She was close to fainting then and there upon seeing the horrifying view before her, but Luca didn’t let her lose her mind. Once more he took her by her arm and with a hard expression on his face and brows furrowed in worry, he directed her down the bloody path to Dante’s office.

While they quickly made her way to the door a storm of thoughts passed through her head. Gabi wasn’t used to this type of things, full of adrenaline, rush and danger. She always dreamed of a peaceful life with her husband (not necessarily her mate or even a werewolf) somewhere in the suburbs, closer to the nature. But with some twisted plan of fate she was pulled into a harsh, cruel world of a devilish Alpha who appeared to be her mate, and whose world is full of blood, violence and power.

Her life was now everything she feared of and despised. But here she was, running with her heart wildly drumming in her chest, because something probably happened to her mate, and even though she hated him she couldn’t help but fear for his life like for any other creature.

This time they didn’t wait for a permission to enter. Luca barged the door open and they saw another trail of blood reaching behind Dante’s desk, down to the couches on the far end of the room. The iron smell of blood was heavy in the air, and she felt how her eyes involuntarily started to water up. For real, what kind of werewolf she was? She wouldn’t be useful in any real pack.

Nonetheless she went after Luca, who immediately rushed after the smell.

The sight before her made her sick and relieved at the same time. Dante was kneeling beside one of the sofas; his white shirt was all torn up and his sleeves were rolled up, which didn’t really help as his hands were all covered in blood, the same as the fabric of the shirt that from all of the wetness stuck to his muscular body. His hair were one big mess, and Gabi could also spot a few nasty scratches on his face that at the moment didn’t seem to bother him, as his eyes were solely focused on the person laying right now on the sofa.

All in all, he wasn’t in a good shape, but he was alive. Then she saw Diego lying lifelessly on the sofa, with a jacket pressed to his abdomen by Dante. He was clearly unconscious, as his face was white and his eyes lifeless; probably he was closer to death than they all thought. She couldn’t help and gasped loudly, which made Dante notice her presence.

Without prying his hands away from Diego’s wound as to prevail any more blood loss than necessary, he diverted his eyes to her. They were dark brown without a hint of red, and she suspected it was all because he was worn out, because once he saw her, he only scowled in discontent.

“Luca, what the fuck is she doing here?” he almost barked at the man who was right now nervously trying to open the medic box he pulled out of nowhere.

“I was training with Luna when Matteo called. I don’t know the code to your apartment Alpha, and I didn’t want to leave her unattended in the open part of the building, considering the circumstances.” Again, she was treated like not only she was a child, but also like she wasn’t there and she couldn’t help but grit her teeth.

Dante once more shot a look at her gloomy face and then once more to Luca. They were staring at each other’s eyes for a few seconds and Gabi already knew what that meant.

Alpha didn’t want her here. He was telling him the code by the mind link. The thought alone almost made her scream at the top of the lungs in frustration. How was she supposed to go now and sleep in bed when something so dramatic was happening here?

She saw how life was slowly running away from Diego’s body, and how harshly Dante was pressing the jacket to his wound. Luca wasn’t any better, when with shaking hands he put away on the coffee table the medic box and wanted to catch her arm to take her to the penthouse. Diego didn’t have that much time to wait for him to return.

Without another word she harshly pulled his hand away and rushed for the medic box, in the next second kneeling beside Dante. He growled at her to go away but she didn’t budge – without the redness, his eyes weren’t so scary anymore.

“You’re not supposed to be here, go back home.” He growled at her, but she was too full of adrenaline and determination to leave now.

“If you want him to live then I suggest you give up on arguing. From what I can see he is getting worse even if you try to keep him alive, and I don’t see anywhere near any doctor.” Gabi snapped at him, and finally a hint of red showed in his eyes.

“And how could possibly YOU help him, when you’re definitely not a doctor?” his low voice had a threatening note to it but she didn’t let it get to her. Instead she looked him dead in the eye, conscious of the fact that the man before her was just too proud to admit he needed her help.

