The earth drank greedily, stained crimson with blood. I watched, numb, as Selene crumpled to her knees, the sharp edges of the stones beneath her barely registering against her skin. Her hands, trembling violently, pressed against Lucien's chest, a desperate attempt to staunch the crimson tide gushing from the wound beneath his ribs. His silver eyes, once blazing with life and untamed fury, now flickered like a dying candle in a raging storm.
"Stay with me," she sobbed, her fingers slipping in the slick, warm blood. "Please, Lucien, please."
His hand, weak and trembling, found hers. A fragile squeeze, barely there, yet enough to shatter her heart into a million pieces.
Around them, the remnants of the plantation smoldered, a testament to the brutal battle. Hunter and rogue bodies littered the clearing – casualties of Selene's unleashed magic and Lucien's savage claws and teeth. But victory had demanded a terrible price. Oh, gods, what a price.
Selene lifted her head, her throat burning with unshed tears and raw grief. The very air around them seemed to shift, to thicken. The remaining Hunters, their faces etched with fear, parted like a tide receding before an unseen force. And then, he stepped through.
The Dark Mate.
His black coat billowed behind him like raven's wings, his silver wolf mask gleaming ominously in the blood-red dawn. The power radiating from him was suffocating, ancient, utterly wrong. It crawled beneath Selene's skin, raising gooseflesh in its wake. Lucien tensed weakly beneath her touch, his grip spasming around her wrist.
"No," he rasped, his voice a threadbare whisper. "Don't let him…"
Selene tightened her grip on him, her knuckles white.
"I won't," she whispered fiercely, her voice trembling with a desperate promise. "I won't let him take you."
The Dark Mate stopped a few feet away, his masked head tilting slightly as he regarded them, his eyes gleaming with an unreadable emotion.
"You've fought beautifully," he said, his voice soft, almost sorrowful. "But it's over, little queen."
Selene rose slowly, her legs shaking, placing herself between Lucien's broken body and the predator before her. Her magic crackled around her in fits and starts, wild, unstable, dangerous. She could barely stand, her body screaming in protest, but she wouldn't yield.
The Dark Mate smiled behind his mask, a predatory curve of his lips she could sense rather than see.
"You can feel it, can't you?" he murmured, his voice a silken caress that sent shivers down her spine. "The bond between us. It sings to you, doesn't it?"
Selene's stomach twisted violently. It was there, a thin, barbed thread buried deep within her soul. She could feel a relentless pull, a siren's call, no matter how she tried to deny it.
Lucien groaned behind her, attempting to rise. Selene dropped to her knees beside him, cradling his bloodied face in her hands.
"You have to run," he whispered, his breath ragged.
Tears blurred her vision, hot and stinging. "I'm not leaving you."
Lucien's bloody hand found her hair threading through the strands, a desperate caress. "I'd rather die than see you in his hands," he said, his voice filled with a raw, possessive love.
Selene sobbed, pressing her forehead to his. "I can't lose you," she choked out, her voice thick with despair.
Behind them, the Dark Mate spoke again, his voice as gentle as a knife slipping between ribs. "Surrender," he offered, "and he lives. Walk away from this battlefield with me, and I swear he will survive."
Selene's heart cracked into pieces, each shard a fresh wave of agony. She looked down at Lucien, at the blood staining the ground, at the man who had fought for her, bled for her, and loved her with a ferocity that mirrored her own. She couldn't let him die. Even if it meant damning herself.
Her hands trembled violently as she turned back to the Dark Mate. "If I go with you," she said hoarsely, her voice barely a whisper, "you'll let him live?"
The Dark Mate smiled beneath his mask, a promise of darkness in his eyes. "For now," he agreed. "But know this: your bond with him will rot every day you spend at my side. You will forget him. And when you finally come to me willingly… there will be nothing left of what you were."
Selene swallowed hard, bile rising in her throat. It didn't matter. Lucien would live.
She rose to her feet on shaking legs, every instinct screaming to stop and fight. She forced herself to take a step toward the Dark Mate. And another.
Behind her, Lucien cried out, raw, broken. "Selene, no!"
She flinched but didn't look back. She couldn't. Because if she saw him again, she would never be able to walk away.
The Dark Mate extended his hand, his touch promising salvation and damnation. Selene reached for it…
And the world cracked open.
A blast of raw, ancient magic erupted from deep within her chest, throwing her backward with brutal force. The Dark Mate staggered, his smile vanishing, replaced with an expression of shock and something akin to awe.
Selene hit the ground hard, gasping, every nerve on fire. The magic her magic wasn't wild anymore. It was focused. Terrifying.
Selene rose slowly, her body glowing with a harsh, white light shot through with black veins of shadow. The blood of the First House surged in her veins, not the weak trickle the Courts had feared but the whole, roaring river of what she was meant to be.
"You dare to try and claim me?" Selene hissed, her voice echoing with the power of a thousand forgotten queens.
The Dark Mate's eyes widened behind the mask, his gaze fixed on her with an intensity that burned. "You're Awakening," he whispered, almost reverent. "The true blood. The pure line."
Selene raised her hand, and the air itself shattered. Tendrils of black fire lashed out, slamming into the Hunters, reducing them to ash where they stood. The ground shook under her feet. Lightning split the sky, mirroring the storm raging within her.
Selene turned her gaze to the Dark Mate, her eyes blazing with power. "Never touch me again," she said, her voice a lethal promise.
She struck.
A spear of pure light and shadow tore from her hands, slamming into him with enough force to crack the earth. The Dark Mate roared, thrown backward into a crumbling wall. He vanished into black mist, retreating into the shadows. But not before she heard his final promise, a chilling whisper on the wind:
"You are mine, little queen. You just don't know it yet."
The magic inside her guttered and died all at once, leaving her shaking, empty, and utterly drained. Selene stumbled back to Lucien, collapsing beside him. His skin was pale, his breathing shallow.
"No," she whispered, pressing her hands over his wounds, desperately trying to mend the damage. "Don't you dare leave me?"
She bit into her wrist, letting her blood pool, and pressed it to his mouth. "Drink," she begged, her voice cracking with fear. "Please, Lucien, drink."
He didn't respond at first. Selene sobbed, shaking his shoulders gently. "Don't leave me!" she screamed, her voice raw with grief.
Finally, Lucien's lips parted. He drank. Slowly. Weakly. But it was enough.
Color bloomed in his cheeks, and his hand, trembling and slick with blood, rose to cup her cheek. "You're… stubborn," he rasped, a faint smile gracing his lips.
Selene laughed through her tears, pressing his hand against her face, cherishing his touch. "You love it," she said brokenly, her voice thick with emotion.
Lucien's silver eyes softened, even through the pain. "I love you," he whispered, his voice filled with a love that defied death.
Selene bent down, kissing him gently and reverently, pouring all her love and gratitude into the touch. "I love you too," she said, her voice trembling with emotion. Always."
They lay there, broken and bleeding, as the sun rose over the ruins, painting the sky in hues of hope and despair. The world had shattered around them, and their lives irrevocably changed. The war had only just begun. But they were still together, and that was all that mattered for now.
Far away, across the blackened landscape, the Dark Mate watched from the ruins of a fallen tower, his figure a silhouette against the dawn. He touched the blood on his lips, a faint smile playing on his lips. Selene had awakened. The First Blood was alive, its power unleashed. And he would have her.
Not by force. Not by chains. But by the oldest seduction of all the bond fate had forged between them, a connection resonated deep within their souls. And when she came to him willingly… not even Lucien could save her from the darkness that awaited.