Chapter 4 - Arthur
For a long, terrible heartbeat, Arthur couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t think.
The clearing, the packs, the witches, Dominic’s staring, Chase’s posturing…all of it fell away.
Because she was standing there.
Dani.
Ten years vanished like mist in the sun. She was exactly as he remembered, and nothing like it. She didn’t look a day older, her red curls still tumbling wildly around a face he had memorized long before he should have, eyes wide with shock and fear and something that cracked his chest open.
And she was holding a child’s hand.
A little girl.
A girl of maybe ten, with thick curls and—
Arthur’s heart stopped.
Blue eyes.
His eyes.
His wolf lunged so hard his vision went white.
He stepped forward before he’d chosen to move, snow crunching beneath his boots, wolves backing instinctively out of his path, the witches tensing like bowstrings.
“Dani,” he said, the word raw, hoarse, ripped straight from a wound he’d never healed.
She flinched.
Actually flinched from him.
He froze only long enough for the sting to register, then he kept walking, fury and disbelief tangling in his chest until he could hardly separate them.
“What—” his voice cracked; he cleared it roughly. “What is this?”
Chase blinked rapidly between them. “Arthur?”
“Quiet,” Arthur snapped, the word bursting out like a command threaded with alpha dominance.
The entire clearing stilled.
Dani squeezed the child’s hand. Pulled her half-behind her. Protective. Feral.
Arthur’s wolf howled in recognition.
Mine.
His vision swam.
Mine.
Mine.
And the child, the girl whose chin trembled but who stood with her mother…
His wolf surged until the edges of his vision blurred.
Ours.
He stumbled a step, shock tearing through him.
A true mate.
Not a crush. Not young longing. Not the foolish thing he’d felt years ago.
This was real, ancient, the bond blooming under his skin like fire, magic older than the packs pulsing awake, snarling with sudden, wild certainty.
Dani Taylor was his true mate.
She always had been.
He’d just been too young…too stupid…too blind to see it.
He breathed her in, salt, ember-warm fire, winter apples, fear, stubbornness…
His knees almost gave out.
“Dani,” he rasped, softer now, “look at me.”
She did, but it wasn’t warmth in her gaze.
It was terror.
And that hurt more than anything he had in his entire life.
“Arthur,” she whispered, barely audible.
The girl pressed closer to Dani’s side. Dani curled an arm around the child and stepped back as he advanced.
He halted instantly.
Not wanting to scare them.
Not wanting to push.
But gods, he could hardly stay still.
Chase whispered harshly to him, “Arthur, what’s going on? Who is she?”
Arthur didn’t take his eyes off Dani. “My…” he swallowed, the word sticking in his throat. “My mate.”
A stunned silence rippled through the clearing.
Dani’s knees seemed to buckle. Her daughter’s eyes widened.
Chase’s mouth fell open.
Dominic froze mid-step, jaw tightening.
The witches murmured, glancing between each other with new, sharp interest.
One of them, older, her presence ancient and commanding, stepped forward, gaze flicking between Arthur and Dani like she’d been waiting for this exact moment.
“Ah,” she said softly. “So that is what this is.”
Arthur dragged his eyes from Dani long enough to glare. “Stay out of this, witch.”
“Impossible,” she replied, voice as smooth as frost. “Witch or wolf, no one ignores the signs of a true bond.”
Witch.
The word sliced through Arthur like a blade.
He snapped his gaze to Dani’s hands just as flame burst into her palms, swirling up her wrists in bright, furious tendrils.
Arthur recoiled in pure shock.
“Dani, what the…” His voice tore through the clearing, hoarse with disbelief. “You’re…you’re a witch?”
Her jaw clenched. “Yes. And if you come one step closer, I’ll burn you.”
His stomach dropped.
Dani. His Dani. A witch.
A witch standing in front of him, ready to fight him, flame licking up her arms like she’d been born with it.
His mind revolted against the knowledge, thrashing and snarling at the danger just before him.
But his wolf…his wolf kneeled.
It was maddening, impossible, horrifying.
And it didn’t matter.
She was his mate.
She was the mother of his child.
And every instinct inside him bent toward her, even as his rational mind scrambled to make sense of the impossible.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he asked, his voice raw-edged
She laughed, short, sharp, broken. “Tell you? Arthur, I wouldn’t exactly have been welcome in your pack once I realized it myself.”
The guilt hit him like a blow.
But then her flames brightened, flaring as she drew the girl behind her.
He took a shaky breath.
“Dani,” he whispered, voice torn between awe and agony, “you’re a witch.”
“And you,” she said, voice trembling with fury, “are not getting anywhere near my daughter.”
His daughter.
Arthur’s chest cracked open. A rumbling growl built in his chest. “She’s mine.”
Her breath hitched.
The girl looked between them, confused, frightened, small.
Arthur bared his teeth.
“She’s mine,” he repeated, voice low and dangerous, “isn’t she?”
Dani shut her eyes.
That was enough.
He felt the truth lock into place like a blade sliding home.
Dominic stepped warily forward. “Arthur, this isn’t the place…”
“Silence,” Arthur snarled without looking at him.
A witch, tall and dressed in robes, her long white hair braided down her back, moved between the groups, hands raised in calm authority.
“Alpha,” she said, “my name is Lavinia . I am the High Sister of the Salem Coven. Answer me plainly. Is Dani Taylor your true mate?”
Arthur didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
Dani’s eyes snapped open.
Her daughter, their daughter, clung to her.
Lavinia smiled a cool, ancient smile.
“Then this,” she said, “is simple.”
“No,” Dani whispered, flames shaking.
Lavinia turned to her, a flash of sympathy in her face. “A bond like this cannot be ignored, Dani. It is Gaia’s will.”
She turned to Arthur. “So. Will you claim her?”
Arthur didn’t blink. “Nothing on this earth will stop me.”
Dani’s flames sputtered.
Dominic swore.
Lavinia nodded once, satisfied. “Then a marriage will be arranged.”
Dani reeled back. “Lavinia… no…”
“It will unite pack and coven,” Lavinia continued smoothly, “and ensure safety for Dani and her daughter. In return, the Nordan will offer protection and hospitality to the Salem delegation, and all other witches who come to Skymist for this summit.”
Arthur’s voice dropped, deep and absolute: “I accept.”
Dani stared at him like he’d shattered her world.
Maybe he had.
He took one slow, reverent step toward her. “Dani,” he said, voice roughening, “I lost you once. I won’t lose you again.”
Her flames wavered.
Her breath hitched.
Her daughter pressed into her side.
And Arthur knew, in that deep resonance that he’d always attributed to Lunarion, that fate had dragged them all back to this place for a reason.
And he would tear kingdoms apart before he let her slip through his fingers again.