“Believe it or not but children at kindergarten can make quite a mess out of themselves. Each kindergarten teacher has to pass a few medical courses in case something bad happens, and from what I can see right now I’m the only one here with the best medical knowledge. When the doctor comes I will go back. Will you now let me help him?” she barked at him, angry at his stupid persistence. He eyed her for two more seconds and without a word, with furrowed brows he pulled away from Diego. Gabi without hesitation took his place and slowly raised the wet, sticky jacket from the wound. She hissed, seeing that the wound still was bleeding badly. After inspecting it a bit, she turned once more to Dante, who right now sat across her on the other sofa, with his elbows resting on his knees and his eyes never prying away from her figure.

“I can tell it’s a shot wound. Do you know who shot him?” He raised his brows and scoffed.

“And for what do you need this information now?”

“I need to know whether the bullet was a normal one or a silver one. I can’t see the outlet hole, so it must be still inside. If it’s a silver one we can’t wait for a doctor to arrive to pull it out, it will kill him much faster.”

He was silent for a moment, still watching her constantly, but it seemed to her that the anger and offended pride died a little in his eyes.

“It was an ambush on the way back here. They were waiting for us. They were too far away to smell it, but taking into account that they outnumbered us and knew what we’re capable of, they chose a long-distance fight. For me that means they were either werewolves or hunters. I would guess both would use silver bullets.” Gabi only nodded her head at that and furrowed her brows in concentration, looking once more at the unconscious man. If that was the case she had to act quickly.

“Luca, I need you to bring me some gloves, tweezers and a few clean towels. Also, a bowl with clean cold water would be a good idea.” The man that was staring at the whole situation for the past few minutes with his mouth wide open finally came back to his senses. He looked hesitantly at his Alpha with a silent question in his eyes.

“What are you waiting for, bring back what your Luna wants from you.” He growled, still not looking away from Gabi’s back.

“Yes Alpha, yes Luna.” He only said before running out of the room in search of the needed items.

Although her hands and mind were occupied with something else, she couldn’t help but hear his words, and involuntarily she felt heat creeping into her heart, while her wolf yipped with joy. He acknowledged her as his Luna in a sense which should make her angry, but at the same time because he was her mate it made her a little bit happy, and no matter how hard she tried she couldn’t shake off this feeling completely.

When the door after Luca closed, heavy silence fell upon them. She worked her way around the wound, trying to clean it as much as possible with some hydrogen peroxide and gauze she found in the medic box, but still flowing blood was making all her efforts go to waste.

Gabi sighed with frustration and once more turned to Dante. Her heart skipped a beat seeing that he was still watching her closely as if she was doing some black magic. She gulped but didn’t weaver.

“I need your help here.” Her voice was shaking a little when she started, but still it was stern. Without a word he looked at her for another second and then he just stood up and kneeled beside her.

“What do you need?” he only asked, looking with an unreadable expression at Diego’s unconscious body.

“The blood won’t stop flowing, and we need to minimize its loss until Luca comes back. You have to pick him up and hold him that way so I can put some bandages around the wound. I hope it will work for the time being.” She expected he would snort in her face at her unprofessionalism, but nothing like that happened. He only nodded his head a little in acknowledgment and put his arms around Diego, slowly pulling his upper body up.

She quickly made her way around his abdomen as to secure the wound, and every time she came a little closer to Dante she tried not to breathe, as his scent still was there under the layer of iron from all the blood, and it was making her head a little dizzy. At the same time, she still felt his burning gaze on her body, and she wondered why he was doing this – maybe he was just so pissed, or he didn’t want to miss any mistake she could probably do as to then viciously point it out to her?

Gabi had to slap herself mentally. It wasn’t the time to ponder on such things.

She was quickly done and Dante gently put Diego away. Seeing that he was no longer needed he returned to his seat and once more started to watch her closely, making her shiver nervously.

What the hell was taking Luca so long?

Just as she thought about him, the door barged open and a breathless Luca came to view with his hands full of the things she needed. She took it from him and started to place it around, planning her operating space, while Dante turned to his subordinate.

“Did you hear from Matteo? Where is the doctor?”

“I called him a few minutes ago, he told me they were stuck in a traffic.”

