RISE, LUNA OF ASHES

na moved along its frozen length like a phantom that had forgotten how to fade, her boots cutting quiet trails through the dee

d behind her eyelids Rex's unyielding stance, his refusal to speak her name, and the trium

nothing more than a dull, heavy ache beneath her ribs. It was a spiritual bruise that would never fade, a constant reminder of the moment her destiny had been rewritten without her consent. By the time she reached the outermost perimeter of her homeland, three full days had blurred together in a haze of physical exhaustion and spiritual numbness. Above the canopy, the full moon had begun its downward wane, shrinking in the gray sky as if

ttage sat nestled within a secluded grove of ancient willow trees a quiet, sacred sanctuary that had always smelled of wild chamomile, crushed pine sap, and her mother's fresh-baked oat bread. But as she drew closer, those comforting scents of home were violently obliterated by a thick, acrid reek that ma

slamming violently against her ribs like a trapped bird. She vaulted over the fallen wooden

Only the dry, mocking crackle of dying flames and the soft crumble of falling plaster. She stumbled wildly through the wreckage, her bare hands digging blindly into the hot, burned wood. Jagged splinters embedded themselves deep into her palms, and the heat scorched the skin of her fingers, but she felt none of it. Blood smeared across her skin as she clawed through the ash, her chest heaving with desperate, ragged sobs that tore at her throat. "P

red. As she collapsed among the debris, her fingers brushed against a small metal object buried in the grey dust. She pulled it free and wiped away the soot. It was her father's brass wedding band. It was still warm from the fire.

DOW IN

ed into her beast. Her wolf had not offered a single word of comfort, retreating into the deepest shadows of her mind to mourn. But as the hours dragged on, the cold, physical ache in her limbs began to morph into something far more dangerous. The grief began to curdle into a pure, unadulterated rage. They had not been satisfied with stripping away her dignity in front of the entire council. They had not bee

ouncil. It was Elder Theon. Gina snarled, a low, guttural sound rising from her chest as she forced her exhausted body to stand, her bl

mn gravity as he paused at the edge of the burned perimeter. "I came to find you,

step forward despite her trembling legs. "Turn

on said softly, his voice heavy with what

n burned out!" Elder Theon hesitated. He dropped his eyes to the soot-covered earth, his jaw tightening as he searched for words. That single moment of hesitation was all the confirmation Gina needed. Her voice dropped to a low, lethal whisper that carried more threat than a howl. "You knew." "I suspected," Theon admitted quietly, his

n, allowing his bond with Jessica to be artificially solidified in its place." Her blood ran entirely cold, a wave of nausea washing over her as the unimaginable cruelty of the plot fully registered in her mind. "They murdered my mother and father..." she whispered, her voice shaking with disbelief, "...just to weaken a connection that Rex already publicly rejected?" Theon's total silence was the only answer he offered. Gina took a shaky, unsteady breath, the world spinning a

bloodied fist. "It is weakened, Gina," Theon warned softly. "And that was their ultimate objective. The bond must fray completely before it can be rewritten by another. You are in grave danger if you remain here." Gina look

ES OF T

sumed the wooden platforms Gina had built with her own bare hands. Dense, white smoke rose toward the heavens, carrying the spirits of her mother and father away from the cruel, blood-soaked earth. No one from the Crescent Moon pack cam

, settling on her shoulders and dusting her dark hair, but she didn't bother to brush it away. In her right palm, she tightly clutched her mother's silver pendant a small, delicate

answer for every drop of blood spilled on this soil." That very night, as the pyres burn

funeral fires. She turned her face toward the treacherous, frozen mountains of the far north a desolate, wild landscape where the ancient Crimson Seers lived in voluntary exile. They were old, powerful wolves who had been banished generations ago for their practice of forbidden blood ma

OF THE CR

sheets of black ice. The biting winds howled through the stone canyons like dying beasts, tearing at her clothes and freezing the sweat on her skin. Ye

begged them to take her in. She demanded they teach her their secrets, to unlock her true potential, and to grant her the power to reshape her destiny. They looked down at her with cold, unfeeling eyes and flatly refused. To them, she was merely another bro

rnered in a trap. For three agonizing days, she remained outside the temple gates. She bled onto their sacred stone floors as they struck her down again and again. She endured their brutal physical trials, refusing to yield even as her

cked wide open to the cold mountain sky. The High Seer an ancient, blind wolf covered in faded blood-runes-approached her motionless form. He knelt beside her, placing a weathered, scarred palm flat against her bloody chest to read the final vibrations of h

ures of her broken soul. The surrounding elders stepped back in absolute shock, their cold indifference shattering int

ous and untamed that had been sleeping within her bloodline for generations-a primal, Wildborn force that the Moon

s blind eyes wide with awe, and slowly dropped to one