THE SEALED LUNA

CHAPTER FOUR : NOT THIS TIME

*CHAPTER FOUR: NOT THIS TIME*

The trees didn't care I was trembling.

The cold didn't care that I was bleeding.

Twenty-four hours.

Before the ceremony.

Before I died. Again.

I lost a day.

To the woods. To the cold. To running and not knowing where I was going.

I put my back to a tree and tried to make myself small.

Invisible.

Like if I stopped breathing they’d forget I existed.

"Who's there?"

The voices were still in my head.

Planned.

Accident.

My jaw locked.

Not this time.

I wanted to believe that. God, I did.

But hope is stupid. Fear laughs at it.

Years ago I stood in front of the whole pack and tried to call a wolf.

And got nothing.

No whisper. No heat. No nothing.

Just their faces.

That pity.

Poor Selena.

The girl with no wolf.

She’ll never be Luna.

I carried that s**t for years. It got into my bones.

Maybe they were right. Maybe I was broken.

But if I’m gonna die anyway?

Then I’d rather die looking for the truth than sitting around waiting for it to kill me.

A sound. Low. From the trees.

Then another.

Something was watching.

Two wolves stepped out.

The same two.

Yellow eyes on me.

My heart just stopped.

No wolf.

No power.

For years I’d been nothing.

Wolfless. Broken.

The Luna who couldn’t shift.

The bigger one lowered its head like it smelled something.

It breathed in slow.

Its ears twitched.

There.

Faint.

Almost gone.

A wolf.

But wrong.

Like it had been buried under ash for years.

And then—

A growl.

Inside my chest.

Mine.

It wasn’t loud. Didn’t have to be.

It sank into me like it’d always been there.

Not new.

Not strange.

Mine.

Then the pain hit.

Not breaking pain.

The kind of pain where something dead starts breathing again.

I didn’t know where I ended and she started.

All I knew was I wasn’t alone.

For the first time in my life, something answered back.

And it hurt like hell.

Bones cracking. Muscles tearing.

Fur ripping through skin.

I hit the dirt screaming because I couldn’t hold it.

The world flipped.

When I looked up everything was gold.

My eyes—gold.

And for half a second, silver bled through before it was gone.

The growl that came out of me didn’t sound like one wolf.

It sounded like two.

The big wolf stepped back.

Its ears went flat.

It wasn’t looking at me.

It was looking at what woke up inside me.

Then they ran.

I took a step. Wobbled.

Forced myself up on legs that wouldn’t stop shaking.

I didn’t know if I wanted to chase them or run from what I’d just become.

I didn’t feel strong.

Didn’t feel anything except empty.

And loud.

God, everything was loud.

Leaves crunching.

Birds somewhere above me.

Water dripping where I couldn’t see it.

The forest wasn’t quiet anymore.

It was alive.

I looked at my hands.

For a second there were claws. Dark ones.

I blinked and they were gone.

Did I imagine it?

Or did she leave again?

That thought hurt worse than the shift.

Then everything went black.

---

I woke up with leaves in my hair and my whole body aching.

Sun was barely up.

Felt like I’d been hit by a truck.

I pushed my sleeve up to check my pulse and froze.

There was something on my wrist.

Faint. Black.

Like ink under the skin.

I didn’t remember it being there.

I rubbed it.

Nothing.

Rubbed harder.

Still nothing.

I scraped at it until it burned.

It didn’t fade.

It was like it’d always been there.

My throat closed up.

Was this another curse?

Another reason for them to say I was unfit?

I yanked my sleeve down.

No one could see this. Not yet.

What is that?

Why is it here?

I had no answers.

Didn’t know why my wolf came out.

Didn’t know if I could call her again.

Didn’t know if trying would kill me.

I was terrified.

Night came and I couldn’t keep my eyes open.

Curled up under a tree and passed out.

Dark.

A whisper.

Not male. Not female.

Not from the trees.

From inside my head.

"Find the truth they buried."

My sleep was s**t.

Ash in the dark.

An empty crib rocking by itself.

Someone crying.

A woman. Soft. Broken.

"Hide her..."

Gone before I could grab it.

Then another voice. Closer.

Calm. Patient.

Like it had been waiting years.

I woke up gasping.

Heart pounding.

Woods were empty.

My hands shook.

I wasn’t brave.

Wasn’t ready.

Was hurt and scared and alone.

But I was done running.

And for the first time since I woke up,

I wasn’t scared of dying.

I was scared of finding out why someone wanted me dead.

And tomorrow.

I was walking straight into their trap.