The silence in the Great Valley was heavier than the humid air had ever been. It wasn't the silence of peace; it was the suffocating quiet of a held breath after a gunshot.
In the center of the clearing, Beta Mark lay propped against a pine tree, his face pale and his skin looking papery and dry, like an old parchment left out in the sun. He accepted a canteen of water from a Starlight healer, his hands shaking so violently that half the liquid spilled down his chin.
"He drained me," Mark rasped, his voice sounding like dry leaves grinding together. "He grabbed my throat, and I felt the moisture leave my blood. He's a leech. A monster."
"Be silent, Mark," Evelyn snapped. She was standing over him, not out of concern, but out of a fierce, protective anger. Her violet eyes were blazing. "He lost control. He didn't kill you."
"Only because you stopped him, Princess," Mark spat back, though he flinched when she took a step closer.
"Enough," Alpha Michael's voice boomed across the clearing. The Moonlight Alpha looked older in that moment, the lines around his eyes deepening as he surveyed the terrified faces of the joint squads. He turned to Evelyn. "We need to talk. Now."
Evelyn spun on her heel to face him. "You knew. You knew what was happening to him, and you let him walk into this heat. Why?"
"I didn't know it would be this fast," Michael admitted, his voice low. "The Prophecy of the Tribrid speaks of an awakening, Evelyn. But usually, the elements wake one by one over years. Simon's body is trying to embrace the Ocean before the Dragon has even fully settled. He is at war with his own biology."
"What is he?" Evelyn demanded, her voice trembling. "I saw his hand, Michael. I saw webs. I saw scales."
Before Michael could answer, the thundering of paws announced the arrival of reinforcements. Alpha David and Luna Roseline burst through the tree line, followed by a dozen elite Starlight guards. David took one look at Mark's desiccated state and the fear in the air, and his expression turned to stone.
"Where is he?" David demanded, his hand resting on the hilt of his silver blade. "Where is the boy who did this to my Beta?"
"He is in the lake," Michael said, stepping between David and the path to the water. "Cooling down. Stabilizing."
"Stabilizing?" David laughed, a harsh, barking sound. "He is a danger, Michael! Look at Mark! That isn't wolf magic. That is dark arts. That is vampirism."
"It is the Lagoon!" Michael roared, losing his patience. "He is the grandson of Queen Olivia! The blood of the Merfolk runs in his veins just as surely as the blood of the Wolf. He didn't attack Mark out of malice; he did it out of survival. His body was drying out, and instinct took over."
The revelation hung in the air like smoke. The Starlight warriors exchanged uneasy glances. Merfolk were myths to them creatures of fairy tales, not physical realities that could crush a wolf's windpipe.
David stared at Michael, his anger warring with confusion. "Merfolk? You mean to tell me your son is... a fish?"
"He is a King of the Deep," Michael corrected, his chin lifted. "And right now, he is terrified and alone. If you go to that lake with drawn swords, you will not find a boy. You will find a cornered apex predator who has the home-field advantage."
David sheathed his sword, but his eyes were cold. "Evelyn, get in the car. We are leaving. This... mutation is unstable. I will not have my daughter mated to a creature that might drain her dry in her sleep."
Evelyn looked at her father. For seventeen years, she had been the perfect daughter obedient, quiet, the shy girl who hid behind her mother's skirts. But looking at the fear in her father's eyes and the judgment in Mark's, something inside her fractured.
"No," she said.
The word was soft, but it carried the weight of a decree.
"Excuse me?" David asked, blinking.
"I said no," Evelyn repeated, louder this time. She stepped away from the Starlight group, moving to stand beside Michael. "He is my mate, Father. He is the other half of my soul. I felt his fear when he ran. He isn't a monster. He's hurting. And I am not leaving him."
"Evelyn, be reasonable," Roseline pleaded, stepping forward. "You saw what he did."
"I saw him stop," Evelyn countered. "I saw him look at me with terror because he thought I would hate him. I won't prove him right."
She turned her back on her parents a gesture of defiance that sent a shockwave through the Starlight ranks and began to walk toward the path Simon had taken.
"Evelyn!" David shouted.
"Let her go, David," Michael said, his voice dropping to a warning growl as he blocked the Alpha's path. "This is between mates now. Interfering will only get you burned... or drowned."
