Moonlit Lies: The Hollow Choir

st was b

-hot, metallic, pooling between frost-coated roots that had no business being white in late August. The a

end

ully break through. My name is Elara Voss. Nineteen years old. Omega by birth, tracker by necessity. And tonight, every i

wed it

harply to be anything but fatal. Alpha Caelan had ordered the entire pack to stay within the inner perimeter aft

stretch of Blackthorn territory no one crossed unless the

w it an

ost, heart hammering so loud I was half-convinced what

ows and the caved-in roof, painting the floorboards in silver and shadow. The smell hit me first-dea

saw the

ll floor like broken toys, chests cracked open, ribs splayed wide. Not torn. Carved. Someone had used claws wit

y mouth. My wolf whined, high an

hen I no

spilled ink. Her back was to me, but I would know that silhouette in the dark. I'd traced it with my eyes a thousand times from

Black

in the eye two weeks ago during the full-moon feast and said, loud enough for the entir

as cr

at like they were being ripped free. Her hands goddess, her hands were buried wrist-deep inside Ma

he

l be

plintered beam. The heart pulsed once, twice, black veins crawling

it in

hin, over her white dress, dripping onto the floorboards already slick with it. Her eyes rolled

e fuck,

I hadn't meant to speak. Hadn't meant to

unnatural

mechanical until those fa

weren't vi

uman remained. Blood painted her mouth like smeared lipstick. When she smiled, her canines had lengthe

e was hers, the girl I'd loved in secret since I was fourteen. The

ing skin. Pain grounded me. I took one stumbling step back, then another, u

," I said. It wa

studying me the way a cat studies a bird with a

aceful as always, and took a step toward me. Then another. The air thick

y ba

k. Pathetic.

faint glow beneath her skin like moonlight trapped in veins. Her

til her lips brushed the shell of my ear. "And wan

y responded the way it always had heat flooding low,

ve screamed. Should have torn h

the only questio

are

r one heartbeat, the blackness receded, and violet

" she said softly. "When she decides to break her o

he kis

e'd seen in centuries. Her tongue traced my lips, and I tasted copper and lavender and

violet again. Tears cut clean trac

nst my mouth. "Run before

rbrush outside too many, too fast.

d. Real tears this ti

said, so quietly I almost missed