“And what, they don’t have legs? Make them run at werewolf speed damn it, they are capable of hiding themselves while doing it.” He growled at him angry. “Go and make sure they are here in max 10 minutes, you understand?”

“Yes Alpha!” and with that he was gone again, but Gabi already payed little to no attention to him, solely focused on the task at hand.

She furrowed her brows, looking at all the things gathered around her.

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“I need to sanitize the tweezers.” She mumbled to herself wondering how could she do this, and didn’t notice something moving behind her. Suddenly she felt a waft of Dante’s scent and she turned around quickly to him.

Still with his unreadable expression he got closer and pulled out of his pocket a small, classy lighter. Gabi looked at it mindlessly for a second and started to wonder if he was going to smoke right here and now, but then he reached it out to her, and it finally clicked in her head.

He must have heard her murmuring about sanitizing; even a small flame like that could be good in such a situation.

She carefully took it from him, but still his fingers grazed her hand a little, and she felt sparks erupting in her whole body at the touch, even if it was unintended. While putting the end of the tweezers in the flame she looked at him from the corner of the eye, but his face and eyes still were unreadable for her, even in this situation.

What a cold person. But what if it’s just a mask? She quickly shook off the last thought away. She didn’t need this now nor ever. She already had a plan about escaping. She didn’t need to get to know him to do that.

She put the flame out when she decided it was enough and put on the gloves. Carefully she unwrapped (with Dante’s silent help) the now also soaked bandages and took a deep breath when she put the tweezers in the wound. Diego moved a little under her and moaned in pain. That wasn’t good, she hoped he was out of it completely.

“Quick, help me and keep him in one place.” When Dante stood beside her and pushed Diego to the sofa, she once more dipped into the wound in search of the bullet. She winced hearing him moan louder and scream in pain, but she didn’t let it get to her. She had to do it if he was to survive until doctor arrives.

“It’s going to be okay Diego, just don’t fucking move.” Dante murmured to him when another bolt of pain went through his body.

“Alpha Dante…” he cried out with absent eyes, with every second of the procedure more awake “Sorry I disappointed you…” tears started to come down his face.

“You will disappoint me if you die, now try to hold on and don’t fucking move, you now I don’t like to repeat myself.” He grumbled, but Gabi sensed that he probably tried in his own way to calm Diego down.

Luckily for them, it worked.

“I will try my best boss” he smiled absent mindedly at him and his eyes once more went blank. Just then Gabi with a triumphant “Yes!” pulled out the bullet and tossed it on one of the towels Luca brought her.

Diego once more lost consciousness, so they had no more problems with tucking him in bandages. After they were done Dante once more sat on his seat and Gabi stayed beside Diego, keeping note of his breathing and checking his temperature on the forehead from time to time.

The time seemed to flow a few times slower than normally as Gabi felt she spend an entire day here with the poor guy, when in reality it was something close to not even half an hour. The presence of her own personal nemesis – her mate didn’t help either, as he constantly distracted her even without saying a word, making the atmosphere in the room even harder than it already was. When she heard the door opening and a few rushed footsteps, she let herself let out a big sigh of relief.

She moved away from the sofa when a doctor ran up to them as to make him space. The man looked around frantically for a second and then he shot a look at his patient. Before he could ask what happened, Dante answered him.

“Your Luna had to take care of Diego because of your laziness. She pulled the silver bullet out of his abdomen. Be glad she helped, or else you would be dead the moment you entered here. And now be sure he lives through it, or I will kill you for your incompetence.” He growled while standing up, and the doctor didn’t have the courage to look him in the eyes, so he only bowed his head and immediately rushed to his patient’s side.

Gabi, still full of adrenaline, couldn’t let it slide.

“Leave him alone Alpha, he’s all worn out, I see he did his best to get here as soon as possible.” Matteo and Luca looked at her in shock, while the doctor still was too afraid to do it in Dante’s presence. His shoulders only twitched a little, and that meant he heard her words.

This time his whole eyes burned crimson red, and Gabi had to bring up all the courage she had in her as to not step a few steps back. She still had in mind what Fernanda told her about not giving in to the fear when in his presence. He growled lowly as a warning and came up closer to her.

