a

sat across from Selene, my eyes locked on her hands. They were steady

tale. It was a cage

ead glow as she traced the heavy blac

flat, like she was reciting a grocery list. "Five

on the center of t

pered. "Alpha Narcisse.

stomach did a slow, sick rol

a smile; it was a ghost of a bitter

asked. I tried to make it sound like a

s made me want to scream. "I don't know. Ther

heat rising behind my eyes. "Almo

ck of the room. "Every pack has a ledger. A history. Yours is mostly blank. It says you

eriment. I thought about the needles they pushed into my skin and the

coming out as a growl I didn't recogniz

of old paper and peppermint. "The strongest males. Then the Betas and the Gamma

it. He looked like any other guard, but now I saw the way his sho

whispered. "Th

protect his interests. The

ame felt heavy on my tongue. "So he

arder this time. "Alpha at the top. Beta and

ot hope, just a desperate curi

ession turning hard. "She is the mother of the pack. She

I felt a cold, sharp ache in my

ked. I needed to distract myself fr

yes drifted toward the heavy oa

lo

thin, like a wire about to snap. "They slaughter any

silent guards. The rows of warriors. The total absence of women

Luna?" I

"It is a tether. You feel their heart inside your own chest. If they bl

d on my lungs. It sound

cked?" My hands

ick with a kind of sick worship. "She carves

en, a sharp, white-hot blade of pain sliced through my gut. I gasped, doubling over. It

tching my middle. "I-I don'

t, her face bl

ead. I stumbled out of the library, hitting the walls of the

k, thick, and hot. I scrambled into the shower and turned the handle. I sat on the cold tile, watchin

Astra stood there. She didn't look shocked.

my hand and four bitter white pi

l and tucked me into the sheets like I was still a child. As the dark pulled at me, one thought looped

No claws. No fur. Just a girl who could

ared about the clock. An hour later, I was flat on th

th tasted like sweat and floor cleane

shoved his knee harder into the small of my back.

e me. I threw my weight to the side, rolled, and managed to clip his c

d toward me, his face a ma

me a

his chest. His eyes bled from brown to a terrifying, electric yellow. The pu

ack, my skin prickl

e air, his chest heaving with deep, j

f books, her blonde hair falling over her sho

ammed his hands against the doorframe on either side of her head, pinning her there. He l

t a small, broken whimper and tilted her head ba

re already buried in his dark hair, pullin

a ghost in the hallway, the girl no one bothered to see. I ducked my head and scrambled past them,

in ragged bursts. I leaned over the sink and splashed cold wat

ade sliced thr

hem crack. The world tilted, the edges of my vision bleeding into black. It wasn't j

y back, my spine popping and stretching. I could feel my skin pulling so thin I thought it

the inside out by som

at sliced through my own gums, filling my mouth with the metallic tang of my own blood. I tried to grab the sink, bu

e agony

mirror. A beast stared back. I was huge, covered in fur as white as a fresh kill in

el

It wasn't a thought; it was a r

ere, tied to a pipe. Its pulse was a rhythmic throb I could see in its

t just hurt.

ribs. My jaws snapped shut over its throat. The hot, copper spray of blood hit my tongue, and I felt a rus

along than we

coming from behind th

we thought," she continued, her voice trembling wi

the blood on my muzzle. "Her transformation will be confirmed in two nights. The pack ce

of raw flesh hu

to him, and I never had been. I was a weapon forged for the White Moon. I was a paw

y white muzzle, staining the pristine fur. My father thought he could own this. He thought he

was a predator now, and I wasn't g