The second Bella stepped across the border, something inside her snapped.
She felt it.
Deep in her chest.
A sharp, brutal pain, like claws tearing through her ribs, through her soul, through the bond that had tied her to him for so long.
She staggered, gasping, clutching her chest.
Dante was in front of her in an instant, gripping her shoulders, his eyes wild.
"Don't."
His voice was hoarse, desperate, wrecked.
Bella's vision blurred.
Because it hurt.
It wasn't just leaving.
It was ripping.
Destroying.
Shattering something that had been inside her from the moment she met him.
The mate bond.
It was breaking.
"Bella, stop," Dante growled, his hands shaking as they curled around her arms.
"You don't understand what you're doing."
Bella gasped through the pain, her fingers tightening against his chest.
"Yes, I do."
Dante's face twisted.
With rage. With agony. With disbelief.
"Then why?"
Bella's throat burned.
"Because if I stay, I will become something neither of us can live with."
Dante's grip tightened.
"I can live with anything, Bella. But not without you."
Bella let out a shaky breath.
"Then you'll have to learn."
And then—
She shoved him away.
Dante stumbled back, his wolf snarling, his body locked with the need to chase her. To stop her.
But he didn't.
Because she was already gone.
And for the first time in his life—
Dante Rodrigo had lost.