The Luna Who Burned The Pack

always

low. Patient. It slithered through the halls

flames licked the walls like they were tasting som

er sc

uiet girl in the middl

d in the center of the fire

move, but I heard

e made f

ames swallo

t dry, hands shaking a

. Third time t

awn slice through the small window above my cot. The Healers' Hall was s

y eighteent

th their skin. The first shift. The Full Moon Ritual. The ch

celebrate that day. I heard them look forw

elt none

y skin. My life was not a p

my thoughts. I

rdinary. The small things. The threadbare rug under the bed. The chipped bowl

ne nev

inded me tha

d hair fell around me in gentle waves that ended at my

ds around my wrists. My mother's nec

d in a fire with my father. That no one knew their bloodline. That t

ey become a part of you. But if you allow it to

cheeks and I drew fresh air into my lungs and exhaled. My skin al

rd. The last thing I needed was another run-in with El

n't g

ugh," came a voice

this pack who didn't look at me

?" I asked, not h

aybe you'd ditch the rit

ot run

es I wish you would. Find a pack that

"Fungus is useful. K

"Spoken like

my chest

believed tha

ves prepare for their first shifts. We weren't allowed to train ourselves,

sharp, forms sloppy. One of them turned at

ealer mutt

lipped

t wal

one stood too close. They didn't have to say the wor

. It grounded me, and it was my way of remindin

rbs and stitch open wounds that were always around

e they'd be gifted, which Alpha heir might finally clai

I thought, I just said,

't so sure the Moon h

world glowed that strange blue befo

not know your bloodline. Where no one could stare too long at your hands and wonder wh

edge and let

patrols moved like dancers through the thick of the night, and the great

would stan

he Moon mig

n

pulsed faintly under my fingers, though it hadn't done that befo

re changing. The

ed my eyes, I heard f