The air cracked like thunder.
The Red Moon pulsed above, a deep, throbbing crimson that seemed to match Mira’s heartbeat. Her claws dug into the dirt. Her breath came out ragged and feral.
She could hear everything.
Grey’s voice; urgent. Distant.
Echo crying out.
Seventeen whispering her name.
And L-22’s steps behind her, quiet, confident, like the reaper closing in.
“You can’t hold it back forever,” L-22 said. “You were made to fracture.”
Mira’s vision blurred with red light as her wolf surged again. Her bones twisted mid-form, caught between control and collapse. The power rushing through her was no longer just hers. It was older. Hungrier.
Grey’s hands were on her shoulders, grounding her. “Mira. Look at me.”
She tried. But her eyes were shifting too fast: wolf, human, something else entirely.
“She’s crossing the resonance limit,” Ash hissed. “She’s going to shatter!”
“No,” Grey growled, pulling Mira’s face toward his. “You’re not done. You are not theirs.”
Her wolf roared but some