The walk to the Moonlight Lake felt like a pilgrimage. Evelyn forced herself to slow down, to breathe. Her heart was hammering against her ribs, but her mind was clear.
She reached out through the Soul-Link. 'Simon?'
Silence. Not the silence of an empty room, but the silence of being underwater muffled, heavy, and distant. He was blocking her. He had erected a wall of shame so thick she couldn't see through it.
She emerged from the trees onto the pebble beach. The lake was calm, the surface reflecting the afternoon sky like a polished mirror. There was no sign of him. No ripples. No bubbles. Just the vast, indifferent blue.
Evelyn scanned the water. "Simon!" she called out. Her voice echoed across the valley, small and insignificant against the size of the lake.
Nothing happened.
She walked to the edge of the dock, peering into the depths. The water was dark, dropping off sharply into the abyss that the Moonlight Pack claimed was bottomless.
"I know you can hear me!" she shouted, frustration rising in her throat. "Stop hiding! Come out!"
Still nothing.
Fear began to creep in. Not fear of him, but fear for him. Michael said he was stabilizing, but what if he wasn't? What if the "Lagoon" side had taken over completely? What if he had forgotten how to be human?
She closed her eyes, trying to force her way through his mental block. 'Simon, please. Talk to me. I'm scared.'
She felt a flicker. A tiny, reluctant pulse of emotion from the deep. Sadness. Overwhelming, crushing sadness. And then, a thought, clear as a bell: 'Go away, Star. You shouldn't see this.'
"I don't care what you look like!" she screamed, speaking to the water.
'I am a monster,' his voice echoed in her head, sounding wet and distorted. 'I almost killed a man for a drop of water. Go home, Evelyn. Find a wolf. Find someone who belongs on the land.'
The rejection hit her like a physical slap. He was pushing her away. He was trying to sever the bond to save her from himself.
Evelyn looked down at her clothes the heavy leather armor, the thick combat boots. They were designed to protect her, but right now, they were just weights.
She began to strip.
She unbuckled the chest piece, letting it fall to the wooden dock with a heavy clatter. She kicked off her boots. She peeled off the thick canvas pants and the undershirt until she was standing in nothing but her silk undergarments. The air was cool against her skin, but the fire of determination in her blood kept her warm.
"If you won't come up," she whispered to the water, "then I'm coming down."
She wasn't a strong swimmer. The Starlight Pack lived in the mountains; their water came from shallow streams and snowmelt. She hated deep water. The idea of not being able to breathe terrified her.
But the idea of losing Simon terrified her more.
She took a deep breath, filling her lungs until they burned. She ran to the end of the dock and jumped.
SPLASH.
The cold was shocking. It stole the breath she had just taken, squeezing her chest like a vice. Evelyn kicked downward, fighting the natural buoyancy of her body.
She opened her eyes. The water was murky near the surface, filled with silt and algae, but as she pushed deeper, it cleared into a twilight blue.
She swam down, scanning the darkness. Where are you?
Ten feet. Twenty feet. Her lungs began to ache. The pressure pressed against her eardrums. She spun in a circle, her hair floating around her like a silver halo.
Then, she saw it.
Far below, in the shadows of the drop-off, a pair of eyes glowed. They weren't the turquoise she knew. They were bioluminescent searchlights, cutting through the gloom.
Simon was curled up on a shelf of rock. He wasn't in human form, but he wasn't a wolf either. He was something else.
Evelyn kicked harder, propelling herself toward him. Her chest was screaming now. Black spots danced at the edges of her vision. I have to reach him.
Simon saw her. He uncurled with a speed that defied physics. He looked up, his glowing eyes widening in horror. He saw her struggling, saw the tiny bubbles escaping her lips as her air ran out.
'NO!'
His roar vibrated through the water, shaking Evelyn's bones.
He shot up from the depths like a torpedo. He moved so fast he was a blur of silver and blue.
Evelyn's vision was fading. The darkness was closing in. She reached out a hand, her fingers brushing the cold water.
Then, strong arms wrapped around her. But the skin wasn't skin it was slick, hard scales. A hand gripped her waist, and she felt the webbing between the fingers.
Simon pulled her close, his face inches from hers. He looked terrifying. His jaw was unhinged slightly, revealing rows of sharp, translucent teeth. Gills along his neck flared and pulsed, pumping water. Scales covered half his face.
But his eyes... his eyes were terrified.
