The beast inside Mara broke free.
The doors slammed open and armored men flooded the chamber, silver weapons raised, fear sharp on their faces. They smelled wrong-like smoke, iron, and death. Her senses sharpened until the world fractured into sound and scent and motion. Heartbeats thundered. Sweat beaded. Fear pulsed.
Mine.
She lunged before Lucien could shout her name.
The first guard barely had time to scream. Her claws sank into his chest, tearing through bone and muscle with horrifying ease. Heat sprayed across her face-blood, thick and hot. She felt his heart stutter beneath her grip... then stop.
The silence afterward was deafening.
Mara staggered back, staring at what she'd done. Her hands were red. Her breath came in ragged bursts. She had killed him.
The beast purred.
The others attacked.
Steel clashed against stone. A blade sliced her side-pain flared, then vanished as her flesh knitted itself together. She moved on instinct now, faster than thought. She snapped a man's neck with a twist of her wrist. Sank her teeth into another's throat, tasting copper and terror as his life drained into her.
Screams echoed. Blood coated the walls. The chamber became a slaughterhouse.
Lucien watched in frozen horror as Mara stood among the bodies, chest heaving, eyes glowing with savage light. She turned toward him-and for a terrifying moment, he wasn't sure she saw him.
"Mara," he said softly. "Look at me."
She did.
Something human flickered behind her gaze. Shame. Grief. Rage.
Then slow clapping echoed from the corridor.
"Well done," a voice purred. "Your first kill is always the most honest."
A tall figure stepped into the blood-soaked light, smiling.
"The Blood Moon made you," he said. "Now come to me, daughter... or I'll finish what I started with your clan."
Mara growled, torn between the monster she was becoming and the vengeance burning in her soul.
And she took a step forward.