“You won’t be ordering me around.”

“Who said I was ordering you, I only said what I was seeing.” She retorted. It was already too late to back now, so she might as well piss him off. She felt her power rose up a little from the last fight with him, and she felt ready to fight him once more.

“Okay, then you said what you saw and you did what you wanted. Now go back home or I’ll make you go there myself.” The glint in his eyes told her that this time the fight wouldn’t be as easy as the last one, and so she gave in with a quiet puff.

“Your welcome.” She only said and without another word to anybody else she went into the direction of the door, knowing that Matteo will soon follow her to let her in to the penthouse. Just before she reached the doors she felt a harsh intrusion in her mind that made her wince in pain, and a low grumbling voice told her shortly:

“When I come back, I want to see you downstairs. If you won’t be there, I’ll come for you.” She gritted her teeth in annoyance but didn’t slow a bit. With her head up high, she walked out and moved into the direction of the penthouse.

When she reached the elevator, she heard quick footsteps behind and already knew that Matteo was catching up to her. He also was looking like trash, but all in all he was in the best shape of all three of them. Gabi only shot him a quick glance when he caught up to her, but still she was able to see his questioning eyes.

“I have to admit I’m really curious about how it all happened.” He finally voiced out, still not turning his eyes away from her.

“Well, you were idiots that got caught up in an ambush, that’s how it happened.” She answered him sarcastically, still not looking at him back. He was taken aback for a second, and the she heard his irritated scowl.

“You know what I’m taking about Luna. How did you make Alpha let you to help him? Normally he would kill anybody who even insinuates that he may need some help.” Gabi furrowed her brows.

“Firstly, stop calling me Luna when Dante is not around. If you have to, just call me L. Secondly, I’m his mate and his wolf should never let him kill me because then he would fall into madness and die shortly after. And thirdly, he knew that if I didn’t help Diego would die. And apparently, he is important for him enough to not let him die.” The rest of the way was silent.

When they reached the door and Matteo opened them for her, he turned to her for the last time with a serious expression on his face.

“I know that you hate him, and I don’t blame you for that. Most of the time he is a really nasty guy. But in one thing you should never doubt. He would die for us the same as we would die for him.” And with that he went away, leaving her speechless for a moment at the door.

For a second, she tried to think about his words, but then she felt the soreness of all of her limbs and fatigue fell on her like a rock. Feeling how her legs were made of concrete she made her way to the sofa, but before it she decided that Dante will wait. She needed a bath, even if it was a quick one.

She pushed herself to go up to her bedroom and to the bathroom. Only when she was taking off her clothes, she noticed that they were drenched with Diego’s blood. Looking at the mirror she saw her tired gaze and disheveled hair that some time ago were tied up in a bun.

Gabi stepped into the shower and let warm water wash away the dirt, sweat and blood from her body. She stood like this mindlessly for a few minutes, but unfortunately the pain of her body and the grim inevitability of once more meeting with Dante still loomed in her mind.

With a loud sigh she stepped out, already missing the warmth, and went into the wardrobe. She didn’t have the strength to search for a suitable clothing, so she just picked what she was mostly wearing on mornings when going to the library. She put on jeans short and some plain grey shirt, leaving her wet hair to dry by themselves, and went downstairs to the kitchen.

She briefly looked at the clock, and seeing it was already 8 p.m. she decided it was time to eat something. Unfortunately, today Fernanda didn’t bring her any food. She was probably too busy with Diego, or maybe she had a free evening and Gabi didn’t even know about this.

For now, sensing that the talk with Dante might be quite loud and emotional, she opted for something small. She picked an apple and bit into it staring mindlessly through the window.

She lost track of time while watching the last shy sun rays hiding behind other buildings, slowly wrapping the world in soft darkness, when she heard how the door to the apartment clicked. Her heart started to beat faster at that, but she tried to not show it.

Without turning back, she slowly put the core of the apple in the trash and only then looked at Dante.

Once more she couldn’t help but marvel at his devilish beauty, even if he was still dirty and covered in blood. Without the sun his eyes were like two black shining holes. He was watching her closely like a predator does to his prey.

