Chapter 124: The Monster Wearing Her Skin

Dante's blood ran ice-cold.

This wasn't his mate.

Not anymore.

Bella stood before him, but her stance was wrong.

Her expression too calm.

Her smile too wide.

Her hands were dripping.

Not with her own blood.

With someone else's.

Dante's stomach twisted.

"What did you do?" His voice was low, rough, dangerous.

Bella tilted her head, her blackened eyes gleaming.

"I finally stopped running."

Dante's fingers twitched at his sides.

"Bella, listen to me." He took a slow, careful step forward. "You need to fight this."

Bella chuckled.

Chuckled.

"Fight what?" she murmured, her voice smooth, hypnotic, inhuman.

"I am this, Dante."

Her lips curled.

"You just refused to see it."

Dante's breath came slow, sharp, controlled.

He could fix this.

He just had to reach her.

"You are my mate," he said, his voice low, steady.

"You are Bella Santos. You are not this thing."

Bella blinked.

For a split second, something flickered in her expression.

A hesitation.

A whisper of the woman he loved.

Then—

It was gone.

And when she grinned at him again, her teeth were sharper than they should be.

"Maybe I was never yours to begin with."

Dante's chest ached.

"That's not true."

Bella sighed.

"If you really believe that—"

Then, faster than lightning, she moved.

One second she was standing still—

The next, she was in front of him, her claws slicing through his chest, deep, brutal, unforgiving.

Dante staggered back, pain exploding through his ribs.

His blood hit the dirt.

And Bella?

She licked the red from her fingers, smirking.

"Poor Alpha."

Her voice was mocking, cruel, merciless.

"You should have let me go."

Dante's breathing was ragged, uneven.

But he didn't care about the pain.

Didn't care about the blood.

He cared about one thing.

She was slipping.

And if he didn't stop this soon—

He would lose her forever.