Celeste
Dawn hadn’t broken when I woke up.
I turned to find Alec’s blankets empty beside me. I sat up and looked around, but couldn’t see him anywhere. A thick mist had settled over the hilltop, swallowing everything beyond arm’s reach.
“So the moon has reincarnated her champion to try to vanquish me?” A raspy voice hissed from behind me.
I spun.
A dark, hooded figure stood three paces away. A pair of yellow eyes peered out from under the hood, glowing faintly in the mist like lanterns behind smoked glass. My wolf didn’t snarl at the figure. She didn’t pace or press against her cage. She cowered. She pressed herself flat against the floor of my chest and went silent in a way she had never gone silent before.
Whatever this thing was, it was not a wolf. It was not an Alpha. It was some
