Chapter 5: The Healer’s Curse

Bella dipped the bloodstained cloth into the bowl of warm water, the metallic scent making her wrinkle her nose. She had spent the last few hours treating the warriors who had overexerted themselves in training.

"Alpha Dante has no mercy," one of the injured men grumbled, shaking his head. "He's running us into the ground."

Bella arched a brow as she carefully wrapped a bandage around his arm. "That's because he has a stick so far up his ass he doesn't know how to be human anymore."

The warriors around her burst into laughter.

"Careful, Bella," her father, Marco, warned from across the room. "Speaking ill of the Alpha could get you into trouble."

Bella snorted. "What's he going to do? Glare me to death?"

More laughter.

But deep down, Bella knew the truth.

Dante Rodrigo was terrifying.

She had known him since they were children, long before he became Alpha. Back then, he had been different. Still dangerous, still cold, but not as… broken.

Something had changed in him the day his father, Lucas Rodrigo, stepped down.

He had become ruthless. Unforgiving. A king made of ice and stone.

Bella had no interest in men like him. She valued her independence, her freedom. She wasn't some delicate she-wolf waiting to be claimed.

Which was why, when the scent of pine and smoke filled her lungs, making her heartbeat stutter, she froze.

A shiver ran down her spine, a deep, unnatural pull tightening her chest.

"No," she whispered under her breath.

Her hands trembled slightly as she placed the bowl of water down. The room around her faded, her senses consumed by a singular force.

A force that called to her very soul.

"Mate," her wolf, Luna, whispered.

Bella's breath hitched.

No. No. No.

This couldn't be happening.

The door to the healer's lodge slammed open, and in the doorway stood Alpha Dante Rodrigo.

He filled the space with his sheer presence—broad shoulders, powerful build, piercing blue eyes locked onto her like a predator who had just found his prey.

The room fell into a suffocating silence.

Bella's stomach twisted as their eyes met.

Her wolf howled. Her skin burned.

And then, Dante's lips curled into a snarl.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Bella's heart sank.

The bond had been forged. The mate pull was undeniable.

And yet… Dante Rodrigo looked at her as if she was his worst nightmare.