SHADOWS OF THE FATED MOON

The cold bit deep into Alayna’s skin, but it was nothing compared to the ache in her bones. Branches tore at her bare arms and legs as she stumbled through the thick underbrush. The over large T-shirt Marek had thrown over her was all torn up and Blood stained as the warm liquid smeared down her side from a fresh gash on her ribs. Her breath came in ragged, shallow bursts. Behind her, the sounds of pursuit had vanished. No more roars. No more howls. Just silence… and the eerie crackle of shadows whispering through the trees. She didn’t know where she was anymore. The plan had fallen apart the moment the rogues ambushed them. She had tried to fight—tried to keep them away from the others—but she was running on nothing but fire and fury now. Her shadows had sensed her desperation and moved without command, sweeping her three surviving allies away in a darkness she barely understood. But she stayed. She always stayed. Alayna collapsed against a tree, her back sliding down the rough bark. The pain was familiar now—almost a comfort. She was too used to it. Her once-beautiful chestnut hair hung in clumps over her dirt-streaked face, and her lips were cracked, trembling with every breath. Then she heard it. Movement. Growls. Low. Hungry. Her green eyes snapped open. They were coming. The vampires closed in, their twisted grins stained red from the last wolf they had torn apart. The stench of rot and blood made her gag, but Alayna forced herself to rise. She was fire and shadow. A monster’s nightmare. But she was tired… gods, she was so tired. “Leave me alone,” she rasped, voice raw. Her fingertips smoked as black fire licked along her skin, unbidden. Her shadows twitched like predators beneath her feet, but she couldn’t hold them. Couldn’t stop them. One vampire lunged. She screamed—not in fear, but fury—and darkness exploded around her like a nova. A second later, silence fell. The vampires, the rogues… gone. Burned to ash or dragged screaming into the fold of shadows still writhing around her. Her body slumped. She clasped to her knees, eyes drooping, head pounding. Before the blackness took her, she heard the most feral growl, “Ha, at least a took out as many as I could.” Before she lost consciousness she saw the largest most beautiful wolf bust through the trees. With a feral growl.