4

The world fractured with a deafening roar.

Tons of concrete crashed, steel shrieked under the strain, and a cloud of dust exploded outwards as Damon vanished into the abyss created by the collapse. Lena's hand shot out instinctively, her fingers grasping at nothing but thin air.

DAMON! she yelled.

Her voice echoed down into the chasm, swallowed by the all-encompassing darkness. The silence that followed was heavy, absolute.

For a moment, Lena stood motionless, her breath catching in her throat, the world seeming to tilt precariously around her. A sharp, icy sensation pierced her chest, unlike anything she had felt before – not love, not fear, but something far more dangerous and primal.

It was possession.

The raw, untamed instinct of a Queen Wolf asserting itself.

*No one* dared to take what belonged to her, not even an enemy she fully planned to destroy.

And Damon Voss…

was still her prize to break.

Her heart hammered against her ribs, a frantic drumbeat in the sudden silence. Power welled up inside her, surging beneath her skin like a living current, erupting in sparks of pure silver that crackled through the air like miniature lightning strikes.

The few guards who had survived the initial collapse, huddled together at the far side of the ruined floor, scrambled backwards, fear etched on their faces.

One of them whispered, his voice trembling, She's not just a Luna… she's a…

A Queen, Lena finished, her voice laced with steel as she turned her glowing eyes upon them. The sheer force of her presence was enough to send them stumbling back, unable to meet her gaze.

*Good.*

She didn't want their help.

She didn't need it.

Some creature dared to take Damon.

And Lena would tear the entire tower down, brick by bloody brick, with her bare hands if that's what it took to get him back.

She stalked towards the jagged hole in the floor, the edges still smoking from the fading traces of the Wendrak's dark energy. Below, there was only a bottomless pit of black. No glint of light, no sign of movement, no sound to indicate life.

Her chest tightened, a constricting band of icy dread.

She hated that it tightened.

How dare you, she whispered, the words a low growl directed at herself, at fate, at the uncaring moon hanging in the sky above.

Her power flared in response, a tangible force that crackled and danced around her arms like a raging wildfire.

She took a slow, deliberate breath.

Then she forcibly regained control of her breathing.

She crushed the surge of unwanted emotions down, burying them deep within.

Grief was a weakness.

Fear was a weakness.

Attachment was a chain.

And Lena Marcellus had shattered every chain that bound her long ago.

She crouched at the edge of the abyss, testing the air, judging the distance… then she leapt into seemingly inescapable darkness.

The Descent

Her body plummeted through the black, the silver aura surrounding her acting as a beacon, illuminating her path through the echoing darkness. She landed in a crouch several floors below, the impact shattering the already weakened concrete beneath her.

But the Wendrak and Damon had fallen further, their descent carrying them deeper into the heart of the ruined tower.

She didn't hesitate. She continued to move, dropping level after level, tracking the telltale signs of their passage: deep gouges of claw marks scarring the walls, splatters of shadow-mist clinging to the air, and fragments of shattered metal littering the ground.

The glowing of her palms grew brighter, casting an even more intense light. Her eyes narrowed with renewed fury, her focus sharpening with each level she descended.

The beast didn't want to kill Damon.

It wanted him alive.

But why?

Wendraks were known to feed on corrupted lunar energy, thriving on the shadows and negative emotions. But Damon possessed none of that. His power was pure physical strength, raw and untamed, but devoid of moon magic.

Unless…

Lena froze, her mind racing.

Unless the creature could somehow sense the bond which they used to share.

The severed mate-bond.

The lingering remnants of what they once were to each other.

Her stomach twisted with a sickening realization, the icy tendrils of dread reaching deeper.

The Wendrak wasn't truly after Damon.

It was after her.

It wanted to consume the Silver Queen and absorb her power for its own.

And Damon… he was merely the bait.

Damn it, she muttered under her breath, her voice tight with anger. She increased her pace, pushing herself faster, driven by a need to reach them before it was too late.

She followed the trail of destruction until she reached a floor that had been utterly gutted, torn apart not by the collapse of the tower, but by something far more violent. The walls were ripped open, the concrete and steel peeled back as if they were made of paper.

The Wendrak had evolved.

It carried a trace of her own power now, the silver moonfire it had absorbed during their earlier conflict.

That shouldn't be possible, Lena whispered, her voice laced with disbelief.

But then, neither should she.

And neither should everything she had become.

She stepped carefully into the dark hallway, her senses on high alert. Dust swirled in the air around her, stirred by unseen currents. Shadows danced in her peripheral vision, playing tricks on her eyes. Every inch of the place seemed to pulse with the Wendrak's dark and corrupted energy, a tangible presence that pressed in on her from all sides.

