Chapter 28 · Moonclaim - Chapter 28: Don't Kill Me Yet

The tank glass is everywhere. Ivy's boots crunch through it. Her blade's still up. Leon's on his knees in the wreckage, head down, shoulders heaving. When he looks up his eyes are black around the edges and silver in the center. Like someone poured mercury into a burn hole.

His mouth moves. The voice that comes out isn't his.

"Little hunter. You think one knife can end this?"

It's deeper. Older. She heard it once on a recording her father kept locked in a case. The wolf king's voice. Leon's dead father.

She tightens her grip. The blade her mother left her hums against her palm. It's made for this. One clean stab through the heart while the shift's half-done and the beast can't heal fast enough.

"Leon." She keeps her voice steady. "I know you're in there."

He laughs. It's all wrong. His face tilts like someone else is pulling the strings.

"He's here. He's *screaming*." Leon's body stands. Fluid. Too smooth. His shirt's shredded and there's dark fur rising along his collarbone. "But he's not the one driving."

Ivy takes a step back. Her heel hits a piece of the broken tank.