Under the second moon

en twice i

as seven hours old

ghteen years old, and th

," she would say, touching the small blue crescent scar behind my left ear. "The sky had two moons. One white like bone. One blue like a bruise. No one had ever seen the blue one before. The elders said the Goddess made

y thick dark hair. It never hurt. Until tonight. Tonight

, was the blue one. Too close. Too wrong. The dogs stopped barking at the same second. The chickens went silent. In t

started to b

ng like a second heartbeat. Like it w

when I grabbed my coat. "They said the bi

the men shift into wolves on full moons and can run faster than horses, I was nothing. I couldn't shift. I couldn't heal. I was the

my river. My

wet fur. The moonlight was not silver. It was blue. Everything it touche

ching me. Something that had

ned s

all fours. Black fur that drank the moonlight. Eyes that were silver-white and too intel

t my neck.

feet away. The next its teeth were on my

cted to finally die lik

t exploded be

all at once. My back arched off the moss. My mouth opened but no sound ca

in, but different. Slower. Stronge

ature was still holding me. B

ere glowing blue. Pure, luminous, terrifying blue. Like the second moon itse

ispered. My voice sounded str

ost impossible

our valley, larger than any wolf in the Norther

kn

in the moss at my feet. A whimper left its

knows: Alphas do not kneel. Ever. They would

t meaning to, just to

breathing

mouth. "No! Breath

ted breathing agai

were wrong. I wasn't c

e was meant for me. It was

behind me, lo

putting its huge body between me and

adows, a ma

Not

irl in the valley knew his name and wh

ael Bla

long, his eyes amber, his face beautiful like a knife. Sharp and merciless. He was twenty-four, the most ruthless Alpha in the north. He had sworn to never take a

ing at my feet. Then at me. His

urned black. His wol

s voice low and ro

My glowing blue eye

es get weak. His wolf, the wolf that had never bowed to anyone, wh

i

oud, angry at his own wolf

feet growled back

ght made his tattooed skin glow. He was close enough that I could see the smal

d threw it aside like it was nothing. The creature yelped and ran

s just me

s still

don't have eyes like that. H

pered, but I didn't

neck, to the fresh bite mark that was glow

ftly, dangerousl

my chin, tilting my face up to the s

er eyes searching my glowing ones. "Do you know w

knel

die first. So tell me, little monster, what a

mine. A word in a language I had never learned, old and powerful an

ent rigid like he wa

red wide. His knee

bowed to anyone in twenty-four years of ruthless life, who h

eet, his head bowed, his big hands fisted

e us, watching. I could hear both our hearts pounding

shock, fury, awe, and something else that terrified me more t

nt, and furious when he said the wor

, I will never let you go. And the six Alphas who were bitten with you as babies? They are already coming for you. They remembe