The werewolf curse

The Moon Bene

s began t

ood. The stars were gone, and above her, the moon hung black and crack

with sweat, the Bone Sigil fragment g

her, instantly alert

e this time. I saw

I

er speaks through it. It d

"We should ca

wers. Real ones. Not stories passed down or w

er. "Where will

haven't looked," Mar

d. "That place

should be forbidden a

aid to be the place where the first Bound were created-or cursed-depending on who told

one who knew how to

filled with ghosts," she warned

anyone to come

ssed her arms. "Then yo

Mara and Kaelen

p in hand, they found the runes-faded but intact. Mara pressed the fragment

leasing a breath of air that sm

arkness. Col

The tunnel widened into a chamber lined with statues-massive wolves carved fr

nter stoo

tone, bu

rating in her pouch. She reached out-and a

from the walls, b

of the beginning. Do you see

to know what we are. Where we

hen a figure stepped from the shadows-t

not Ser

e was etched with grief, and her

said. "Last Matriar

ctively beside Mar

f me endures. Bound in this plac

orward. "Tell

forest, blessed by the Old Moon to stand between nature and man. But when men feared what they could not control

wisted that,

lied. "And in that fear, she fed th

st Howl... i

nce. Some wanted dominion. They broke from the Pact, embrace

y n

rwenna said. "The Sigil has awakened. The for

caught. "Can

ly. "But you can lead us

forward. "What

owed rise, the world will demand blood. The humans will fear ag

uiet. "And if I st

than Bound. More than w

mber tr

e Sigil. But know this-when it is whole again, your pat

t, fingers brus

soul. Visions surged-wolves running across the sky, men kneeling bef

n it wa

l was wh

a was d

at echoed in the walls. Her teeth ac

ht her as s

ar

e gasped. "I'm

ok her head. "Yo

enna faded, her voice th

lowed rise. And the mo

he forest

r. The boundary between this world an

o the light, they both turned

rled int

d. "They're

y, her eyes narrowing.

the Sigil

forest a

th whi

ith a