Marked By Moonlight

Marked By Moonlight

George Mills

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When you turn eighteen in Ebonridge, the truth about who you really are is revealed. Most teenagers discover they are ordinary. Amara Vale does not. The moment she touches the Moon Stone, the ancestral grove awakens - igniting a forbidden werewolf bloodline within her. Suddenly, the hidden creatures of the forest can sense her, and none can ignore what she has become. As danger stirs and long-buried secrets emerge, Amara must decide who truly controls her destiny: the father she has never met... or the ancient magic flowing through her veins. Marked by Moonlight is a story of survival, identity, and the cost of uncovering the truth.

Chapter 1 The mark

On my eighteenth birthday, the moon felt like a silent witness, hanging heavy and bright over Ebonridge, almost as if it was poised for something big.

I leaned against my window frame, a weird, restless energy buzzing just beneath my skin. It wasn't exactly fear, more like the whole world was holding its breath, just waiting.

A dog barked somewhere far off, then silence. Even the night seemed super hushed, expectant.

The forest bordering the village looked eerily dark, its shadows stretching like grasping fingers under the moonlight. For just a second, I thought I saw something move among the trees, something tall, unnaturally still. My breath hitched, but when I blinked, it was gone. 'Just nerves,' I told myself.

Then, the drums started.

Slow, deep, and steady.

Each beat seemed to vibrate right through the village, settling into my bones. The Call. We all knew about it, though no one ever talked about it straight-up. You just waited for your turn, hoping it would skip you.

My hands clenched into fists.

A soft knock on the door.

"It's time," my mother's voice, steady enough, but her eyes were anything but. They scanned my face with an intensity that made my throat go dry. I nodded, following her downstairs, my legs feeling kind of disconnected.

Outside, torches cast a flickering glow on the village square. Old stones, etched with symbols no one remembers, were scattered everywhere. The villagers stood back, murmuring, their stares feeling like a physical weight. The elders, faces completely blank, formed a circle around the Moon Stone. It pulsed with a faint, inner silver light, and as I got closer, that strange buzzing in my chest got stronger, pulling at me.

One by one, the other young people touched the stone. Nothing happened. They were sent away, their relief practically radiating off them normal, safe, regular. My heart hammered with each step they took away.

Then it was my turn. The silence in the square felt suffocating. I glanced back at my mother, her lips a thin, white line, her hands clasped tight. Turning back to the stone, I reached out.

The second my fingers made contact, a jolt of heat shot up my arm, exploding in my chest like wildfire. The stone flared, blindingly bright, and the drums cut off mid-beat, plunging the square into a heavy silence. From the depths of the forest, a long, low howl answered.

Suddenly, my senses went into overdrive. I heard the crackle of torches, the sharp breaths of the crowd, the rustle of leaves miles away. It felt like the whole forest was awake, breathing.

I stumbled back, clutching my chest, a burning sensation spreading under my skin. Elder Corvin stepped forward, his face pale as a ghost.

"She carries the mark," he announced, his voice heavy.

"The bloodline we prayed for would never come back."

A wave of hushed whispers rippled through the crowd in fear, shock and dawning recognition. My stomach churned. Even though I didn't get his words, my body did. My heart pounded, wild and erratic.

Then, a whisper in my mind, not a sound, but a thought:

Run.

My mother's hand found mine, her grip firm, grounding. But her face was pale. At the edge of the forest, amber eyes gleamed between the trees, watching. They weren't angry, not threatening. They were just waiting.

I should have been terrified. A part of me was, my breath catching, my hands shaking. But beneath the fear, something ancient, something familiar, stirred inside me, as if it too had been waiting.

"Whatever happens tonight," my mother whispered, her voice trembling just a bit, "do not go into the forest."

Footsteps circled the square, slow, deliberate. A low growl vibrated through the night air. A tall shadow flickered past a nearby wall. And in that moment, it all became terrifyingly clear;

They hadn't come to hurt me.

They had come for me.

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Chapters
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Marked By Moonlight
1

Chapter 1 The mark

03/01/2026

2

Chapter 2 The Watching Wood

03/01/2026

3

Chapter 3 The First Shift

04/01/2026

4

Chapter 4 The Elder's Truth

05/01/2026

5

Chapter 5 The Boundary Line

06/01/2026

6

Chapter 6 Learning to listen

07/01/2026

7

Chapter 7 The First Lesson

08/01/2026

8

Chapter 8 When the forest Answers

09/01/2026

9

Chapter 9 The weight of knowing

11/01/2026

10

Chapter 10 Into the Quite

11/01/2026

11

Chapter 11 What The Dark Hid

14/01/2026

12

Chapter 12 Lines that Shift

14/01/2026

13

Chapter 13 When The Forest Retort

15/01/2026

14

Chapter 14 The shape of trust

15/01/2026

15

Chapter 15 When The Hunt Begins

16/01/2026

16

Chapter 16 Eyes Beyond the Boundary

16/01/2026

17

Chapter 17 The weight of being chosen

17/01/2026

18

Chapter 18 Learning the shape of power

17/01/2026

19

Chapter 19 The silence beneath the trees

18/01/2026

20

Chapter 20 Bound by the old pact

18/01/2026

21

Chapter 21 Power has a price

19/01/2026

22

Chapter 22 The cost of knowing

20/01/2026

23

Chapter 23 The trial was never fair

20/01/2026

24

Chapter 24 He was never alone

20/01/2026

25

Chapter 25 The Aftermath is never silent

22/01/2026

26

Chapter 26 The shape of power

23/01/2026

27

Chapter 27 What Stands Between Us

24/01/2026

28

Chapter 28 Lines That Cannot Be Erased

25/01/2026

29

Chapter 29 When fear finds a voice

26/01/2026

30

Chapter 30 The weight of watching eyes

27/01/2026

31

Chapter 31 The shape of their intent

29/01/2026

32

Chapter 32 What Authority Fears Most

29/01/2026

33

Chapter 33 What wakes in Daylight

30/01/2026

34

Chapter 34 The weight of staying

31/01/2026

35

Chapter 35 The Threads of Power

01/02/2026

36

Chapter 36 The First Storm

02/02/2026

37

Chapter 37 The Hidden Alliance

03/02/2026

38

Chapter 38 Alliances in the Shadows

04/02/2026

39

Chapter 39 What the threads remember

06/02/2026

40

Chapter 40 The Weight of Staying

07/02/2026