Page 78 of Wolf Queen Ruin
“He’s still here,” I admitted, my voice raw.“Buried deep.”
“Because you’re afraid.”Nodding, the Wolf Queen circled me like a predator.“Afraid of what?”
“History repeating itself.”I said it like it was obvious.“Of caring too much.Of watching someone else die because of my choices.”
Understanding dawned in the Wolf Queen’s eyes.“Like Luna.”
Hearing her name sent a jolt through me.“Luna is a business arrangement.A means to an end.”
Agony dropped me fully to the ground as the magic punished the lie with savage intensity.
“This is wasting time we don’t have,” I croaked when I could speak again.“Marcel is coming.Luna needs—“
“Luna needs truth,” the Wolf Queen interrupted.“The Shadow Fang requires honesty between its wielders.You know this, yet you continue to hide behind half truths and blatant omissions.”
She knelt beside me, her form shifting between woman and wolf.“Why does her situation resonate with you so deeply, Prince of Summer?What do you see in her that calls to the heart you claim to have buried?”
The answer rose unbidden.“She was exiled for love.Cast out for following her heart instead of her duty.Like me.”
“And?”the Wolf Queen pressed.
“And she didn’t break,” I continued, the truth flowing easier now.“She built a new life.Stayed true to her choice.She’s pure light in my dark world.She’s everything I should have been and wasn’t.”
“You admire her.”
“Yes.”
“You desire her.”
“How could I not?”
“You fear for her.”
“She’s mortal.Human,” I said.“Or near enough.So yes, I fear for her.”
The Wolf Queen rose.“The Shadow Fang requires a price, Dahmien.All magic does, but especially magic that transforms essence.You seek this artifact for your maker, and for yourself, yet you joined blood with a shifter to access it.Do you understand what you’ve begun?”
“The blood connection,” I said.“I’ve experienced it before between vampires, but never with a shifter.It’s different.”
“It is ancient,” she corrected.“The space between vampire and werewolf holds power your kind has forgotten.The blood you shared has already begun changing you both in ways you cannot yet see.”
Alarm shot through me.“Changing us how?Is Luna in danger?”
The Wolf Queen’s expression softened.“There it is.That instinct to protect her.Is that your vampire nature or what remains of the fae prince?”
“Both,” I admitted.“But Luna doesn’t just need a protector.She needs an ally she can trust.”
“And are you that, Prince of Summer?Can she trust you with all that you hide from her?”
The question hung in the air between us.Around us, the illusions faded, leaving only a simple stone chamber with the Wolf Queen standing in judgment.
I opened my mouth but realized I didn’t have an answer for her.
“If you continue this quest,” she said, “the connection between you will deepen.Each piece of the Shadow Fang you recover together will strengthen the blood bond.In the end, there will be no secrets possible between you.Are you prepared for that level of vulnerability?To be truly known?”
The thought terrified me more than any physical threat.To be seen completely—my failures, my regrets, my weaknesses exposed to another’s judgment.Yet the alternative meant losing the Shadow Fang, failing Elliot, and abandoning Luna to her daughter’s and best friend’s fate.
And somewhere deeper, a truth I barely acknowledged: I was tired of being alone in the dark when Luna’s bright sun hung within reach.
