The Last Moon Wolf

CHAPTER 2: THE WOLF THAT SHOULDN'T EXIST

I didn’t sleep.

How could I?

The note was still on my nightstand. The ink looked black in the dark. _If you want to survive Blackmoon, don't let them see your wolf.

But I didn’t have a wolf.

Right?

Eighteen years. Eighteen birthdays where nothing happened. No shift. No howl. No power.

Just me. The powerless adopted girl.

I rolled over and stared at the ceiling. Through the glass panels, the moon was too bright. Too full. Wrong for 2AM. Wrong for September.

My eighteenth birthday was tomorrow.

Tomorrow I would turn eighteen and confirm what everyone already knew. That I was broken. That Gideon had wasted ten years raising a wolf who would never awaken.

The thought made my chest ache. Not because I wanted power. But because I was tired of being proof that Selene was better than me.

My pendant felt cold against my skin. The silver moon Gideon said my mother gave me.

I closed my eyes.

That’s when the dream started.

Cold.

The air smelled like pine and snow and something older. Like moonlight had a scent.

I was standing in a forest. But not any forest.

The trees were silver. Every leaf, every trunk, glowing faintly like they were made of moonlight. The ground was covered in white flowers I’d never seen. And above me, the sky was black.

Except for the moon.

It was blood red. Huge. Hanging low like it was watching me.

I looked down.

I wasn’t wearing boots. I was on four legs.

Paws. Claws digging into soft earth.

I was a wolf.

Panic shot through me. I tried to speak but all that came out was a soft whine.

“Run, little one.”

The voice was behind me. Female. Ancient. Tired.

I turned.

She stood in a clearing. A wolf bigger than any I’d ever seen. Silver fur that shimmered like it was made of stars. Eyes like liquid gold.

She wasn’t attacking. She wasn’t snarling.

She was waiting.

“You’re late,” she said. And her voice was in my head. “Eighteen years. I’ve been asleep eighteen years waiting for you.”

My heart stopped. Even in the dream. “Who are you?”

“My name is Nyx,” she said. “And you are the last of us.”

I tried to back up but my legs wouldn’t move. “The last of what?”

“The last Moon Wolf,” Nyx said. “The last guardian. The last thing standing between them and what’s beneath Blackmoon.”

Fear crawled up my spine. “What’s beneath the Blackmoon?”

Nyx’s golden eyes narrowed. “The people who killed your parents are searching for you, Aria. They’ve been searching since the night you were born.”

The name hit me like a slap. “How do you know my name?”

“Because I was there when you were born,” Nyx said simply. “Because your mother begged me to sleep until you turned eighteen. Because if I woke up before then, they would find us both.”

My breath caught. “My parents disappeared”

“They were hunted,” Nyx cut me off, sharp. “Gideon saved you. But hiding only works if you stay hidden. And now you’re eighteen.”

The blood-red moon above us flickered.

“Why now?” I whispered. “Why wake me now?”

“Because they already know,” Nyx said. “I felt them the moment you stepped through the gates. The council. They felt you too.”

I shook my head. “No. I’m nobody. I’m powerless”

“Look at your chest.”

I did.

Beneath my fur, right over my heart, was a crescent moon. Silver. Glowing faintly.

“The mark appears when the blood awakens,” Nyx said. “You can’t hide it anymore.”

“What do I do?”

“Never tell them who I am,” Nyx said, voice low and urgent. “Never let them see me. If they do, they will take you. They will use you. And the Blackmoon will burn.”

The forest shook. The silver trees bent like they were in a wind that wasn’t there.

“Wake up,” Nyx commanded. “Now.”

I woke up gasping.

Sweat on my skin. Heart pounding so hard it hurt. The dorm was dark.

For a second I thought it was just a dream. Just stress. Just my birthday.

Then I felt the heat.

On my chest.

I fumbled for the light and yanked my shirt down.

There it was.

A crescent moon. Silver. About the size of my thumbnail. Right beneath my collarbone. It hadn’t been there yesterday. I would have noticed.

It was warm. Like it was alive.

“No,” I whispered. “No no no.”

“Yes.”

I froze.

The voice was in my head. The same voice from the dream. Calm. Ancient.

“You’re awake,” Nyx said. “And so am I.”

I sat up so fast I nearly fell off the bed. “You’re real.”

“I’ve always been real,” Nyx said. “You just couldn’t hear me.”

My hands were shaking. “The people who killed my parents”

“Hunted,” Nyx corrected. “And they’re still hunting. The Academy Council. They want what’s in your blood.”

I pressed my hand to the mark. It pulsed under my palm. “What’s in my blood?”

Nyx was quiet for a long time.

“You are the last Moon Wolf,” she said finally. “And if they find out, Blackmoon Academy won’t survive your awakening.”

The pendant at my throat flared. Bright silver light, then it died.

Outside my window, something moved.

I looked up.

Between the trees, maybe fifty feet away, stood a shadow. Tall. Watching.

Silver eyes reflected the moonlight.

Then it was gone.

“They found us,” Nyx whispered. “Get dressed. We don’t have much time.”

My legs were shaking as I stood. I grabbed clothes with hands that wouldn’t stop trembling.

“Who’s out there?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” Nyx said. “But they know you’re awake. And in three hours, the entire academy will know too.”

I looked at myself in the mirror. Same girl. Same black hair. Same scared eyes.

Except now there was a silver crescent on my skin.

Except now I had a wolf in my head.

Except now, for the first time in eighteen years, I wasn’t powerless.

And I was terrified.

Because being powerless had been safe.

This wasn’t.