The Full Moon

Sable's POV

---

Two days. That's all I have.

Forty-eight hours to learn how to control a wolf that's been sleeping for eighteen years and is now wide awake, hungry, and far too powerful for my body to contain.

"Again."

Garrick's voice cuts through my thoughts like a blade. I'm on my back in the dirt of the training grounds, my ribs aching, my breath coming in ragged gasps. He's standing over me, not even winded.

"I said again."

"I heard you." I push myself up, my arms trembling. "I'm not deaf."

"Then stop fighting like you are." He circles me, his eyes cold. "You hesitate. Every time. You see an opening and you wait. Why?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you."

"Wrong answer." He lunges, and I barely dodge. "You hesitate because you're scared. Scared of your own power. Scared of what you might do."

He's right. I hate that he's right.

"So what do I do?"

"Stop being scared." He throws a punch. I block it, barely. "You could kill me with one swipe of your claws. You know that?"

"Yes."

"Then why don't you?"

"Because I'm not a murderer."

"Good." He steps back, surprising me. "That's good. But your enemies won't hesitate. They'll kill you the first chance they get. So you need to learn control. Not suppression. Control."

I nod, wiping sweat from my forehead. "Okay. Again."

---

Merrick's lessons are different.

We sit in the library, of all places, surrounded by books and silence. He doesn't make me fight. He makes me think.

"The Trials aren't just physical," he says, sliding a piece of paper across the table. "They're psychological. The arena is designed to break you. To make you lose control."

I look at the paper. It's a map of the arena, detailed and precise.

"How did you get this?"

"I have my ways." He leans back. "Study it. Memorize it. Every corner, every obstacle, every blind spot. When you're in there, you won't have time to think. You need to know it like your own heartbeat."

"Why are you helping me?"

He pauses. For a moment, something flickers in his dark eyes. Something almost human.

"Because you're interesting," he says finally. "And I don't like losing."

"That's not an answer."

"It's the only one you're getting."

---

Stellan's lessons are the hardest.

Not because they're physically demanding. Because they require me to do something I've never been able to do.

Trust.

We sit in a clearing in the woods, far from the academy. The moon is almost full, hanging low and heavy in the sky. Stellan is cross-legged across from me, his pale eyes closed.

"Close your eyes," he says.

I do.

"Now reach for your wolf. Not to control her. Not to suppress her. Just... reach."

I try. I feel her there, pacing beneath my skin. She's restless. Hungry. She knows the full moon is coming.

"Good," Stellan murmurs. "Now let her reach back."

"I can't."

"You can. You're just afraid."

"Of course I'm afraid. She almost killed you."

"She didn't." His voice is calm. "She stopped. She chose to stop. That means she trusts you."

"She attacked you."

"Because she was scared. Because she didn't understand what was happening. Sound familiar?"

I open my eyes. He's watching me, his expression unreadable.

"Why do you trust me?" I ask. "You don't even know me."

"I know enough." He pauses. "I've been dreaming about you for years. The woman with silver eyes. The child hidden in darkness. I knew you were real. I knew I'd find you. And now I have."

"That doesn't mean you should trust me."

"No. But I do." He closes his eyes again. "Now. Try again."

---

The training is brutal. Two days of fighting, thinking, and reaching for a part of myself I've been denying my whole life. By the end of the second day, I'm exhausted. Bruised. Bleeding.

But I'm also stronger.

I can feel my wolf now. Not just as a presence, but as a partner. She's still wild. Still dangerous. But she's listening. She's learning.

So am I.

---

The summons comes at sunset.

A junior enforcer knocks on my door and tells me Alpha Whitmore wants to see me. Immediately. I follow him through the halls, my heart pounding. This isn't a social call.

Alpha Whitmore's office is on the top floor. When I walk in, he's standing by the window, looking out at the darkening sky. Odette is there too, sitting in a chair by the desk. She looks pale. Nervous.

"Sit down, Sable," Alpha Whitmore says.

I sit.

He turns. His face is unreadable, but his eyes are sharp. Calculating.

"I know about your wolf," he says.

My blood runs cold.

"I've known for a while. Since the night of the attack on the road. The night you saved Odette."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't lie to me." His voice is calm, but there's steel beneath it. "I've kept your secret. I've protected you. But now... things are changing."

"What do you mean?"

"The Alpha Trials are tomorrow. And you're not ready."

"I've been training."

"I know. With the Voss boy, the Hale boy, and the Crowe boy." He smiles, but it doesn't reach his eyes. "Interesting choice of allies."

"They're not my allies."

"They're something." He walks toward me, slow and deliberate. "I brought you into my home. I gave you a chance when no one else would. I've watched you grow. I've watched you hide. And now... I'm watching you become something I don't recognize."

"What do you want from me?"

"I want you to survive." He stops in front of my chair, looking down at me. "But if you can't... if you lose control... I will be forced to put you down myself."

The words hang in the air like a death sentence.

"It's not a threat," he continues. "It's a promise. I won't let you hurt my pack. I won't let you hurt my daughter."

I look at Odette. She's staring at me with wide eyes. For the first time in two years, she doesn't look at me with contempt. She looks... scared.

"I understand," I say.

"Do you?" Alpha Whitmore tilts his head. "I hope so. For your sake."

---

The morning of the Trials arrives too fast.

I stand at the entrance of the arena, my heart pounding. The other competitors are already inside. I can hear them. Smell them. Wolves, all of them. Hungry for blood.

Garrick is there, standing tall and ready. Merrick is beside him, calm and calculating. Stellan is across the arena, his pale eyes fixed on me.

Odette is there too, her expression composed but tense. She's competing. Of course she is. She has something to prove.

The Headmaster's voice booms across the arena.

"The Alpha Trials will begin at moonrise. The rules are simple. The last wolf standing wins. There are no other rules."

No other rules. No mercy. No safety.

I step into the arena.

The gates close behind me.

The full moon rises.

And then... it starts.

The shift begins in my bones, hot and violent. I feel my body contorting, changing. But something is wrong. This isn't the shift I've practiced. This is something else. Something bigger. Something more.

Power floods through me. More than I've ever felt. More than I can control. I hear gasps. Screams. People backing away.

I look at my reflection in the bloodstained sand of the arena.

And I don't see a wolf.

I see something else.

Something that shouldn't exist.

The Moon-Touched aren't extinct. They're sleeping. And I'm about to wake them all up.

The last thing I hear before my consciousness slips away is Stellan's voice, clear and terrified.

"She's not just Moon-Touched. She's the daughter of the Blood Moon. And nothing will ever be the same."