Page 71 of Wolf Queen Ruin
Before I could even register what had happened, Damien was there, his body suddenly between me and the rest of the chamber as if he could shield me from harm that had already occurred.His hands cradled my face with such careful tenderness that my heart skipped.
“You’re bleeding,” he said, his voice rough.His thumb brushed near the cut, his touch impossibly gentle.“Let me see.”
Sure enough, blood trickled down the side of my face.
I touched my fingertips to the cut.“It’s just my eyebrow, but I have another one.It’s fine.”
“Are you sure?”His eyes searched mine with an intensity that made my stomach flip.Those blue eyes blazed with something fierce and protective.“If that arrow had been a centimeter closer—“
“It wasn’t.Damien, I’m okay.Really.”I grasped his wrists and squeezed as if to prove it.The cool skin beneath my fingers seemed to warm at my touch.“The spirals.Only step on the spiral stones, okay?”
He nodded and slowly, reluctantly, released me, but not before his thumb grazed my cheek in what could only be described as a caress.He stepped back, but his eyes remained fixed on me as if he expected me to collapse at any moment.
His fierce concern and protectiveness warmed my chest from the inside out, but I needed to focus, and I couldn’t do that with an arrow through my head or an insanely hot vampire hovering too close.
While Damien drifted away, turning every few seconds to make sure I hadn’t dropped dead, I slapped a bandage from my pack on what was left of my eyebrow.Unfortunately, this wasn’t my first rodeo with lost eyebrows, but they did grow back.Of that, I was positive.
While I finished patching myself up, Damien moved around the chamber’s perimeter, sticking to the spiral stones and examining the walls.His movements reminded me of a jungle cat—each step deliberate, balanced, aware.
“These appear to be records of her campaign against the vampire lords,” he said.“Dates, locations, names of the fallen.”
His fingers hovered over the carvings with a strange mix of respect and sorrow, as if mourning souls long forgotten by everyone but him.
I followed the narrative depicted in the carvings—a systematic elimination of vampire strongholds across what would now be Central and South America.The Wolf Queen had been methodical in her vengeance, working from south to north until reaching what appeared to be her final triumph in this very region.
“She hunted them to near extinction in this hemisphere,” Damien said, his tone neutral but something like reluctant respect in his expression.“The vampires who survived fled across the ocean, taking centuries to recover their numbers and influence.”
I moved to the chamber’s far side, where the narrative shifted to something less martial and more…scientific?The carvings here showed detailed anatomical studies of both werewolves and vampires, alongside images of plants, crystals, and what seemed to be magical implements.
“This is different,” I called to Damien.“Come look at this.”
He joined me, keeping to the spiral stones.His shoulder pressed against mine as he leaned in to study the images, and I caught a whiff of his scent, like cedar and wintry mountain air.It was totally unfair how good he smelled after days in the jungle.I could only imagine what my stank-ass smelled like because I would not be taking a whiff anytime soon.
“She was experimenting,” he said, his voice dropping to a tone of fascinated horror.“Seeking to understand vampire physiology in order to better exploit our weaknesses.”
“Not just that,” I said, noticing a recurring pattern in the carvings.“See this symbol?It appears repeatedly.”
“The Shadow Fang.”His voice took on an almost reverent quality.“She was documenting its creation.”
The final wall showed the completed artifact—a curved tooth mounted in an elaborate casing adorned with crystals and runes.In the carving, the object emitted rays that struck both vampire and werewolf figures, transforming them in different ways.
“A weapon and a tool,” I mused.“Capable of breaking down the fundamental essence of supernatural beings and reshaping them?”
Damien nodded slowly.“The ultimate expression of her power over both species.The ability to unmake vampires or enhance werewolves as she saw fit.”His eyes met mine, something vulnerable flickering in their depths.“Or perhaps to heal what’s broken in both.”
A faint sound from the passage behind us broke our concentration—a subtle displacement of air, barely perceptible but enough to trigger my human instincts.
We weren’t alone anymore.
“Fuck,” I whispered.“Marcel?”
Before I could blink, Damien had shifted to position himself between me and the passage entrance, one arm extending protectively across my body.
“Stay behind me,” he murmured, the command in his voice unmistakable.
For once, I didn’t argue.We listened together, his body tense as a drawn bow.
After a moment, he inclined his head toward a side passage.“This way.Quickly.”
