Chapter 63: The Blood Moon Rises
The night had never felt this heavy.
Darkness cloaked the forest like a second skin—dense, suffocating, and unnatural. Even the stars had vanished behind thick, crimson-tinged clouds. Luna stood still in the center of the battlefield, her chest heaving, the silence around her broken only by the low growls of the pack and the distant rustle of trees trembling with dread.
Then it came.
A shriek—not quite human, not quite beast—ripped through the trees. The very ground vibrated as a shadow burst forth, slithering between the trunks like black lightning. It didn’t run. It didn’t walk. It glided, shifting like smoke and solid matter at the same time.
Luna didn’t hesitate.
With a sharp intake of breath, she shifted into her wolf form, her bones cracking and