A groan suddenly echoed from somewhere ahead.

Deep.

Ragged.

Human.

Lena's heart skipped a beat, the sound cutting through the darkness like a knife.

Damon? she whispered, her voice barely audible above the pounding of her own heart.

She moved forward slowly, cautiously, her body tense and ready to strike, prepared to kill anything that stood in her path. Moonfire curled around her hands, casting a soft, silver light over the shattered walls, illuminating the path ahead.

She discovered him trapped under a fallen beam, a trail of blood trickling from a cut on his forehead. His breathing was shallow but consistent. He had reverted from his wolf form to his human appearance, leaving him bruised, beaten, and frighteningly still.

Lena dropped to her knees beside him.

Her fingers hesitated above his throat.

A faint flutter indicated a pulse — weak, but present.

Damon’s eyelids twitched. He blinked them open, his eyes searching until they found her.

“Lena…” His voice was rough, barely audible. “You… came for me.”

She paused.

His words hit her like a painful memory.

For a moment, a brief and unwanted feeling constricted her chest.

She quickly composed herself.

“I didn’t come for you,” she stated flatly. “I came for the monster.”

Damon managed a weak, bitter chuckle in spite of the blood dripping down his face.

“Liar,” he mumbled.

Lena’s jaw tightened.

She hated how easily he could stir up old feelings.

She hated that he was right.

Damon feebly reached for her, but he gasped in pain. It was clear he had broken some ribs.

“Don’t,” Lena cautioned. “You can’t afford to move.”

He swallowed hard, his breath shaky.

“You saved me.”

Lena scoffed. “If I wanted you dead, I would have left you to the Wendrak.”

Something crossed his eyes — was it pain? Remorse? Yearning? He tried to speak, but a low growl filled the air.

Lena tensed.

The Wendrak was nearby.

Extremely close.

The shadows around them deepened; moved unnaturally, swirling like ink in water. Damon’s eyes widened as a huge form crept across the ceiling, its limbs bent in impossible angles, its skull taking shape from swirling shadows.

Lena slowly stood, positioning herself between Damon and the creature.

Damon tried to rise.

He failed.

He growled in frustration.

“Lena—”

“Quiet,” she snapped. “I'm trying to hear it move.”

The Wendrak clung to the ceiling, upside down, its limbs unnaturally long. Its skull was growing, horns emerging as shadow hardened into bone.

It was absorbing her power.

Growing stronger.

Changing form.

“Q…uueeennn…” it droned, its voice a mix of many.

Lena’s power surged.

But this time, she held back.

Instead, she observed.

Listened.

Analyzed.

Something wasn't right. The energy radiating from the Wendrak felt too focused. Too intelligent.

Too… controlled.

Someone had awakened it.

Someone linked to her lineage.

The creature dropped from the ceiling, landing on freakishly long limbs. It tilted its head with an unsettling curiosity as it sniffed the air near her.

It stopped just inches from Lena’s face.

Then…

It bowed its head.

Damon’s breath caught.

Lena didn’t move a muscle.

The Wendrak slowly reached out with a hand made of shifting shadow and placed it on her shoulder.

A wave of cold energy jolted through her, freezing her.

“Queen…

We…

Have…

Waited…”

Her heart pounded.

“Waited?” she whispered. “For what?”

Its hollow eyes widened, revealing swirling silver patterns — the same color as her power.

“For your… Return.”

Lena felt a chill.

“My return from what?”

The Wendrak grinned. Its teeth were jagged shadows.

“From death.”

A shiver ran down Lena’s spine.

She opened her mouth to demand answers—

But the Wendrak lashed out, snapping Damon’s ankle like a twig.

He screamed.

“DAMON!”

Lena instinctively responded by blasting the creature with a surge of moonfire. The blast threw it against the wall.

But the Wendrak didn’t burn this time.

It shuddered and moaned with pleasure as it absorbed the moonfire.

“More…” it hissed. “GIVE… US… MORE.”

Lena gasped.

It craved her power.

It needed her power.

And if she kept feeding it—

she would turn it into something far worse.

She reached for Damon just as the floor beneath him gave way.

“LENA!” he yelled.

She grabbed his wrist—

But the Wendrak grabbed her other arm.

They were pulling in opposite directions.

Her body was strained, caught between her enemy and her ex-husband.

Damon’s grip was slipping.

“LEN—”

His fingers lost their hold.

The Wendrak dragged Lena backwards into the shadows—

And Damon fell.

Down another level.

Into the darkness.

Again.

Lena screamed his name—

Just as the Wendrak wrapped icy arms around her waist and whispered softly in her ear:

“Your future… is not with him.”

Then the shadows consumed them both.