Chapter 16: The First Trial
The night air crackled with an ancient power. Even the trees seemed to bend slightly, their leaves rustling in whispers as if they too had witnessed something sacred. Luna stood at the center of the clearing, the last flickers of red from the Blood Moon Oath still glowing faintly on her skin like burning veins. Her heart pounded in her chest—not from fear, but from something deeper. Something older.
She could feel it.
The change.
She wasn’t the same girl who had been dragged here days ago, heart shattered and pride broken. No. That girl had died when she took the Blood Moon Oath.
What rose from her ashes was someone else.
Someone stronger.
And the pack knew it too.
They stood in a wide circle, every eye fixed on her. Even the arrogant ones—the warriors
