LUNA OF THE LOST MOON

NYRA POV: “She’s bleeding out. Do something!” Someone’s shouting. Someone always is. But I just stand there — still, calm, and soaked in blood that isn’t mine. The girl at my feet is twitching. Her eyes wide open, mouth frozen in a silent scream. Her throat’s torn. Her scent — gone. She was fast, I’ll give her that. But not faster than instinct. Not faster than me. My claws retract slowly, dragging the last of her blood down my fingers like melting candle wax. “Don’t just stand there, are you out of your mind?” A boy — no, a wolf — grabs me by the shoulder. I look at him. Just look. And he flinches. “Back off,” I whisper. The words are low, casual. Still, he stumbles backward like he’s been hit. A full circle of students surrounds us, uniforms pressed, jaws slack. They all look like dolls in a murder scene. I recognize no one. I’m the new girl. But they’ll remember me now. --- Bloodhaven Academy. The sanctuary of elite wolves. Future Alphas. Trained killers. Luna daughters. And me — the outlier. I hadn’t even made it past the first hour of arrival before someone tried to test me. She said I smelled like a rogue,She said my bloodline was extinct. She said I didn’t belong here. So I showed her what extinction looks like. --- The headmistress arrives two minutes late, smelling of lavender and fury. “Everyone out. Now.!” Her voice slices through the crowd like a blade. They scatter. But I stay. “You just arrived, Miss…” she checks a paper, “Nyra Vale. And already one of my top-ranked students is—” “She lunged first,” I interrupt. My voice, flat. I don’t bother to lie. “You could’ve stopped her without killing.” “Could I?” We lock eyes. She doesn’t blink first. But I can tell — she’s unnerved. Everyone always is. “I should expel you,” she says. “You won’t.” Because I’m the one they wrote about in the scrolls they keep locked underground. Because even she knows — I didn’t come here by choice. I was sent. She sighs. “Clean up. You’ll be escorted to your dorm. Classes begin tomorrow. And Nyra?” I stop at the door. “Next time, try not to leave a corpse in the courtyard before lunch.” --- The escort they assign me is tall, smug, and wears his ego like a second skin. "Nice first impression,” he mutters as we walk through the stone halls. I say nothing. “I’m Kade. Beta-ranked. You’ll be in Crescent Wing — west tower. Girls’ dorm. Top floor.” He glances at me. “You always this cold?” I tilt my head, pretending to think. “No. Sometimes I’m worse.” He snorts, amused. I’m not. --- My dorm is at the edge of the academy — high up, where the moonlight cuts through like silver glass. My room smells like dust and locked secrets. I like it. There’s a note on the desk. No signature. Just words: “She wasn’t the first. She won’t be the last. Welcome to the real Bloodhaven.” I fold the paper slowly. A warning? A threat? Or maybe just the truth. There’s movement outside the window — a shadow that disappears before I can focus. And for the first time today, I feel it. Not fear. Familiarity. --- They think I’m the danger. But what they don’t know is… I came here hunting something worse. And tonight, the moon is full. ---