BLOOD MOON

The first time I saw him, I was wearing my father's funeral dress. Black. Elegant. Expensive. The kind of dress my family believed an heiress should wear when standing beside a grave. I didn't cry. Not because I wasn't hurting. Because after eighteen years of believing my father died peacefully, I had finally started wondering if his death had been a lie. I stood alone in the cemetery, staring at his headstone. ELIAS VALE. A BELOVED FATHER. A MAN WHO GAVE EVERYTHING FOR HIS FAMILY. I touched the cold stone. "Why does everyone keep lying to me?" The wind answered with a whisper through the trees. Then I heard footsteps. I turned. A man stood at the edge of the forest. Tall. Dark-haired. Beautiful in a way that made me immediately suspicious. His black shirt clung to his body from the rain, and his eyes were fixed on me. Not my face. My necklace. The silver necklace my father had given me when I was a child. He slowly walked toward me. "Take that off." My fingers closed around it. "Excuse me?" His eyes met mine. For one dangerous second, I forgot how to breathe. "That necklace doesn't belong to you." I lifted my chin. "My father gave it to me." The stranger stopped inches away. "Your father stole it." My heart slammed against my ribs. "Who are you?" His gaze dropped to my lips before returning to my eyes. "Someone you should stay away from." I should have listened. Instead, I stepped closer. "Then why did you come looking for me?" A faint smile touched his lips. "Because you're already mine." Before I could respond, another voice cut through the darkness. "Step away from her." I turned. A second man stood behind me. And the moment I saw him, my entire body went cold. I knew him. I had known him for years. But the look in his eyes was completely unfamiliar. Fear. He stared at the stranger. Then at my necklace. "Nia," he whispered. "Whatever he tells you..." The moon above us suddenly turned blood-red. "...don't believe him." And then the stranger smiled. Because apparently, the Blood Moon had been waiting for me too.