**CHAPTER SIX**  

**LENA'S POINT OF VIEW**

Darkness.

She didn't feel empty.

It felt... crowded. I could sense someone. No. Something feral, ancient. Waiting. Watching me.

I couldn't move. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't even tell if I still had a body. But I could feel it... I wasn't alone. It was still there, wandering in the shadows of my mind.

A silvery flash shone in the darkness. It wasn't light.

Eyes.

They opened slowly, fixed on mine. Beautiful, I thought.

The pain struck me like a dagger piercing my heart. My body violently jolted back to life. My back arched from the ground, a broken sound escaping my throat as something inside me twisted and thrashed, forcing its way out.

My claws ripped through my fingers again, the bones creaking, reforming, and then breaking once more. Half-transformed. I was out of control.

...Lena... Sebastian's voice.

"Don't touch her..." Caleb snapped.

"I'm not going to leave it like this..." Sebastian replied in a low voice.

I forced my eyes open. The room was spinning, blurry, but I saw them.

Both of them. They were already there. Of course they were.

...Stay away... My voice broke. ...From me...

Another wave hit me.

My body shook violently, the silvery heat seeping across my skin. The temperature dropped sharply, turning cold, while the frost spread across the ground faster than before. Uncontrollable.

Something's wrong... Sebastian said, gripping my shoulder despite my feeble attempt to pull away. This isn't just poison.

"...She's suppressing her wolf," Caleb said, his voice strained. "...And forcing change at the same time."

I screamed. The sound didn't even sound human.

...Marcus is on his way... Sebastian called toward the door. ...Close this wing. No one in or out.

Hurried footsteps and orders followed. The door slammed shut.

Caleb came closer. I sensed it before I saw him.

That damn pull.

"Stay with me," he said, lower now, harsher. "Lena, look at me."

I didn't want to do it, but I did it anyway.

Our eyes met, her icy blue gaze burning with something raw... something I refused to name.

"I should have stayed," she murmured.

The words cut deeper than the pain. Another wave washed over me.

This time, the silver didn't flicker.

The power exploded outward in a violent wave, slamming against the walls, rattling the windows. The temperature plummeted, frost creeping up the stone as if it had a life of its own.

Sebastian cursed under his breath.  

...Damn poison.

Neither of them moved.

Idiots.

"Move..." I tried to shout. It came out as a growl.

Too late.

The energy surged again, sharper now, slicing through the air like shards of glass.

Sebastian grabbed my arm.

Caleb grabbed my wrist at the same time.

And everything... stopped. For an impossible second, the world stood still. Then the connection reacted.

A shockwave ripped through the room. Invisible, yet brutal. It hit all three of us at once, pulling something deep from my chest.

Pain, heat, memories... too much, too fast.

I gasped.

They too.

Caleb's grip tightened.

Sebastian didn't let go.

And for a fraction of a second... I felt them.

Not just their contact information. Everything else.

Caleb's guilt, acute and suffocating.

Sebastian's fear was buried so deep that it was almost impossible to notice.

It all hit me at once. Then it disappeared.

We separated as if the contact had burned us.

"What the hell was that?" Sebastian muttered.

No one answered.

My body collapsed back to the floor, trembling. The silver faded unevenly beneath my skin, flickering like a dying fire.

The pain persisted. But it was weaker now. Distant. As if something had forced it back.

"Breathe," Sebastian said, crouching down beside me again, more carefully this time. "Just breathe."

I inhaled air, slowly and in short bursts.

Caleb hadn't moved.

He kept watching me. As if he were trying to memorize my every breath.

I hated him.

"The food..." Caleb said suddenly. "It wasn't just poison."

Sebastian's head turned towards him.  

What are you saying?

"It was layered," Caleb replied, his jaw clenched. "Wolfsbane to weaken his wolf. Suppressant to keep her down. And something else..."

"Anything else?" Sebastian pressed.

Caleb looked at me. Something in his expression changed.

It got dark.

"He didn't just attack her," she said softly. "He triggered her."

Silence settled in the room.

Heavy.

I pushed myself up a little, ignoring my body's protests.

"What does that mean?" I asked, my voice hoarse.

Neither of them responded immediately. That told me enough.

"They didn't come to kill me," I said slowly.

Sebastian's gaze hardened.

"No..." Caleb confirmed.

A cold realization sank into me.

They came to make me react.

To expose myself.

To mark me.

To tell the world exactly where I was.

A weak, humorless laugh escaped me.

"Great..." I murmured. "I basically advertised myself."

Neither of them reacted.

Of course not.

Caleb took one step closer. Too close.

"Let me check you out," he said.

I stepped aside immediately.

...No.

His jaw tightened.  

...Firewood...

...Three years ago... I interrupted him, my voice sharper now despite the lingering weakness, ...I almost died... alone.

Silence.

Instant. Heavy.

Don't start pretending now.

The words hit the mark.

I saw it in his face.

Good.

Sebastian did not interrupt.

He didn't pressure me.

He just stayed by my side, silent, resolute.

"You're still here, that's what matters," he said softly.

That was it.

No pressure. No demands. Just the truth.

And somehow...  

That stabilized me more than anything else.

I leaned back against the wall, closing my eyes for a moment. Something still felt wrong.

Extremely bad.

As if what had awakened within me hadn't gone back to sleep. As if it were still there.

Watching. Waiting.

"They're not finished yet..." I said softly.

Neither of them spoke.

But I felt it.

That same cold awareness sliding down my spine.

It wasn't fear. It was something sharper.

"They're already inside..." I added, opening my eyes.

This time I wasn't guessing. I could feel them. And what came next...

It would be worse.