Chapter 17 · Moonclaim - Chapter 17: Wolf Ahead of Schedule

The lab door locked itself.

Ivy heard the magnetic bolts slam home and her stomach dropped. Leon was still on his knees by the steel table, one hand pressed to the cut silver had opened across his palm. Blood ran between his fingers. Dark blood. Too dark.

"Leon."

He didn't look up. His shoulders were shaking.

She took a step back. The air in the basement lab had gone cold and sharp, like right before a storm, and her skin was crawling. She'd felt this once before. Years ago. The night her father came home with claw marks down his back and told her to pack a bag and run.

"Get out." Leon's voice came out wrong. Deeper. Rough at the edges.

"The door's locked."

"I said get out."

"I can't." Her voice cracked. "You locked it."

He lifted his head. His eyes had gone amber. Not the pale gold she'd seen that first night in his office. Bright amber. Animal amber. The wolf was already there, pushing up under his skin.

"The serum." He was breathing too fast. "Someone flipped it. It's not suppressing. It's accelerating."

Ivy's back hit the wall.