The first sign that something was wrong came three days after the bonding ritual.
I woke to find Dante collapsed on our bathroom floor, his face pale and drawn, sweat beading on his forehead despite the cool morning air. The bond between us immediately flooded me with his sensations—weakness, dizziness, and an underlying ache that seemed to penetrate his very bones.
"Dante!" I dropped to my knees beside him, my hands frantically checking for injuries. "What happened?"
"I'm fine," he said, but his voice was weak, and I could feel through our bond that he was anything but fine. "Just stood up too fast."
Through our connection, I felt the lie for what it was. The truth was much worse—the Alpha bond sharing was taking more of a toll on him than either of us had anticipated.
"We need to ge
