Chapter 5 The Moon's Wound

Layla's POV

I returned to the site before the morning mist lifted. The letter from Elias Thorn was still tucked into my coat, worn soft at the edges from how many times I'd opened and refolded it.

My steps slowed the closer I came to the ring of old stones. I could feel her even before I saw her.

Sage stood by the bent tree, her violet eyes already on me. I didn't talk; I just held the letter out with shaky fingers.

She didn't take it. She didn't even look at it.

"You're waking up," she said instead, her voice low and respectful, as if she were speaking to something older than me, deeper than either of us.

"The wolf inside you-she's remembering. And memory is power."

I opened my mouth, but she stepped closer, lifting her hand. Her fingers were warm when they brushed my temple.

"Close your eyes," she said in a low voice. I did, and the world inside me burst open.

There was fire... roaring, all-consuming fire... and screaming. My dad. My father yelled my name. My mother was crying through clenched teeth. Then the fire split, and something darker rushed through: black shadows, twisting and hissing, pulling them in different directions.

I tried to move, to reach them, but I was a kid again. Powerless. Then, through the fire and smoke, a voice emerged like oil spilling over water.

A whisper. A name. "Kade's father." My eyes snapped open, my heart racing in my chest. My breath came in short gasps.

"What... what was that?" I choked out, stumbling back.

Sage's face was grim. "You saw the beginning. What they tried to erase from you."

"Kade's father-he was there. He did something."

She didn't answer directly. "There's more you need to remember. But it won't come all at once. You have to live long enough to see it."

I shook my head, feeling the weight of too many facts I didn't understand. "Why me?"

Sage's lips curled into something sad and old. "Because you are the wound and the cure." I left the forest half-dazed, the taste of ash still on my tongue.

My head throbbed. My legs felt wobbly, like the ground might vanish beneath me, and then... of course... I ran right into Kade.

Literally. He stepped from behind a tree, and it slammed into his chest. I recoiled instantly, stumbling back, every nerve in my body lighting up in alarm.

His face was unclear, but his voice was sharp. "You're spying?"

I let out a humorless laugh. "You think I have time to spy while your pack lets Celeste treat me like a punching bag?"

He growled low, a warning sound. "What were you doing with her?"

"Sage isn't your business," I snapped, pushing past him. He caught my arm.

"She's dangerous." I yanked away. "So is your father, apparently." He froze. The blood drained from his face. "What did you say?"

"I said..." I took a step toward him, "...you were never supposed to be my mate, right? Isn't that what you started to say last time?"

His jaw tightened. "You were never supposed to be in danger."

"Too late," I said, burning heat rising in my mouth. "You have already broken me."

For a moment, something broke across his face. Not the hard, perfect Alpha-in-training face he always wore, but something real. Raw. His voice, when he spoke, was barely a whisper.

"I didn't know... it would hurt you like that."

I stepped back, my heart racing. "It did. And it still does."

His golden eyes searched for mine, but I couldn't let myself drown in them again. Not when I was still hurting inside.

The air between us crackled... then broke. "Wow," came a voice laced with poison. "How touching."

Celeste stood a few paces away, arms crossed, her red gown shining like spilled rubies in the dying sun. Her smile was sharp enough to cut a bone.

"Don't worry, Layla," she said, her voice sweet and cruel. "Soon, you'll be nothing at all."

She walked off, hips swinging with pride. Kade didn't defend me this time. He didn't even look at her, but worse... he didn't stop her either.

That night, I curled beneath my blanket in the servant's room, eyes wide open, looking at the cracked ceiling. Sleep wouldn't come.

The letter from Elias pulsed in my chest like a second heart. Sage's words mixed in my head: You are the wound. And the cure. And then the pain started. It wasn't normal.

It came like a flash of lightning through my spine, white-hot and blinding. I doubled over, gasping.

My bones... shifted. Not slowly. Not gradually, like I'd heard the first shift should be.

No. This was a storm going through my body.

I screamed, grabbing at the floor. Heat poured through my blood like liquid metal. My skin burned. My teeth ached. My limbs twisted, cracked, and rearranged themselves.

My wolf... silent for so long... howled inside me. Not in agony, but in fury. The room blurred, darkened, and then flooded with silver.

I saw the moon through the window, high and wide and watching. Its light pierced through me, and the pain increased.

My view split, then brightened, then dimmed again. I tried to cry for help, but my voice was gone. My hands scratched at the wooden floor as fur pushed through my skin, but this wasn't normal.

My shift didn't follow the plan I'd been taught. It didn't come with balance; it came with fire. I felt my wolf's mind... so close, so raw... but she wasn't merging. She was fighting. Screaming. Writhing.

This wasn't a joining; it was a fracture. A war. "Help..." I tried to speak, but my jaw was already extending, cracking open. My scream became a snarl.

I thrashed, breaking the table, the wall... wood split like twigs. My heat spilled from my skin. The room smelled like smoke and wild herbs. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, and suddenly....

Everything stopped. Still. Quiet. I lay there, half-shifted, half-broken. My vision returned slowly, and when it did, I caught sight of my image in the broken glass.

My wolf's eyes stared back at me, but they weren't mine. They glowed a deep, molten red.

Not gold. Not silver. Blood-red, and behind them, something stirred. Something old. Ivy burst in moments later, breathless.

"Oh my Goddess... Layla... what happened?"

I couldn't move... could barely move, but I saw her face pale, her lips part in shock.

"I... I felt something. From the woods. From you. Layla... that wasn't a normal shift." I nodded weakly. She knelt beside me, trembling.

"Your eyes... they're not supposed to be that color." I tried to stand, but my legs fell beneath me. Ivy helped me up, wrapping a blanket around my body.

"We have to get you to Sage," she said.

"Now. Before anyone else finds out."

Because I already knew what this meant. The shift wasn't just my wolf breaking free. It was something else breaking through, and whatever it was-it wasn't bound by pack rules or genes.

It was older, it was wild, and it was mine.