "You said Mommy didn't want us! You said she left because we weren't good enough! But she's HERE! She's bleeding because she protected me! She's the one who came when I was scared at school! Where were YOU?"
Each word was a knife.
"In a meeting," I admitted. Ashamed. "I was in a meeting and I sent you to school sick because Sienna said you were fine and I believed her instead of my instincts—"
"You always believe her!" Kai sobbed. "Over everyone! Over Mommy! Over me! You love her more!"
"I don't—"
"THEN WHY IS SHE TRYING TO KILL US?"
The room went silent.
My five-year-old son stared at me with devastation that would haunt me forever. Waiting for an answer I didn't have.
"Because I made mistakes," I finally said. "Terrible mistakes. I let her get too close. I didn't see what she was. And now she's hurting the people I—" My voice cracked. "The people I love. Because I was too blind to stop her."
"Do you love us?" Ash asked. Not accusatory. Genuinely curious. "Or do you just want to own us because we're yours?"
The question was too smart. Too accurate. Too painful.
"I love you," I said hoarsely. "Both of you. More than I knew it was possible to love anyone. I know I haven't shown it. I know I failed. But I love you. And I love your mother. I always have."
Aria laughed. The sound was broken glass.
"Love." She shook her head. "You don't know what that word means."
"I'm learning—"
"Too late." She stood, swaying. "Marcus, secure the perimeter. Jessica, get the boys settled in the back rooms. Dante—" She finally looked at me. "Make yourself useful and figure out where Sienna is before she tries again."
"Aria, we need to talk—"
"We need to survive. Talk comes later. If at all."
She walked away.
My sons went with her.
All three of them disappearing into the back of the bunker, leaving me standing alone in the main room like the ghost I'd become.
Marcus approached. "What do you want to do?"
"Find her." My voice came out cold. Alpha cold. The coldness I'd perfected over years. "Find Sienna. Bring her to me. Alive."
"Alive?"
"I want answers. I want to know who helped her. Who funded the magic. Who's been protecting her all this time." I met his eyes. "And then I want to watch her stand trial for attempted murder of pack cubs. The sentence is death."
"You'd execute your own pack member?"
"She stopped being pack the moment she aimed at my children." My wolf surfaced, turning my voice to gravel. "She's rogue now. Hunt her down."
Marcus nodded. Left.
I stood there, alone, listening to my family talk in the other room.
Aria's voice, soft and comforting. "It's okay, babies. We're safe now."
"When can we go home?" Ash asked.
"I don't know, sweetheart. When it's safe."
"Will it ever be safe again?"
Silence.
Then: "I'll make it safe. No matter what it costs. I promise."
*That should be my promise,* I thought. *That should be my job.*
But I'd given up that right when I'd chosen wrong. Every day for seven years.
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number. Video message.
Against every instinct, I opened it.
Sienna's face filled the screen. Makeup smeared. Eyes wild. Smile vicious.
"Hello, my love," she purred. "Miss me yet?"
"You're insane—"
"I'm devoted. There's a difference." She laughed. "Did you like my little message? The sniper was expensive, but worth it to see you finally pay attention. You never notice me unless there's drama, Dante. You never see me unless I force you to look."
"You tried to kill my sons—"
"YOUR sons?" Her face twisted. "They're HER sons! Proof of HER claim on you! They shouldn't exist! WE should have had children! We should have had everything! But she STOLE you from me!"
"You're delusional. We were never—"
"WE WERE ALWAYS!" she screamed. "Since we were sixteen! Since the attack that killed your father! Since I cried in your arms and you held me and PROMISED you'd always protect me! That was a bond, Dante! A promise! A CLAIM!"
"That was friendship. Trauma bonding. Not love—"
"It WAS love! Is love! Will always be love!" She leaned closer to the camera. "And if I can't have you, then no one can. Not her. Not those brats. No one."
The call ended.
Then my phone exploded with alerts.
Security breach at the estate.
Fire alarm at my office.
Bomb threat at pack headquarters.
All at once.
Sienna wasn't just targeting my family.
She was burning down my entire world.
Another message. This one text.
*You have twenty-four hours to denounce Aria publicly, reject her formally, and claim me as your Luna. Or I start killing pack members. Starting with the youngest. Children first, Dante. Just like you took MY chance at children with you. Twenty-four hours. Choose wisely. -S*
The phone fell from my hand.
Marcus burst back in. "Dante, we have multiple situations—"
"I know." My voice sounded dead. "She's declared war on the entire pack."
"What do we do?"
I looked toward the back room. Where my family hid. Where Aria—brave, broken, beautiful Aria—was probably planning how to protect everyone without my help.
Like she'd always done.
"We end this," I said quietly. "Tonight. One way or another."
"How?"
"By giving Sienna exactly what she wants."
Marcus's eyes widened. "You can't possibly—"
"Call a pack gathering. Emergency Alpha announcement. Tell everyone to be at the main hall in two hours." I pulled out my phone, texted Aria. "Tell Sienna to come. Tell her I'm making my choice. Publicly."
"Dante, if this is a trap—"
"It's not a trap." I met his eyes. "It's justice. And it's been seven years overdue."
In the other room, Aria's phone buzzed.
I heard her gasp.
Then her footsteps, running toward me.
She burst in, eyes wild. "What are you doing?"
"What I should have done seven years ago." I held her gaze. "Choosing right. Finally."
"If this is another one of your stupid Alpha pride moves—"
"It's not. It's me fixing my mistake. It's me protecting my family." I stepped closer. "Trust me. Just this once. Please."
"I don't trust you."
"Then trust that I love our sons enough to end this." I touched her face. She flinched but didn't pull away. "Trust that I'm done being a coward."
She stared at me for a long moment.
Then nodded. Once.
"Don't make me regret this."
"I won't." I kissed her forehead—the first time I'd kissed her in three years. She froze. "I promise."
Two hours later, the pack hall was full.
Sienna stood in the front row, smiling.
And I stood on the Alpha platform, about to make the biggest gamble of my life.