Chapter 32 · Crimson on the Altar

The moon isn't supposed to turn red until tomorrow night.

But it's red now. Blood red. Hanging over Duskridge like someone slit the sky's throat and the whole pack is staring at me.

I can feel it already. The pull. The heat climbing up my spine, splitting my ribs open from the inside. My wolf clawing her way out and she doesn't care that we're standing in the center of the clearing with fifty wolves watching. She doesn't care that Cain just dropped to his knees in front of the entire pack or that Ivy's standing there with her mouth open or that Silas is ten feet away with his blade still out.

She smells blood and she wants more.

"Lila." Cain's voice cuts through the buzz in my head but it's too late. My bones are already breaking.

I try to hold it. I've held it before. Three years in the human city, I choked her down every single month. But this isn't a regular shift. The red moon does something different. It doesn't ask. It takes.

My knees hit the ground. Someone screams. Maybe Ivy. I don't know.