KADE'S POV
The mate scent is so strong at the dungeon entrance that my wolf is going crazy. But before I can investigate further, heavy footsteps thunder behind me.
"There he is!" Darius's voice echoes down the stone corridor. "Kill the Fenrir Prince!”
I spin around to see Darius charging toward me with at least a dozen guards. His face is twisted with rage and blood from our earlier fight.
"I don't want to fight you again, Darius," I say, backing toward the dungeon entrance. "Call off your men."
"Never!" He raises his sword. "Attack!"
The guards rush forward. I draw my weapon just as the first one reaches me.
Steel clashes against steel. The narrow corridor works against them - they can't all attack at once.
"Captain Ryan!" I shout. "Where are you?"
"Coming, Your Highness!" His voice echoes from somewhere above.
I parry a strike from one guard and kick another in the chest. But there are too many of them.
One of them gets past my guard and slashes at my shoulder. Pain shoots through my arm, and I smell my own blood.
That's when my wolf snaps.
The change starts deep in my chest. A growling rage that builds and builds until I can't contain it anymore.
"Get back," I warn the guards.
"Kill him!" Darius screams. "Before he transforms!"
But it's too late.
My wolf surges to the surface. Not the controlled shift I usually manage, but something wild and vicious. My muscles expand. My senses sharpen. My teeth elongate into fangs.
The first guard swings his sword at me. I catch the blade with my bare hand, feeling it slice into my palm. But the pain only makes me angrier.
I rip the sword from his grip and toss it aside like a toy.
"What the hell is he?" one of them whispers.
"A monster," another breathes.
They're not wrong. In this state, I am a monster.
I grab the first guard by the throat and lift him off the ground. His eyes bulge with terror.
"Run," I growl, my voice deeper and more animal than human.
I drop him and he scrambles away, gasping.
The other guards hesitate, looking between me and Darius.
"Don't just stand there!" Darius yells. "Attack him together!"
Three of them charge at once. My wolf is faster than they expect.
I sidestep the first one and drive my elbow into his ribs. I hear bones crack. He goes down hard.
The second one swings a mace at my head. I duck and sweep his legs. He crashes into the stone wall.
The third one actually manages to cut me across the chest with his dagger. The wound is shallow but it bleeds freely.
The scent of my own blood makes my wolf even more vicious.
I grab the guard's wrist and twist until the dagger falls. Then I backhand him across the face. He flies backward and doesn't get up.
"This is impossible," one of the remaining guards mutters.
"He's not human," another says.
"I'm still human," I snarl. "Just better than you expected."
My wolf is in full control now. Every movement is fluid and deadly. Every strike is precise and brutal.
Two more guards attack from opposite sides. I spin between them, using their own momentum against them. One crashes into the other, and they both go down in a tangle of limbs and weapons.
"Where's your honor now, Darius?" I call out. "Hiding behind your men?"
"Shut up!" he screams. "Keep fighting!"
But his guards are losing their nerve. Half of them are already down, groaning and bleeding on the stone floor.
The remaining ones are backing away from me.
"You're cowards!" Darius shouts at his own men. "All of you!"
That's when Captain Ryan and my guards finally arrive. They come charging down the corridor, weapons drawn.
"Your Highness!" Captain Ryan calls. "Are you injured?"
"I'm fine," I growl, wiping blood from my lip.
The sight of reinforcements breaks what's left of the Whitedove guards' morale. They start backing toward the stairs.
"Don't let them escape!" Darius orders desperately.
But his men aren't listening anymore. They've seen what I can do. They want no part of it.
"This is over," I announce, my voice still rough from the wolf change.
"It's not over!" Darius snarls. "It'll never be over!"
He pulls out a dagger and lunges at me one more time.
My wolf reacts without thinking. I catch his wrist and twist. The dagger clatters to the ground.
Then I grab him by the throat and slam him against the wall.
"Yield," I command.
"Never," he gasps.
I tighten my grip. "Yield, or I'll crush your windpipe."
His eyes bulge. He can barely breathe.
"Alright!" he chokes out. "I yield!"
I release him and he collapses to his knees, gasping for air.
"Your Highness," Captain Ryan says carefully. "You're bleeding."
I look down at myself. He's right. I have cuts on my shoulder, chest, and hands. But the wounds are already starting to heal.
"I'm fine," I say, forcing my wolf to calm down.
The transformation back to fully human is always disorienting. My muscles shrink back to normal size. My senses dull. My fangs retract.
But something is wrong.
My wolf is still agitated. Still pacing inside my mind. Still calling out for something.
The mate scent hits me again, stronger than before.
"Captain," I say urgently. "Guard the entrance. Don't let anyone down here."
"Your Highness? Where are you going?"
I turn back toward the dungeon entrance. The scent is pulling me forward like a rope around my chest.
"To find what I came here for."
My wolf roars inside my mind, desperate and demanding.
And I saw her almost immediately, still bent to the ground, just like I left her. I wondered if she had seen me transform and if she hasn't, I wonder how she will react if she sees me.
I move straight to her, my wolf now pacing with excitement. She has pressed herself against a wall, trying to stay out of the way of the fighting.
"It's alright," I say gently as I approach her. "You're safe now."
She looks up at me with wide eyes.
Not only had she saved my life by warning me about the poison, but now I know she has a history with the Fenrirs. Her family tried to ally with us. They died for it.
She deserves better than this life of slavery and abuse.
I stretch my hand out toward her, offering her a choice instead of a command.
"Will you become my mate?" I ask.
The words seem to echo across the silent pack grounds and a pin drop can be heard.
All of a sudden, I hear Darius gasps from where he lies on the ground and he shouts. "No!"