Glory! How could he not have considered that she might have sneaked in too? Fuck.

Remaining in human form and ignoring the shards of pain knifing through him from his wounds, he sprinted ahead and let the bond lead him to Jaime. Clearly sensing that something was happening, Trey, Taryn, Ryan, and Gabe followed behind him. He caught a glimpse of two balls of fur wrestling when suddenly Laurie launched herself at him from nowhere.

“Oh God, Dante, I’m so glad you’re here. I was so scared. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to leave Jaime behind, but—”

Forcibly he pushed the female away and handed her to Ryan, only concerned for the black wolf with a tail tipped with gray. His mate. He watched as she slashed the muzzle of a russet wolf, spraying blood onto the ground. The bleeding wolf leaped at the black wolf, attempting to clamp her paws around her neck. Dante stiffened in fear, knowing that if she managed that, she would wrestle the black wolf to the ground, and his mate would then be vulnerable.

But the russet wolf didn’t manage that. His mate bit down on her ear and yanked hard enough to make the russet wolf whine loudly and jump away. Relief filled him, but he didn’t relax. Then the two wolves were leaping at each other, bodies slamming, claws clashing, teeth sinking into fur and flesh. Dante wanted nothing more than to intervene and help his mate, but he couldn’t. This was her fight, and he couldn’t take this from her. “Come on, baby,” he murmured.

Finally the black wolf was able to get her opponent flat on her back on the ground. Quickly she straddled the russet wolf, but before she could pin her down, claws came swiping at her muzzle.

Feeling her pain, Dante winced, but she didn’t react to the pain at all—she was too focused on her need to kill her opponent.

His mate sank her teeth into the offending foreleg, wrenching a loud yelp from the other wolf.

Dante sensed his mate’s satisfaction—a satisfaction he shared until the russet wolf used her other paw to tear a strip into his mate’s shoulder. The pain and surprise of it made the black wolf bounce back, inadvertently giving the other a chance to right herself. “Little bitch,” he muttered.

Dante clenched his fists and ground his teeth against his wolf’s constant attempts to resurface.

His wolf wouldn’t involve himself in the fight, he understood the dynamics, but he wanted to be near his mate now that she was finally in wolf form. He wanted to bring her back from the dark place she was in right now. Both his wolf and Dante could feel her emotional state through the bond. It wasn’t good at all.

The black wolf was so far gone it was actually frightening. He remembered Jaime’s fear that if her wolf got control again, she wouldn’t let Jaime come back. He hoped to God that her fear was unfounded, but as he looked at the black wolf now, he realized that calming her was going to be the main battle tonight.

He inhaled sharply as a well-aimed body slam from the russet wolf sent his mate sprawling.

“Get up, baby.” To his relief, she was quickly on her feet again. Growling, she bounded at her opponent, crashing into her hard. He winced, flinched, snarled, cursed, and grimaced as he watched the two wolves continue to battle.

After a series of struggles, the black wolf again forced the other to her back. “That’s it, baby, end it.” His mate pinned the wolf down by pressing her paws down onto her shoulders. Then, in one sharp move, his mate slashed open the other wolf’s belly at exactly the same moment that she clamped her jaws around her throat. With an abrupt yank, the black wolf had ended the fight. Won.

Thank God for that. His wolf’s relief was just as profound. But the hard part had only just begun, Dante knew. “Jaime? Jaime?”

The black wolf swerved, hackles raised and ears flattened outward, growling threateningly at him with her lips peeled back, showing teeth and gums. Not good.

“It’s okay,” said Dante in a gentling tone. He knew that the wolf wouldn’t understand the words, but his hope was that she would find his tone soothing. What she needed now was to calm down and pull back so that Jaime could resurface. So far it didn’t seem as though there was a chance of that happening as her eyes darted from person to person, curling her upper lip at them.

He knew what the wolf was feeling: rage, pain, fear, confusion, and a belief that danger was all around. Everything she saw and heard she was interpreting as a threat. Even him. Shit if that didn’t hurt. Remembering the time that Jaime approached the Doberman at the sanctuary, Dante crouched down to her wolf’s level of height so that he didn’t seem so intimidating. “It’s okay. It’s safe now.” She growled at him again, a chilling, menacing growl that said, “Mate or not, stay the f**k away.”

“Jaime, please fight this,” pleaded Gabe. The wolf snarled at him, despite recognizing him as family. Her frightened gaze darted between each of them, expecting one of them to attack her any second now.

Dante tapped the ground with his hand to get her attention. It worked. Again she growled at him. “Shh. It’s okay.” Another growl. “Come on, Jaime, fight her for me.” He could sense Jaime, sense her frustration and helplessness. But she wasn’t giving up as she once might have, believing she was succumbing to the inevitable. She was battling for freedom. Unfortunately, her wolf was too sure that they were still in danger for her to even entertain Jaime’s struggles as important.

“Dante,” said Ryan quietly. “I think she’s lost it.”

“No. She’s scared and she’s on the offensive, but she’s not feral.”

“But—”

“Dante’s right,” said Trey. “I know feral. That’s not feral.”

“Maybe we should all back up, give her some space, and make it clear we’re not here to hurt her,” suggested Taryn.

“Or maybe I should shift into my wolf form. I’m her Alpha. She’ll respond.”

“I don’t think she will, Trey.” Dante shook his head. “Right now, she doesn’t see her pack. She sees threats. She doesn’t even trust me near her or I’d shift and let my wolf try his luck with her—

God knows he’s eager to try. Jaime told me that whenever she shifted and another shifter was around, her wolf would attack them, believing that she was eliminating a threat before that supposed threat had the chance to harm her.”

Trey was quiet for a few moments, but when the black wolf growled again he sighed. “I’m going to try it.”