Chapter 5

“I’m part of the Moon Guardians, as I mentioned.”

“Okay, but aren’t you more important compared to the others?”

“As long as my dad rules, not really,” he replies. “Guess you could say I’m a backup alpha if something happens to him. Which is unlikely. Nothing can kill that stubborn old fool.”

“You don’t seem to be close to him.”

“Not that much, no,” Elijah sighs. “But enough about me. Why are you out here in the middle of nowhere?”

“My mom dumped me at the train station, so I stayed here hoping one of you would come for me.” I pause, granting him a dubious look. “How did you know where I was? Did Luca tell you?”

“Luca, who?” He rolls his sleeve back down. “No. I used magic and my senses to track you.”

“You said our marks look similar.” I redirect the conversation. “Mine doesn’t look anything like yours. Not even close. Mine’s surrounded by creepy veins and looks like weird symbols are forming in it. It glows, too. Like my—wait, are my eyes still glowing?”

“Like a spotlight.” His eyes narrow onto my arm, covered by my jacket’s sleeve. “Can I see it? The dark veins are normal, by the way. It passes, so don’t worry.”

“I’m glad to hear that.” I push back my hair to reveal my neck. “Mine almost takes up my entire neck.”

“Your neck?” Elijah’s eyes jerk up from my arm. His face contorts in shock. He swoops forward and grabs my shoulder. “What the hell?”

My brows shoot up. “What? Is there something wrong with it?”

His gaze meets mine. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“What do you mean?” Anxiety swells in my chest. “This isn’t normal?”

“No, it isn’t.” He steps back like he got burned. “How exactly did you get marked?”

“Luca,” I falter. “I was at school, doing, well, what you do at school, when he grabbed me and bit me on the neck. That’s how it happened.”

“Luca?” Elijah pulls a face. “I don’t recall any recruiters by that name.” He shakes his head. “And what weirdo bites you on the neck? Unless he’s your boyfriend?”

“Hell no.” My eyes stretch wide. “Wait—does this mean I’m not like you? Could it be some kind of prank?”

“No, you’re definitely one of us.” He gives me a sideways look. “I can sense the wolf in you. Quite strong, even for a pup.”

I stare down at my feet, doubtful. “Maybe something went wrong when he marked me? You said we use magic. Does this marking process involve magic? And why is your mark on your arm?”

“Sort of. We siphon energy from the huntress. She’s the only one who can grant us the gift to mark. Actually, we only mark when she demands it.” He takes a step closer to me. “The marking process does involve biting, but by normal standards, it’s on the arm or, in some cases, the leg. If this Luca isn’t dating you, then he’s a creep for biting your neck. It’s too… personal there.”

“Great…” So Luca is unstable. “And the huntress? What do you mean?”

“Diana.”

“As in from mythology?”

“Yes, but she’s not a myth,” he replies. “Either she favors you a lot, or you’ve seriously ticked her off.”

I swallow, not sure what to make of this.

Elijah lifts his hand in front of him, flicking his wrist. A few frosty sparks dart from his palm, drifting mid-air, until they commence into a swirling motion in the form of a lifesize oval.

Not a moment later, a distorted mirror appear, revealing my stunned expression in it.

“What the actual crap? How did you–?” my voice comes out in broken gusts. “Why do we need a mirror?”

“That, Hailey, isn’t a mirror. It’s a portal that will take us straight to the Academia of the Moon.”

“Why do we need to go through that?” I wave a hand toward it. “Why can’t we take a car? Or a bus, or a plane, or anything… normal?”

The apprehension inside my belly explodes into full-blown panic. The moment I walk through that thing, every last bit of ordinary I have left will be nothing but a memory.

I peer at Elijah, sizing him up. He’s undeniably good-looking, and on a better day, I’d even flirt with him. He has that innocent boyish charm—the kind that always gets the girl home before curfew, holds open doors, and helps elderly ladies cross the street.

The question is, is it all a façade? Can I trust him? What’s waiting behind that portal? Is it the academy, as he claims? Or some place more sinister?

I don’t have many options. Everyone I know has abandoned me, and if I don’t go, I could end up slaughtering the entire town. That is, if I don’t end up dead first. My wide eyes turn toward Elijah.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, a small red light flickers with intent, but I can’t pinpoint the reason behind it.

“Unfortunately, it’s the fastest way to get to the academy, and we don’t have much time to get back.”

“Time for what?”

“Before they send the hounds. If I’m out too long, they assume something went wrong and backups come running. Trust me, we don’t want that to happen.”

“Oh?”

Elijah inches closer, so close that his breath brushes my cheeks as he speaks. It sends a gentle shiver through my body. “The hounds are vicious.”

“I don’t like this.” I face the mirror. “What if I decide I don’t want to go?”

“I could leave you here. It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve had to do that,” he shrugs. “But you’re a wild card, and I can get into a lot of trouble if I leave you here, knowing what I know.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“Which part?”

I roll my eyes. “Wild card. How am I one?”

“That interesting mark you’ve got. We need to figure out why yours looks like that, and we will need your neck to track down the guy who marked you. Lucas, or was it Luca, you said?”

I step back. “My neck?”

“Yeah, how else are we supposed to track the guy and ask him why yours looks like that?”

“You’re going to take my neck?” my voice echoes, and I take a few more strides back, sheltering my neck with my palm. “You’re not touching my neck.”

Elijah frowns before his face contorts into surprise. “Oh, no. That’s not what I mean. We’re not going to harm you—”

“I don’t believe you.” The calmness slips from my body like a veil getting ripped off, unleashing every ounce of panic I’ve lacked since the moment he showed up. “You did something to me.”

His shoulders drop. “I had to calm you somehow.”

“You used magic to calm me.”

“I had to. I could tell you were going to put up a fight.” He lifts a hand and reaches for me, but I take another step back. “I swear, we’re not planning to do anything harmful to you. We’re here to help you. If you run free, you could die.”

“How do I know it isn’t a story your people spun to lure us in?”

Hysteria isn’t pretty. I’ve never experienced it before, but I can tell you now that it exhausts you the second it creeps up. My thought process turns murky. I slip into an abyss of mind-numbing fear, my legs weighing tons and my body begins to tremble.

The only thing I can comprehend is that I need to run.

“No, Hailey—”

Elijah curses as I turn and make a beeline across the street, right into oncoming traffic—straight into the path of a speeding truck.

Before I can grasp the situation, large fangs sink into the collar of my jacket and jerk me back in time to avoid getting run over.

When I look up, I’m staring straight into the eyes of a gigantic wolf.

I scream.