Raine Pov
The night was restless.
Bloodmoon was always eerily quiet after dark, but tonight, the silence felt wrong. Thick, suffocating. Even the wind held its breath.
I didn't sleep. I couldn't.
Maybe it was the lingering rage from earlier, the way Mr. Calloway had dismissed me like I was nothing. Maybe it was Ronan's smug smirk, the knowledge that no matter what he did, no one would hold him accountable.
Or maybe it was the way the air felt.
Like something was waiting.
Lena had tried to make me laugh before we parted ways after school, but even she seemed unsettled. Her usual fire had dimmed, her shoulders tense as she muttered, "Something's off."
She was right.
I just didn't know how right she was-yet.
I was just starting to drift off when it happened.
The first scream.
It cut through the night like a blade, high-pitched and raw.
My body went rigid, adrenaline slamming through my veins as I shot upright in bed.
Then another. And another.
My heart pounded. What the hell?
I threw off my blanket, rushing to the window. The packhouses were spread out, their lights flickering on one by one. Shadows moved between the trees.
Then I heard it.
A howl.
Not the usual ones I heard from the training grounds or the patrols.
This was wrong.
It was distorted-twisted. Like whoever was howling wasn't entirely...right.
I shivered.
Something was out there.
And it wasn't friendly.
I wasn't supposed to leave the house at night. Especially not alone. But my mother worked late, and my sister was probably passed out with a face mask on, blissfully unaware of the chaos unfolding outside.
I grabbed the first weapon I could find-a wooden baseball bat from under my bed. Not exactly effective against a wolf, but it was better than nothing.
The second I stepped outside, the smell hit me.
Blood.
Thick and metallic, coating the cool night air.
Shouts echoed from the woods beyond the training grounds, and I saw movement-wolves, shifting between their human and beast forms, their eyes glowing in the dark.
I swallowed hard.
Bloodmoon had its dangers, sure. Rogues occasionally tested the borders. But this? This wasn't normal.
I crept forward, my hands gripping the bat tighter.
That's when I saw him.
A warrior. One of Ronan's father's men.
He was slumped against a tree, his chest heaving, claw marks raking across his torso. His breaths were ragged, shallow. Blood pooled beneath him.
His eyes locked onto mine, wide with something like-fear.
Not just pain.
Fear.
I took a step forward, my pulse hammering.
"What happened?" I whispered.
His lips parted, but all that came out was a choked, wet sound.
Then-his body jerked. His head lolled to the side.
Dead.
My stomach clenched.
Something killed him.
And whatever it was... it was still here.
A branch snapped behind me.
I froze.
Slowly-so slowly-I turned.
The forest was pitch-black, the trees stretching toward the sky like skeletal fingers. But in the spaces between them, something moved.
A shadow.
No-a shape.
Tall. Lurking.
Watching me.
My pulse pounded.
Then it stepped forward, just enough for the moonlight to catch it.
And my blood turned to ice.
It wasn't a wolf.
Not fully.
It had the shape of one-lanky limbs, sharp claws-but its eyes...
Its eyes were wrong.
Empty.
Hollow.
And then, in the silence, it smiled.
A slow, eerie curl of its lips, revealing too many teeth.
I couldn't breathe.
My instincts screamed.
I took a shaky step back-
And then a blur of movement slammed into me from the side.I hit the ground hard, the bat slipping from my grasp.
Pain shot through my shoulder, but before I could even process what happened, a snarl ripped through the air.
Familiar. Powerful.
My heart stuttered.
Ronan.
I barely had time to react before he was there-his wolf form massive, his dark fur bristling with rage.
And he wasn't alone.
Another wolf charged in-bigger, stronger.
His fur was darker, his presence commanding.
Alpha Killian.
Ronan's father.
I had never seen him shift before. But now, watching him in battle, I realized why no one dared to challenge him.
He wasn't just a leader.
He was a force.
His wolf moved like a nightmare-silent, brutal. His claws raked across the creature's flesh, blackened blood splattering the ground.
But the thing didn't scream.
It didn't react at all.
It just twisted, its body bending in ways that shouldn't have been possible, before lurching forward.
Faster than I could track, it slammed into Alpha Killian.
I gasped.
Ronan roared, lunging at the creature again, his fangs sinking into its shoulder.
More wolves burst into the clearing, their eyes blazing. Warriors.
The creature-the thing-tilted its head, as if amused.
Then, faster than I thought possible, it moved.
A blur of claws and fangs.
The warriors lunged.
Chaos erupted.
And in the middle of it all, I was powerless.
Then it made a horrible, inhuman sound.
Then-it vanished.
Not run.
Not fled.
It simply wasn't there anymore.
But as I scrambled backward, gasping for breath, something cold settled in my chest.
That thing-whatever it was-wasn't just attacking randomly.
It had been watching me.
Waiting.
Like it knew me.
And that terrified me more than anything else.
By the time the chaos settled, three warriors were dead.
Two more were badly wounded.
And the creature?
Gone.
Disappeared into the night like a ghost.
I sat on the ground, my hands trembling. My bat lay useless beside me.
Silence fell.
Panting, I pushed myself up from the ground.
The air felt different.
Like whatever had been here had left something behind.
A stain. A presence.
Alpha Killian shifted back first.
Even in human form, he looked untouchable.
The warriors around us were tense, their eyes flickering between their Alpha and the bloodstained earth
"Burn the bodies," he ordered. His voice was low, steady. "Now."
The warriors obeyed without question.
I swallowed hard, watching as the dead were taken away, their blood staining the dirt.
I looked at him then.
His wolf form had faded, his human one tense with something unreadable. His fists clenched.
He turned to me, his jaw tight.
"What the hell were you doing out here?"
I didn't answer.
Because I was still trying to process what I had just seen.
What I had felt.
Like something was shifting.
Like the world I thought I knew was starting to crack open-
And I was about to fall straight through.