He was supposed to love her.
You're my mate. Heat be damned. You're my soul, Ria.
He had kissed her as he said it. As the shower washed over them earlier. As the water slickened their flesh and poured over their passion.
My mate. I love you, Ria. My heart.
She screamed his name, buried her head in his pillow and curled into the agony. He wasn't her mate.
* * *
Dane stood against the car, his head down, snow falling around him, aware of Rule and Lawe approaching slowly as Ria's screams echoed outside. As the sound of her agony, carried on the silent breeze, filled with grief, echoed through the night.
He lifted his head as they neared, silent, their gazes somber.
"Someone should go in there," Lawe said softly. "She shouldn't be alone."
Dane hunched his shoulders. "She needs to be alone now. She needs to accept it."
Rule snorted at that. "Mercury's going to kill you, you son of a bitch. You should have never taken her out of there."
Dane shook his head. "If dying would make Mercury her mate, then I would take my own life." He looked back at the cabin. "She deserved what she found with him. And she deserved it to last far longer than it did."
"Merc isn't going to let her go," Lawe told him. "When you hear that Harley prowling this way, you better run, Vanderale. Because hell doesn't describe what he's going to bring down on you."
His name echoed in the air again, the agonized feminine scream of pain causing them all to flinch. But Dane didn't hear a Harley prowling. He heard a lion's roar. One of the natural lions that roamed Sanctuary's boundaries. Drawn by the screams, roaring its own anger.
He shook his head again, opened the door to the limo and stepped inside.
He had listened to those screams once before. When she was a child, barely more than a baby, screaming for a mother who had been taken from her. Screaming at the pain tearing through her.
And even in the limo he couldn't block her cries. He stared into the night, watched the snow pile up and listened, and he ached. Because this time, he couldn't spare her. There was no way to ease it.
He reached into the pocket of his evening jacket and drew out the sat phone. He stared at it for long moments before pushing "speed dial."
"Where the hell are you?" His father's voice came over the line. Equal parts exasperation and concern filled it.
"Sanctuary. The party, remember?" he answered.
The Leo grunted. "How's everyone?" His sons. Dane knew who he was talking about.
"Just like you," he chuckled. "Arrogant as hell and making me crazy."
"More like you then," Leo stated.
"How are the girls?" His mother had given birth to twin girls. They had been ill for a while, though Leo had reported the day before that they seemed to be doing better.
"Healthy as they were before they took that cold." He could hear the relief in Leo's voice. "Get home. You can babysit."
Dane grimaced. "Try the nanny, she's better at it."
Silence filled the line.
"What have you done, Dane?" Leo finally asked.
Dane stared out at the snow and heard Ria's cries as they echoed through the night.
He sighed wearily. "Ria's here."