Chapter 33 · Black Moon, Blood Circle

The circle burns the second my boots cross the line.

Not fire. Worse. Silver dust in the air, in my lungs, crawling under my skin like it wants to peel me from the inside out. I can't breathe without tasting metal. Can't move without feeling the trap tighten.

Cain's voice cuts through. "Layla—don't—"

Too late. I'm in.

The chapel floor is carved with lines I didn't see before. Sigils. Hundreds of them, spiraling inward to where I'm standing. The moon through the broken roof? Gone. Just black sky and the smell of blood.

Derek's laugh echoes from somewhere behind the altar. "She walked right in. You said she'd fight it."

Another voice. Older. Cold. "She's newly turned. Instinct beats sense every time."

Vera.

I spin, claws out, but the circle flares white and drops me to my knees. Pain shoots up my spine like a blade scraping bone. I can feel the silver working its way through my blood, looking for something to latch onto.

Cain's at the edge now, one hand on a carved post, the other gripping his knife. His face is pale. "It's a siphon circle. Every wolf inside feeds the anchor."

"What anchor?" I grit out.