Dorian caught her before she hit the ground. He cradled her body close, his strong arms gentle around her waist.
She was so fragile, so weak. Her head fell back limply against his shoulder as she lost consciousness.
He carefully pushed the strands of hair away from her forehead and cupped her face. It was her. After three years of searching, fate had brought her right back to him.
I found you.
Suddenly, his nostrils flared as the sharp, metallic tang of blood thickened in the cool air.
She was bleeding heavily from the arrow wound in her arm, and her skin was gradually turning a sickly pale.
The raw, terrified look in her blue eyes right before she collapsed, coupled with her final cry for help, told him everything he needed to know.
She hadn’t stumbled across his border by mistake. She was being hunted.
His head snapped up, his golden eyes narrowing to slits as he scanned the darkness of the forest.
No one would dare step into his territory without a formal invite, unless they were seeking death.
Whoever had been chasing her must have realized where they were and turned back the exact moment they reached the edge of the border.
Fury boiled through him, cold and absolute. He would hunt down whoever dared to hurt her this way. He would inflict so much pain on them until they begged for death.
Glancing down at the unconscious girl in his arms, he finally believed that his three-year obsession hadn’t been a casual whim.
There was something about her that instantly calmed the demon inside him, and he was hellbent on finding out what it was.
Lifting her carefully, he straightened and marched in the direction of his mansion. She was fast losing blood and needed instant treatment if she was going to survive the night.
Getting there, he kicked open the front door and stepped through, ignoring the wide, shocked stares of the perimeter guards who immediately bowed to him.
He walked past the outer receiving room and stepped straight into the enormous sitting room.
Several people were gathered around the dining area, deeply engrossed in a heated argument. His beta, Jake. The gamma, Alec. His best friend, Anthony, and his sister, Pandora.
The argument ceased instantly the moment Dorian’s heavy footsteps cut through the room.
"Jake!" Dorian barked coldly, his voice vibrating with an authority that made the room freeze. "Get me the healer. Now!"
A stunned silence followed after he spoke those words.
Everyone else in the room was speechless, completely shocked to see their ruthless Alpha holding a bleeding, unconscious girl so close to his chest.
Only Jake recognized her. His eyes widened in realization as he looked from her face to the red streak in the tips of her hair.
But when he still didn’t move, paralyzed by the sheer impossibility of the situation, Dorian grew furious.
"JAKE!" he roared.
Jake snapped out of his shocked state and bowed tightly. "Yes, Alpha. Right away."
He turned on his heel and hurried out, while the others visibly shifted under the suffocating weight of Dorian’s Alpha aura.
Only Pandora remained fearless. She had grown used to the icy, terrifying aura of her brother over the years.
She took a step forward and frowned, her eyes raking over the girl’s tattered dress. "Who is she, Ri? Where did you find her?"
Dorian didn’t answer her, not even when she used the childhood nickname he was fond of. He turned his back on her and pinned his hard gaze on Alec.
"Instruct the maids to bring a fresh change of clothes and toiletries to my room," he muttered. "After that, let them draw a warm bath and prepare some food."
Alec didn’t waste another second. "Yes, Alpha," he nodded swiftly and headed in the direction of the servant’s quarters.
Without another word, Dorian turned and climbed up the grand stairs, holding Alyssa securely against his chest.
"Dorian!" Pandora called after him, but he didn’t spare her a single glance until he disappeared into the upper hallway.
Pandora finally looked away from the stairs and gazed at Anthony. The two of them were completely speechless for a moment, surprised at Dorian’s strange, fiercely protective behavior.
"What just happened right now?" Anthony asked finally, breaking the silence.
"You tell me," Pandora said, shaking her head in disbelief. "I’ve never seen him hold a woman so close like that. Not even his own fiancée."
"She was badly hurt," Anthony muttered, his brow furrowing. "Who do you think she is?"
"There’s only one way to find out," Pandora said, glancing back at the stairs. "We ask him."
