Chapter 4 Blood Moon

The words didn’t make sense.

Elara stared at Lucien, her red-tinted vision slowly fading as the heat inside her body settled back into a heavy warmth beneath her skin.

“A Blood Moon… what?” she asked, her voice unsteady.

Lucien didn’t answer immediately. He was still watching her carefully, his silver eyes sharp and focused, as if he were studying something rare.

Or dangerous.

“The last time one appeared,” he said finally, “was over a hundred years ago.”

A chill slid down her spine.

“I don’t understand,” Elara said. “I thought wolves were just… wolves. Some stronger, some weaker.”

Lucien shook his head once.

“That’s what most packs believe,” he replied. “But there are bloodlines older than the packs. Wolves born under specific lunar cycles. Wolves tied directly to the Moon’s power.”

Elara’s stomach tightened.

“And Blood Moon wolves?” she asked quietly.

Lucien’s gaze darkened.

“They’re different.”

The wind moved through the clearing, rustling the trees around them. The full moon hung overhead, bright and heavy, its light almost silver-red against the night sky.

Elara wrapped her arms around herself.

“Different how?”

Lucien stepped closer, his voice lowering slightly.

“Stronger. Faster. Harder to kill.” He paused. “And their power grows with their emotions.”

Elara swallowed.

“That doesn’t sound like a good thing.”

“It isn’t,” he said.

Silence settled between them.

Her mind raced, trying to make sense of everything.

Rejected.

Attacked.

That surge of strength.

The way the rogues had looked at her… afraid.

“I don’t feel strong,” she admitted quietly. “I feel like I’m falling apart.”

Lucien’s expression softened slightly, but his voice remained steady.

“That’s because your wolf isn’t fully awake yet.”

Her heart skipped.

“Fully awake?”

He nodded toward the moon.

“Blood Moon wolves don’t shift like normal wolves. Their transformation comes in stages. Power first. Instinct second. Form last.”

Elara looked down at her hands.

They looked normal.

Human.

But she could still feel it that slow, heavy pulse beneath her skin. Like something sleeping. Waiting.

“And when the form comes?” she asked.

Lucien didn’t hesitate.

“You won’t be weak anymore.”

The words should have comforted her.

Instead, they made her uneasy.

“Why does it sound like you’re warning me?” she asked.

Lucien held her gaze.

“Because Blood Moon wolves don’t just get stronger,” he said. “They get more dangerous.”

The warmth inside her chest pulsed slightly at that word.

Dangerous.

A memory flashed through her mind.

The way her hand had broken the rogue’s neck.

The way her body had moved without thinking.

Elara’s breathing quickened.

“What if I hurt someone?” she asked.

Lucien’s answer came immediately.

“You will.”

She stared at him.

He didn’t soften the words.

“You won’t be able to control it at first,” he continued. “The power responds to instinct and emotion. Fear. Anger. Pain. If you let those take over…”

He didn’t finish the sentence.

He didn’t need to.

Elara’s chest tightened.

“I don’t want this,” she whispered.

For a moment, Lucien said nothing.

Then he spoke quietly.

“The Moon didn’t ask what you wanted.”

The truth of it hit her harder than anything else he had said.

Because she knew he was right.

The wind shifted suddenly.

Lucien’s head turned sharply toward the trees.

His body went completely still.

Elara felt it a second later.

Not a sound.

A presence.

Several of them.

Moving.

Fast.

Lucien’s voice dropped, calm but urgent.

“Stay behind me.”

Her heart began to pound.

“What is it?” she whispered.

“Rogues,” he said. “More than before.”

The trees at the edge of the clearing rustled.

Shapes moved between the shadows.

Then one wolf stepped into the moonlight.

Then another.

And another.

Five this time.

Their eyes locked onto Elara immediately.

Hunger.

Recognition.

The largest one growled low.

“They can smell your power,” Lucien said quietly. “And they want it.”

The wolves began to circle.

Elara’s pulse thundered in her ears.

“I can’t fight them again,” she whispered.

“Yes, you can,” Lucien replied.

His silver eyes flicked toward her briefly.

“And this time, don’t hold back.”

The largest rogue lunged.

Lucien moved first.

His shift was instant.

One second he was human.

The next, a massive silver wolf slammed into the attacker, sending it flying across the clearing.

The other rogues charged.

Elara stumbled backward, panic rising as the fight exploded around her snarling, claws, the heavy impact of bodies hitting the ground.

One rogue broke away.

And came straight for her.

Fear spiked.

The heat inside her chest ignited.

No.

Not fear.

Something else.

Anger.

The memory of laughter.

You’re weak.

The wolf leaped.

The world slowed.

The burning surged through her veins, stronger than before, flooding her muscles with power.

Her vision shifted red.

Her teeth clenched.

And this time

She didn’t retreat.

She stepped forward.

The rogue’s jaws snapped toward her.

Elara grabbed its neck mid-lunge.

Power exploded through her arm.

She slammed it into the ground.

Hard.

The earth cracked beneath the impact.

The wolf went still.

She stared down at it, breathing heavily.

Not shocked this time.

Not afraid.

Behind her, the fight ended.

Lucien’s wolf stood over the last rogue, blood staining the moonlit grass.

He shifted back slowly, his eyes immediately finding her.

For a long moment, he didn’t speak.

He was looking at the ground beneath her feet.

At the cracked earth.

Then his gaze lifted to her eyes.

Which were still glowing red.

“Well,” he said quietly.

“That’s faster than I expected.”

The heat inside her began to fade.

Her vision cleared.

Her legs suddenly felt weak.

“What… what did I just do?” she whispered.

Lucien stepped closer, his voice calm.

“You stopped being prey.”

The words settled heavily in the air.

Elara looked at the fallen rogue.

Then at her hands.

They were shaking.

Not from fear.

From adrenaline.

From power.

From something deeper that she didn’t understand.

“I didn’t feel scared,” she said slowly.

Lucien nodded.

“That’s the dangerous part.”

Silence stretched between them.

The moonlight brightened overhead.

Then Lucien spoke again, his tone more serious now.

“Elara… if the packs find out what you are…”

Her stomach tightened.

“What will they do?”

Lucien didn’t hesitate.

“They won’t reject you this time.”

A pause.

“They’ll hunt you.”

The wind moved through the clearing.

And for the first time since le

aving Bloodfang territory…

Elara realized something.

She hadn’t escaped her old life.

She had just become something far more dangerous than anything she had left behind.