Ashes Under the Full Moon
The silver blade seared my chest like molten hellfire—no cold metal, just a ravenous heat that gnawed through flesh and scorched my wolf’s core. Silver, the bane of our kind, the only thing that could reduce a werewolf’s bones to ash.
I crumpled to my knees, damp moss soaking the tattered remains of my dress. Above, the full moon hung like a bloodstained coin, its pale glow twisting trees into skeletal shadows. And there he stood: Karen Blackwood, my Alpha, my fated mate, the man I’d loved with every fragment of my half-blooded soul.
His black cloak swirled as he stepped closer, boots crunching fallen leaves. His obsidian eyes held no mercy—no trace of the boy who’d once traced constellations on my palm under this same moon. Behind him, my stepsister Ella smirked, her pure-blooded aura oozing malice.
“You always were naive, Lilian,” she purred, running a finger along the blade’s hilt. “Did you think an Alpha would choose a weak half-breed? A mistake polluted with human blood?”
I gagged on blood, vision blurring. “Why? The Moon Goddess bound us—”
“Fate is a lie.” Karen’s voice cut through me, cold as ice. He knelt, pine-scented skin inches from mine—once a comfort, now a sickening reminder. “Power is truth. Your fragile light was the key to breaking the curse. To making me unstoppable.”
The curse. The Blackwood legacy he’d sworn to conquer without sacrifice. I’d believed him, given him everything—trust, devotion, the faint glow the elders mocked as “too soft.” And he’d traded it all for a throne.
“She didn’t even fight,” Ella laughed. “Just cried and begged. Pathetic.”
Karen’s gaze flicked to her, then back to me. For a heartbeat, I saw it—regret? Sorrow? Gone as quickly as it came. He grabbed the ** pendant around my neck, the one he’d carved Fated Forever, and twisted until the chain bit into my skin.
“You should be grateful,” he said. “To die for something greater. To be my sacrifice.”
Hunters’ howls echoed closer. Ella had called them—humans who’d tear me apart for trophies. Karen was letting them finish what he’d started.
Pain flooded every limb, my wolf whimpering as it faded. I locked eyes with him, grief and rage warring in my chest. “I swear to the Moon Goddess,” I whispered, blood dripping onto his hand. “If I am reborn, I will ruin you. Take everything you love. And when you beg… I’ll watch you burn. Just like you watched me.”
He said nothing. Just stood, stepped back, and nodded to Ella. The last thing I saw was his retreating cloak. The last thing I heard was hunters’ shouts, snapping branches, and my wolf’s final howl.
Then darkness swallowed me.
I jolted awake, gasping for air, hand flying to my chest. No searing pain—just smooth skin, my heart pounding alive.
Sunlight filtered through wooden shutters, gilding woolen blankets. Pine and cedar filled my nose—the scent of my childhood bedroom in the Blackwood compound. I stared at my hands: small, calloused from training, but unscarred. No chains, no silver marks.
I stumbled to the mirror, carved with wolf howls. Staring back was seventeen-year-old me—chestnut hair, honeyed amber eyes, no trace of the hollow, broken girl who’d died under the moon.
I slid down the wall, tears burning—not grief, but rage, disbelief, a hope sharp as a blade.
I’m reborn. The Moon Goddess heard my vow.
A knock came. “Lilian? Are you awake?” Mara’s soft voice—my only friend in this bloodline-obsessed pack. “The coming-of-age hunt is today. Training grounds in an hour.”
The coming-of-age hunt. The day I’d first caught Karen’s eye. The day that led to my death.
I wiped my tears, voice steady as steel. “I’ll be there.”
As Mara left, I stared at my reflection. The naive girl was gone. In her place was a wolf with a heart of ash and a vow carved into her soul.
Karen. Ella. The council. Everyone who betrayed me.
This time, the hunt wasn’t for glory or acceptance.
It was for revenge.
And under the same moon that witnessed my death, I’d make them all pay.