He realized she was drowning. He realized she had no air left.
He didn't swim for the surface; it was too far. They wouldn't make it in time.
He did the only thing he could do. He pressed his mouth to hers.
Evelyn flinched, expecting water to flood her lungs. Instead, a surge of oxygen pure, filtered air from his own lungs rushed into her mouth.
It was the strangest, most intimate sensation of her life. He was breathing for her. He was sharing the life force he pulled from the water.
Evelyn gasped, inhaling the air, her hands clutching his shoulders. She felt the scales under her palms, but she didn't pull away. She pulled him closer.
She opened her eyes and looked right at him. She looked at the gills. She looked at the fins sprouting from his forearms. She looked at the monster he thought he was.
'I see you,' she projected through the link, pouring every ounce of love and acceptance she possessed into the thought. 'I see you, Simon. And you are beautiful.'
Simon froze. The bioluminescence in his scales flared, changing from a cold blue to a warm, pulsing gold—the color of the Dragon mixing with the Sea.
He held her there, suspended in the blue silence, breathing life into her lungs. The panic in his eyes faded, replaced by a profound, reverent awe. She hadn't run. She had jumped.
With a powerful kick of his legs which had fused together into a single, temporary tail-fin he propelled them upward.
They broke the surface with a gasp.
Evelyn coughed, spitting out water, clinging to Simon's neck. He was treading water effortlessly, holding her high above the surface so she could breathe.
The transformation was already receding. As the air hit his skin, the scales began to fade, sinking back beneath his pores. The gills on his neck sealed shut, leaving only faint silver scars. His eyes shifted from black back to turquoise.
"You idiot," Simon rasped, his voice wet and rough. He sounded angry, but he was burying his face in her wet hair, shaking. "You could have drowned. You stupid, stubborn little star. Why did you jump?"
"Because you wouldn't come out," Evelyn choked out, hitting his shoulder with a wet fist. "And I told you... I'm not leaving you."
Simon rested his forehead against hers. "I'm a monster, Evelyn. You saw what I did to Mark. You saw what I am."
"I saw a King," Evelyn whispered, repeating Michael's words. She reached up, tracing the fading scales on his cheek. "And a King needs a Queen who isn't afraid to get wet."
Simon let out a sound that was half-sob, half-laugh. He kissed her, tasting of lake water and devotion. "I love you. I love you so much it hurts."
"I know," she smiled. "Now... can you please swim me to the dock? I lost my boots."
When Simon carried Evelyn onto the shore bridal style, dripping wet, and looking like a sea god claiming a sacrifice the reception committee was waiting.
Alpha Michael stood with his arms crossed, a look of immense relief on his face. Alpha David looked pale, staring at the wet footprints Simon left on the wood, realizing just how close he had come to losing his daughter to the depths.
But it was the figure standing next to Michael that caught Simon's attention.
He was a tall man, with skin the color of mahogany and hair that was shaved close to his scalp. He wore a suit that seemed to shimmer like oil on water. He wasn't from the Moonlight Pack. He wasn't Starlight.
He smelled of the ocean.
Simon stopped, tightening his grip on Evelyn. The "pull" in his gut flared, recognizing the scent.
The man stepped forward and bowed low. "Prince Simon Peter Moonlight. Or should I say... Prince Simon of the Lagoon."
"Who are you?" Simon demanded, his voice dropping into that dangerous dual-tone.
"I am Ambassador Kael," the man said, his voice smooth and bubbling. "I bring greetings from your great-uncle, King Luke. The tremors of your awakening have been felt as far as the Coral Palace. The tides are restless, Your Highness."
Kael reached into his jacket and pulled out a scroll sealed with blue wax and a seashell crest.
"The King formally invites you—and your mate—to the Lagoon Kingdom. It seems your education on land is... incomplete."
Simon looked at the scroll, then at Evelyn. She was shivering in his arms, but she nodded bravely.
"We will go," Simon said, looking Kael in the eye. "But tell the King... if he tries to separate us, I will boil his ocean."
Kael smiled, revealing teeth that were just a little too sharp to be human. "I wouldn't expect anything less from a Tribrid. The boat awaits at the coast, my Prince. Your second destiny is calling."
Simon looked down at Evelyn. The Lake had been a test. But the Ocean? The Ocean was a whole new world. And somewhere in that blue expanse, another girl was waiting.