Gabi wanted to open her mouth and say something, but his eyes hypnotized her and she couldn’t find any good words. Besides he was the one who wanted to talk, she wasn’t obligated to cooperate with him, so she chose instead to return his stare.

Finally, he moved in her direction with a cat-like grace and for a second there she wanted to laugh, because it was so ironic – a werewolf with cat moves! But seeing how he got closer and closer without stopping her laugh died in her throat, and she felt how her heart started to beat faster and faster. The adrenaline in her veins was now nowhere to be found and she wasn’t as courageous as she was an hour ago.

Gabi slowly retreated back into the kitchen without looking back from his looming figure, making note that his moves were full of grace, but at the same time something was wrong. Did she see this right in the falling dusk that he was limping a little? Maybe she would ponder on this a little bit longer if not for Dante, who pushed her with his presence up to the glass wall of the kitchen.

She gulped, feeling under skin the prickling cold of the glass, thinking how little was stopping her from falling to her end. Although she had nowhere to run anymore, he still was getting closer, and the blackness of his eyes was becoming almost as dangerous as the everyday red glint in them.

Finally, he stopped not even a meter away from her, towering above her and making her feel small and fragile. To top it off his scent was clouding her mind and all she wanted to do was at that moment to nuzzle her nose in his chest.

“Don’t you ever again question my words and choices when my subordinates are present.” He growled out not breaking the eye contact. Gabi furrowed her brows a little at that.

“If I didn’t do it Diego would have died.” She retorted quietly but calmly, in the next second though she moaned in pain when he quickly grabbed her chin and rose her head up, seeing that she was to break the eye contact. In the bottomless darkness of his eyes red sparks could be seen.

“Don’t you. Ever. Do it. Again.” He emphasized with a low dangerous voice. “It’s not your pack to rule.” At that she felt like something keeping her back finally snapped in her and with new found force she threw his hand away, making him take a step back in the process. He growled angrily but she ignored it.

“Then why the fuck if it’s not my pack you’re ordering them to call me Luna AND call me the same when in their presence. What should Luna do if not care for the pack and help the Alpha OR question his actions when it is needed to ensure the safety of the pack and its members?!” Gabi wasn’t really thinking at that moment. Her whole misery, anxiety, stress and fear of tomorrow finally came out, covering all of her insecurities. If she was calm, she wouldn’t have said all of that – she wanted to escape, yet now she acted like she wanted to belong here. Right now though, she didn’t care about all of this. She just wanted to fume out on him, to scream and make him know how much she hated him.

“Calm the fuck down or…”

“Or what?! You will make me? Then make me you egoistic childish Alpha with a minority complex! You don’t respect anyone, even your own mate, you don’t respect your subordinates and treat them like trash, you don’t consider others opinions and emotions, you’re just a capricious little child that changes its decision all the time, making others suffer because of it and you have it all deep in your ass!” at this point she didn’t even feel the tears she held in for so long finally flowing out of her eyes, but even if she did, she wouldn’t care at the moment. With a fiery gaze she continued, feeling how Dante backed down a little, making now more space between them. “If you didn’t want me in your pack, then why the fuck did you search for me and destroyed my life in the process, why do you keep me closed in here like in a cage, why did you order Luca to train me, why did you order all those people to call me Luna when you don’t want me to be it and more importantly I don’t want to be it! You’re making no sense to me, to anybody! You’re just a selfish kid with no sense caught up in his own little bubble!” her voice became hoarse and weaker because of all the screaming, but she felt a little better at heart.

Even if he wanted to kill her now, it wasn’t important. She made her point clear, and she finally felt she was being true to herself. Silence fell between them and Dante’s face was unreadable, as always, but it was to be expected. He was a cold bastard after all. She sniffed quietly and discreetly tried to wipe out her tears, but they were still coming as she held them in for too long.

“Go back to bed and rest.” Was his only answer, and Gabi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry even more. His indifference was atrocious.

“Yes, your highness. As you wish.” She answered sarcastically and without looking at him anymore she quickly made her way upstairs. This time she made sure to lock her door.