Kade’s bite intensified unconsciously, his body recognizing on an instinctive level that he needed more of her blood, more of whatever miraculous property in her genetic makeup was saving his life.
His ancient royal bloodline recognized hers, called to it, claimed it with the authority of power that predated modern pack structures by centuries.
But while Kade was experiencing miraculous healing, Dakota was going through something entirely different.
The moment his teeth broke her skin, the moment his royal blood mixed with hers through the claiming bite, fire exploded through Dakota’s entire system.
Not the pleasant warmth of a normal mate bond forming.
Not the gentle connection most wolves experienced when marked.
This was agony.
Pure, searing, burning agony that felt like her blood had been replaced with molten metal, like her veins were channels of liquid fire consuming her from the inside out.
Dakota’s entire body went rigid in Kade’s arms, a scream tearing from her throat that was equal parts pain, shock, and overwhelmed terror.
Her hands clutched at his shoulders, nails digging in hard enough to draw blood even through his shirt, her body convulsing as the royal claiming burned through her system.
The difference in their bloodlines, his ancient, pure, undiluted royal power meeting her equally powerful but different genetic makeup, was creating a reaction neither of them had anticipated.
Like mixing volatile chemicals, the combination was explosive, overwhelming, devastating in its intensity.
Her wolf surged forward instinctively, trying to submit, trying to accept the claim.
Still, the sheer power pouring into her through the bite was too much, too intense, too absolutely consuming for her to process coherently.
The old mark, Ethan’s weak, inferior claim, didn’t just fade.
It burned away completely, cauterized out of existence by the sheer dominance of Kade’s royal blood overriding everything that had come before.
“Stop…” Dakota gasped, though whether she meant it or whether her body was simply trying to process sensations too overwhelming to contain, even she didn’t know.
“It’s….
it’s burning…
I can’t….” Her vision went white.
Not the gradual fade of losing consciousness but an instantaneous switch, like someone had flipped off the lights in her mind.
One second she was aware, screaming, burning.
The next, nothing.
Complete blackness.
And then, just as abruptly, the switch flipped back on.
Dakota’s eyes snapped open, her entire body jerking in Kade’s arms as awareness returned with the same sudden violence it had left.
The burning was still there but muted now, like it had moved from the surface to somewhere deeper, settling into her bones, her blood, her very DNA as the bond finished sealing itself into place.
She was breathing hard, gasping for air like she’d been drowning, her hands still clutching Kade’s shoulders in a death grip.
Her mind was spinning, trying to process what had just happened, trying to understand the sensations still coursing through her body.
And then she felt it, the absence of the old mark.
The space where Ethan’s claim had been for years was just…
Overroded.
Not completely erased.
Replaced by something infinitely stronger, infinitely more dominant, something that pulsed with power she could feel even through her disorientation.
“You marked me?” Dakota’s voice emerged shocked and breathless, her hand flying to her neck where she could feel the fresh wound already beginning to seal itself.
Her fingers came away with blood, her blood mixed with his saliva where he’d licked the bite to close it.
“How dare you?
What did you…
What was that?
It burned…
I felt—” Her words tumbled over each other, her usual detached numbness shattered by the intensity of what she’d just experienced.
She could feel him now, feel Kade in ways that went beyond physical proximity.
His satisfaction, his triumph, his wolf’s possessive claim settled over her like an invisible brand that she couldn’t shake off or ignore.
And underneath that, she could sense something else, relief so profound it was almost overwhelming, like he’d been dying and she’d somehow saved him.
“What did you do to me?” she demanded, her voice rising with a mixture of panic, fury, and confusion that cut through the desperate numbness she’d been clinging to all night.
“That wasn’t….
that shouldn’t….
normal marks don’t feel like that!”