Chapter 4 The Hunt

Three days passed without another word from Luca. He stopped coming to lunch, and I only caught glimpses of him in the hallways-always surrounded by other students who gave him the same wary respect they might show a wild animal.

Emma noticed my distraction. "You're not still thinking about Luca Thorn, are you?" she asked as we walked to her car after school. "Trust me, Aria. That family is bad news."

"What do you mean?"

She glanced around nervously, then lowered her voice. "People talk. Animals go missing when the moon's full. Hikers disappear in those woods and turn up days later with no memory of where they've been." She fumbled with her keys. "And the Thorns are always around when weird stuff happens."

That evening, I couldn't focus on homework. Every sound from outside made me look toward the forest, expecting to see golden eyes watching from the shadows. Finally, I gave up and decided to make tea-Mom's old remedy for restless nights.

I was waiting for the kettle to boil when the howling started.

It was different this time-not the lonely call I'd heard my first night, but something urgent. Desperate. Multiple voices joined in, creating a symphony that raised every hair on my body.

Without thinking, I grabbed my jacket and slipped out the back door.

The moon was nearly full, casting silver light through the trees as I followed the sound deeper into the forest than I'd ever gone before. The howling grew louder, more frantic, and underneath it I could hear something else-growls, snarls, the sound of violence.

I broke through a cluster of pine trees into a small clearing and froze.

Luca was on his knees in the center of the space, blood streaming from deep gashes across his chest and arms. Surrounding him were three of the massive wolf-creatures I'd encountered before, their lips pulled back to reveal gleaming fangs.

"Stop!" The word tore from my throat before I could think.

All four heads turned toward me. The wolves' eyes glowed red in the moonlight, while Luca's held nothing but terror-not for himself, but for me.

"Run, Aria! Run!"

But I couldn't move. Something was happening inside me-a heat building in my chest, spreading through my veins like liquid fire. The air around me began to shimmer, and I felt power awakening that I'd never known I possessed.

One of the wolves lunged at me, and instinct took over.

I threw my hands up defensively, and silver light exploded from my palms. The creature yelped and crashed into a tree, its fur smoking where the light had touched it. The other two backed away, whimpering.

"Impossible," I heard Luca whisper.

The light faded, leaving me swaying on my feet. The wolves slunk away into the darkness, but not before their leader-the largest of the three-fixed me with eyes full of hate and recognition.

*"Moonbound,"* it growled in a voice that was barely human. *"The prophecy awakens."*

Then they were gone, and I collapsed to my knees beside Luca, my hands shaking as I reached for his wounds.

"What just happened?" I whispered. "What am I?"

Luca caught my hands in his, his gray eyes intense with pain and something else-awe, maybe, or fear. "You're everything we've been waiting for," he said quietly. "And everything we've been afraid of."