THE ALPHA'S FORBIDDEN FLAME.

Ramon's POV

I didn't leave because I wanted to. Hell, I wanted her so badly.

I left because if I stayed another moment longer, I would have claimed her-and once that line was crossed, there would be no undoing it.

The door closed behind me with a quiet finality, and for the first time in years, I allowed myself to pause. I leaned my forehead briefly against the cool stone wall, drawing in a slow breath, forcing my heart to steady.

My wolf raged beneath my skin.

Mine.

The word echoed like a drumbeat in my veins, loud and insistent. It had been there since the forest-since her hands, trembling but determined, had touched my wound. Since her scent had mingled with my blood and sealed something ancient and irreversible.

A mate.

A human mate.

Fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of humor.

I straightened, bringing my expression back into the calm, unreadable mask my pack expected of me. Weakness had no place here. Doubt even less. I moved down the corridor with measured strides, the echo of my shoes ringing softly against stone.

I entered the car and drove alone to the pack, she wasn't ready to meet them like I had assumed.

Wolves stepped aside as I got there and entered. Some lowered their heads in submission. Others watched with open curiosity. They felt it-the shift in my aura, the subtle but unmistakable change in the bond that tied me to the pack.

The Alpha had found his mate.

And the pack knew.

I entered the council chamber without announcement. Stone walls enclosed the long table where the elders sat waiting, their expressions grim, their eyes sharp.

These were wolves who had watched me grow from an impulsive young warrior into the Alpha of the Sincarra Claw Pack. They had seen me bleed, fight, win, and rule.

Silence fell the instant I stepped inside.

"She ran," Elder Karl said calmly, breaking the quiet.

My jaw tightened. "She was retrieved."

"And you brought her back yourself,"

another elder noted.

"Yes."

Murmurs rippled through the chamber, low and uneasy.

"She's human," one of them said bluntly.

"You know what that means."

"I know exactly what it means," I replied, my voice cold and steady.

"It means vulnerability," another snapped.

"It means weakness. Enemies will use her against you-and against us."

"They already are," I said.

That earned their full attention.

I stepped forward and placed my hands flat on the table. "Those rogues attacked me in the forest and she was there. She witnessed everything and now they won't stop until they get her. "

The chamber went utterly silent.

"And now?" Karl asked quietly.

"Now they know,they know she's my mate and now it's up to me to protect her."

"Protect her? That would mean more harm to the clan," I heard someone say.

A younger council member scoffed. "Then sever the bond. Humans can be released."

My wolf snarled violently, slamming against my control.

Before I could stop myself, I drove my fist into the table. The sound cracked through the room as wood splintered beneath the impact.

"No."

Every eye snapped to me.

"I will not kill my mate to make this pack comfortable," I growled. "She is under my protection. Anyone who touches her answers to me."

Karl studied me for a long moment.

"You're not thinking clearly."

"I've never been more clear in my life."

"She doesn't even know our world," another elder argued. "She hasn't accepted the bond."

"Which is precisely why she's still alive," I replied. "And why I haven't claimed her."

That gave them pause.

"You're restraining yourself?" Karl asked, genuine surprise in his voice.

"Yes."

The word tasted like iron.

"The bond will grow stronger," he warned. "It will hurt her. And it will hurt you."

"I know."

"And when it becomes unbearable?"

I exhaled slowly. "Then we face it."

There was no approval, no blessing-only reluctant acceptance. As Alpha, my word was law, but law didn't erase fear.

The meeting ended in strained silence.

I left the chamber with tension coiled tightly in my chest.

Night had fully fallen by the time I stepped outside. The estate glowed softly under moonlight, guards patrolling the perimeter, warriors rotating shifts. I could feel the rogues lingering just beyond our territory like vultures waiting for weakness.

They were patient.

And they were not my only problem.

I drove back home and my feet carried me instinctively toward the wing where Ingrid would be tending to Talia. I stopped several paces away from her door.

I didn't enter.

Instead, I stood in the shadows, listening.

She was quiet.

Too quiet.

The bond tugged at me sharply, an ache deep in my chest that made my wolf restless. Every instinct screamed to go to her-to reassure her, to calm her fear, to pull her into my arms and mark her as mine.

I clenched my fists.

If I touched her now-if I claimed her before she understood, before she chose-it would break her. Turn her into something dependent. Afraid.

I would not become that Alpha.

"She fears you," my wolf murmured.

"Yes," I agreed. "And she should."

"And yet she wants you."

I remembered the way her pulse had leapt beneath my fingers. The way her breath had caught when I pulled away. The fire in her eyes when she thought I was leaving her behind.

Mine.

"She will run again," my wolf said.

"Yes," I answered quietly. "And I'll let her."

The realization settled heavy in my chest.

She had to fight the bond.

She had to choose.

I turned away from her door and headed toward the training grounds, where I trained young warriors. The sound of clashing steel filled the night air. Warriors sparred under torchlight, sweat and blood mixing with discipline and control.

I joined them.

Steel rang against steel as I fought harder than necessary, pouring my frustration into every strike. My thoughts refused to leave her-Talia Shire. Healer. Human. My mate.

Fate had bound us, but fate didn't understand the cost.

The rogues would strike again. The elders would test her. The pack would watch her every move, waiting for weakness.

And if she broke-

I would tear the world apart to protect what was mine.