Perfect Luna, Double Crowned

Chapter 12 – A Wolf and a Witness

The first trap snapped open with a wet crack and a burst of fresh blood.

The human screamed, high and raw. Kari flinched, teeth clicking shut an inch from my arm.

“Breathe,” I ordered both of them, because apparently that was my job now. “In, out. Nobody dies on my road tonight.”

I shoved gauze against the man’s thigh, feeling for the artery. Still there. Good. Silver hissed as I plucked the last shard free.

Behind me, the circle of wolves held, a wall of fur and bare skin, Stormclaw and Moonfang mixed so tight you couldn’t tell where one ended.

“Rylan,” I said without looking up. “Get someone to move the truck. I don’t want headlights on this.”

He hesitated just long enough to make a point, then barked orders. Engines coughed. Tires crunched. The pickup rolled slowly backward, turning its lights toward the trees instead of the ditch.

“Caelan,” I added. “I need a cloak. Something that makes me look less like I’m standing in the middle of a horror movie.”

A second later, heavy wool dropped around my shoulders. Smelled like smoke and pine and Moonfang. It settled over the fact that my hands were slick with blood and fur.

The human blinked up at me, pale and sweating.

“Am I… dying?” he gasped.

“Not if you listen,” I said. “You stepped in an illegal snare. It shredded your leg. I’m a paramedic who doesn’t want paperwork. Lie still. Don’t look around. There were never any wolves.”

His gaze flicked past me anyway. Kari’s gray shape loomed ten feet away, eyes bright in the dark, held back only by will and pain.

“Coyotes,” he whispered weakly. “You said coyotes.”

“Big, ugly ones,” I said. “Who will leave if you don’t scream.”

He tried to laugh. It came out a cough.

I bound his thigh tight, layered enough gauze to pass for field dressings, then glanced up at the wolves.

“Two volunteers,” I said in Wolvish. “Light fur. Good control.”

A white‑pelted Moonfang female and a sandy Stormclaw male stepped forward. I nodded.

“You’re dogs now,” I said. “Scared mutts who ran when the trap snapped. You never came back. Understood?”

They dipped their heads.

“Good.” I shifted back to English. “I’m going to call for a human ambulance,” I told the man. “They’ll see a hunter who got himself into his own trap. You’ll talk about snares and bad luck. You won’t talk about anything else. Clear?”

He swallowed. “Those things… they were huge. I swear—”

“Shock makes everything bigger,” I cut in. “By the time this hits the bar, it’ll be a raccoon with a knife. Stay with that version.”

His eyes searched my face, trying to pin me down. “Who are you?”

“Tired,” I said. “Very, very tired.”

I pulled out my human phone, thumbed in the emergency number, and let my voice shake just enough.

“Yes—hi—there’s been an accident on the old service road,” I said. “A hunter stepped in some kind of snare. Bad bleeding. I’m keeping pressure, but he needs a proper ambulance.”

I rattled off coordinates, answered questions. All the while, two dozen wolves listened to me lie smoothly for all of us.

When I hung up, red and blue flashed faintly in the distance, still far but coming.

“You need to go,” I said in Wolvish. “All of you. Now. Back into the trees.”

They moved, soft and fast, shadows melting into shadows. In less than a breath, only three shapes remained close: Kari, still panting; Caelan, a dark statue at my back; Rylan, on the other side of the road, half in shadow.

“Kaela.” Kari’s voice shook. “He shot me.”

“And you didn’t kill him,” I said. “That will matter later. Go. I’ll reset your leg when you’re not in siren range.”

She limped into the dark, swallowed by branches.

The human’s hand clutched at my cloak. “Don’t go,” he whispered. “They’ll think I’m crazy. I need—someone who saw.”

I looked down at him. At the blood soaking the ground. At the faint burn of silver still lingering in the air.

You wanted a world where you weren’t the only one holding the truth, Nyra had said once. You sure?

“I’ll stay,” I said quietly. “For now.”

Siren wails grew louder, chasing the night.

Across the road, Rylan’s gaze met Caelan’s over my bowed head. They both held their positions at the tree line—two kings in the shadows, watching me play witness for a man who would never know what exactly he’d survived.

For the first time, I realized: if this delicate lie worked, it wouldn’t just save us.

It would bind us all tighter to this narrow, dangerous road between worlds.