Then she moved… The moment her door creaked open, the world outside lay still. Curfew had long fallen; the Crescent Moon Pack slept under the strict order of silence.
The streets stretched before her, cloaked in darkness. Lamps burned low and far between, their faint pools of light failing to touch one another. Between them, the shadows ruled deep, endless, and thick with secrets.
Lyra stepped into them and let them swallow her whole. Her cloak rippled with the night wind, moving as if it were part of the darkness itself. She walked lightly, her boots brushing against the cold ground without sound, her breath shallow.
The narrow street pressed close around her. Every heartbeat seemed louder than it should, echoing in her ears like a drum she couldn’t silence. Her senses sharpened… the
