Chapter 18 · Moonclaim - Chapter 18: Dad's Last Key

The monitor's still glowing when I grab Leon's arm.

"That badge." My voice comes out wrong. Too high. "Rewind it."

He's leaning against the lab table, blood drying on his chest, skin still twitching where the wolf was under it five minutes ago. His eyes are glassed over. Serum hangover. But he hears me.

"Ivy." He straightens up. Winces. "What—"

"Rewind the damn feed." I'm already moving past him, reaching for the keyboard, but he catches my wrist.

His grip's weak. Shaking.

I could pull free. I don't.

"You saw something," he says.

Not a question. He's reading my face and I'm doing a shit job hiding it. The badge was on screen for maybe two seconds. Masked figure. Dark tactical gear. But I know that badge. I drew the engraving on the back when I was seven. Dad let me use his Dremel. Three stars and a crescent.

"Let go," I say.

He does.

I pull up the timestamp. Scroll back thirty seconds. The loading bar crawls. Leon's still standing too close. I can smell the wolf on him. Fur and panic and something electric that makes my teeth ache. The bond's pulling again.