3

The instant the floor broke, Lena's senses sharpened.

Marble tiles shattered under her feet, sounding like cracking ice. Howls echoed, glass exploded, and the whole place shook with a force not caused by her.

Damon reached for her, but she didn’t grab back as the floor dropped out from under them.

Lena tumbled down—gravity spun her around amidst the debris—until she slammed into Damon on the level below. He shielded her from the worst hit, not from love or because he had to, but just out of raw Alpha response.

He rolled, taking the impact of falling debris, his arm around her head. When the shaking stopped, Lena looked him in the eye, and neither of them looked away for a second.

His breath brushed her face. Her scent—no longer sweet but sharp like wild moonlight—wrapped around him, setting off a basic reaction he couldn’t control or explain.

“Get off,” Lena said, her voice cold.

Damon moved right away, chest tight with anger, confusion, and desire all mixed up.

The lights above flickered red, each flash timed with a monster’s growl from the shadows.

A growl so deep it vibrated the floor.

Damon turned, standing in front of Lena without thinking.

“Don’t,” she snapped. “I don’t need you to guard me.”

“You’re on my turf,” he returned, angry. “I guard what’s mine.”

Lena’s eyes grew hard turning silver. “I don’t belong to you.”

Before Damon could say anything, a huge shape came out of the smoke.

Lena took a sharp breath.

The thing was almost ten feet tall—its skin pale and tight over a long frame, its limbs bent at bad angles. Its eyes were hollow, black holes, dripping shadows. Its teeth looked like a wolf's but were as long as a snake’s.

A Wendrak.

A thing that only existed in stories. A spirit-beast made from bad lunar energy.

But Wendraks were gone.

Unless…

Lena’s heart raced.

Unless my change set it free.

Damon stared at the beast, his face paling with shock.

“That can’t be,” he said quietly.

The Wendrak’s long neck twisted as its head turned to Damon, then to Lena.

It smelled her. It knew her. Its mouth stretched into a nasty smile.

“Q…ueeennn…”

Lena froze.

It could talk.

It knew what she was.

Damon stepped up, claws out.

“Get behind me.”

Lena laughed, a sharp and mean sound.

“You couldn’t even save a wedding. You think you can save a Queen?”

Damon’s jaw tightened.

“I don’t need to defend a Queen. I need to defend my people.”

The Wendrak screamed and jumped at them.

Lena moved first.

She moved fast, a silver glow around her as she dodged the creature's attack. At the same time, Damon began to change, his body growing, bones cracking as he turned into his huge black wolf form.

But the Wendrak reacted faster.

It slammed into Damon mid-transformation, trapping him against a broken concrete pillar. Damon snarled, biting at the creature's wrist, but barely making a mark.

The beast lifted its other arm to hit him when—

—it stopped.

Lena had grabbed its throat.

Silver fire blazed from her hand, burning the Wendrak's skin. The creature screamed, struggling hard, but Lena held on tight, her eyes shining like hot metal.

You shouldn't exist, she said quietly.

The Wendrak's claws tore across her side, cutting deep—but instead of blood, silver sparks flew out.

Damon stared in shock as she took the hit.

She wasn't just healing.

She was taking the energy from the attack.

Lena tightened her grip.

The Wendrak jerked, its dark form burning away from her power. It screamed again, louder this time—

—then slammed its head into Lena's chest, throwing her across the room.

She landed hard, rolling until she hit a broken desk.

Damon roared as a wolf, breaking free and attacking the creature. He bit its shoulder, tearing flesh. But the Wendrak twisted, its spine bending like it was water, and threw Damon across the room instead.

He crashed into a steel beam, the hit echoing loudly.

Lena got up.

Her eyes had changed completely—now pure glowing silver.

She held out her hands.

The air moved.

Then roared.

A stream of moonlight energy shot from her hands, hitting the Wendrak's chest. It screamed, stumbling backward as its shadow-flesh burned.

L…u…n…ar… it hissed through melting teeth.

Lena's voice cut through the air.

You came from bad moonlight. I was reborn from good moonlight.

She walked closer with each word, her power cracking through the ruined floor.

I am the Silver Queen.

With one last burst of energy, Lena blasted a hole through the Wendrak's chest. The creature screamed one last time before its body fell apart into black ash and shadows.

Then there was silence.

Heavy, still, like nothing was real.

Damon—partially shifted, breathing hard—struggled to stand. He stared at Lena.

She stood in the middle of the mess she had made, a silver light pulsing around her.

Her skin glowed.

Her hair floated without any wind.

She controlled the whole room.

She was scary.

She was amazing.

She couldn't be stopped.

He swallowed, his chest tight with a strange, new feeling.

Lena…

He said her name like he was doing something wrong.

She turned to him slowly, her face cold and hard to read.

Damon caught his breath.

This wasn't the woman he had married.

This wasn't the woman he had hurt.

This was the woman who could destroy him.

She walked toward him. Damon took a step back without thinking.

You're scared of me, she said quietly.

Damon tightened his jaw. No.

Lena smiled slightly. Liar.

She reached for him, her fingers touching his jaw. Damon froze, every nerve on alert.

Her touch excited him.

It also scared him.

You broke me once, Lena whispered. But now… you can't even breathe when I'm near you.

She leaned in, her lips close to his ear.

Tell me, Damon… does it hurt? Knowing you lost a Queen?

His breath shook.

Lena—

She stepped back, her face turning hard.

Your group. Your pack. Your kingdom. All of them will bow.

She turned away.

But you… she said, stopping for a moment.

Damon's heart beat faster.

You will beg.

Her cold words made him shake.

He hated it.

He wanted it.

He feared it.

He needed it.

But before Damon could say anything—

A deep, rumbling sound shook the building.

Lena tensed, her eyes narrowing.

Damon's wolf growled.

The Wendrak…

wasn't dead.

The ash on the floor shook.

Damon's eyes went wide with fear.

Lena—

The ash spun upward, coming together again—bigger, darker, angrier.

The creature roared, its shadow growing twice as large as it rebuilt itself.

Lena's face turned dark.

That… shouldn't be happening.

The Wendrak spoke in a twisted, old voice:

QUEEN… YOU… FREED… ME.

Lena's blood ran cold.

Freed?

Not woken up?

Not called?

Freed?

Something was very wrong.

Before she could react, the Wendrak attacked—not her—

—but Damon.

Lena moved—

—but not fast enough.

The beast's claws closed around Damon's throat, lifting him off the ground.

Damon choked, clawing at the creature's arm, his vision blurring.

Lena's heart jumped—not with love, not with missing him—

—but with instinct.

Her instinct.

The Silver Queen's instinct.

No, she whispered.

Her power grew.

No.

Her eyes burned, silver flames bursting out.

PUT HIM DOWN!

She let out her power—

—but this time, the Wendrak soaked it up instead of burning.

Lena froze.

Damon's vision faded.

The creature hissed.

HE… IS… MINE.

And then—

A deep, cracking sound split through the floor.

The level below them collapsed.

The Wendrak fell—taking Damon with it.

Lena reached out, her scream tearing through the air—

Damon!

Their fingers touched for a second—

Then the floor gave way—

And Damon Voss—

fell into the darkness below.

With the Wendrak.

And the last thing Lena saw was the beast's claws tightening around his throat—

as his eyes rolled back—

and his body went limp.