Up in his room, Dorian carefully lowered Alyssa onto the silk sheets of his bed.
He didn’t pull back immediately. He stayed bent over her, his face close to hers, slowly stroking her dark hair away from her eyes.
Three years of searching for her, and here she was, right in his arms. It still felt like a dream, a very surreal dream.
"Who are you?" he whispered into the quiet room. "Why do I feel so drawn to you?"
Alyssa lay perfectly still, unconscious and unable to answer.
His gaze slowly traveled down her body, and as he noticed her scars, the anger inside him grew tenfold.
There was a tiny cut on her lips, and the right side of her eye was slightly bruised. The arrow wound in her upper arm was deep, and her entire arm was covered in a thick layer of dried blood.
Through the ripped, dirt-caked part of her dress, he saw a large, purple bruise covering her stomach.
His gaze trailed lower, taking in the raw, torn skin on the soles of her bare feet.
What kind of hell had she gone through over the last three years?
The door slammed open behind him, breaking his train of thought. Jake hurried into the bedroom with the pack’s healer, an elderly woman with gray, lengthy dreadlocks.
She rushed to the side of the bed and bowed deeply. "Alpha, I came as quickly as I could."
"Thank you, Nina," Dorian muttered, his voice tight. "She’s lost a lot of blood. I need you to revive her. Stitch up her wounds and make her better."
"Goddess above," Nina whispered as she gazed at Alyssa’s battered body, her hands already reaching for her medical supplies. "She’s so young. Who must have done this to her?"
"Whoever they are, I will destroy them," Dorian swore, his jaw clenching. "But for now, do everything you can to heal her. Please."
Nina heard the slight, uncharacteristic tremor in his voice, even though he tried his best to hide it.
She glanced up at him, noticing the desperate way he stared at the unconscious girl. Whoever she was, it was obvious that she was incredibly special to him, because Dorian wouldn’t look twice at any dying shifter, let alone a woman.
But she knew better than to ask.
"I will do all I can to revive her, Alpha," she said finally. "I promise."
Dorian nodded. He glanced one last time at the pale face of the unconscious girl before turning away and walking out of the room to give the healer space.
As he stepped out into the hallway, he saw two maids hurrying towards the room, holding towels, clean clothes, and a basket filled with several toiletries.
They bowed deeply at him before hurrying past. He didn’t spare them a single glance.
He walked away, descending the stairs back towards the sitting room.
At the base of the stairs, Jake was waiting, blocking his path.
"It’s her, isn’t it?" Jake asked in a low, barely audible voice. "The girl from Iridian."
"Yes," Dorian bit out, his voice equally low. "It’s her."
"But I don’t understand," Jake frowned, shaking his head. "How did she end up here? Where did she come from?"
Dorian massaged his temples and ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I don’t know, Jake. I’m as surprised as you are. I have questions too, but that will have to wait until she’s much better."
"What about Samantha?" Jake prodded.
At the mention of his fiancée, Dorian scowled. He was already thinking of the perfect way to break off their political engagement now that he had finally found the girl who had been plaguing his dreams for three years.
"Keep her away," he answered coldly. "I don’t want her here yet, and I don’t want her to know about the girl up in my room."
"Will do," Jake nodded.
"And Jake, one more thing," Dorian added, leaning in slightly. "Keep her identity a secret. I don’t want anyone in the pack to know she’s the girl from Iridian..."
"So it’s true," Pandora cut in sharply, stepping out from the shadows of the hallway where she had been eavesdropping.
Anthony was right behind her.
She walked forward and stopped directly before Dorian. "She’s the one you spent the last three years searching for. The wolfless girl you slept with in Iridian."
Dorian’s eyes blazed with pure fury. He glared at his sister and stepped forward, pushing his face brutally close to hers.
"Talk about her like that again," he whispered, his voice dangerously low, "and you will hate what I’ll do to you."