Blood for Blood

Reya’s POV 

"There is no quiet tonight." My voice was ice. I stepped forward alone.

"Reya!"

"If they ever take my child again," I said. "There will be no mercy."

Before he could argue, I shifted. My bones cracked and reshaped, faster than a blink. Midnight fur, pulsing crimson streaks down my spine. My eyes flared white.

The Blood Moon rose with me.

The guards didn’t see me coming.

I tore through the front gate like parchment. My claws sliced through armor, muscle, and bone. Screams echoed into the night. The rogues scattered like rats.

"IT'S HER! THE LUNA! THE BLOOD MOON!"

"SHOOT HER!"

Arrows? Pitiful.

They bounced off my hide like twigs. I leapt to the second level, grabbed a rogue by the throat, and slammed him into the wall hard enough to splinter it

I let my claws do the talking.

I exploded through the stone wall. Magic flared up around me, but I let it burn. My rage was hotter.

Six guards. All armed.

"FIRE!"

Silver rounds. They stung. I snarled, felt the poison coil in my veins—and purged it. My blood hissed against the floor, burning like acid.

I lunged. One down. Two. Three. The last tried to run.

I dragged him back by his spine.

He fumbled for the rune key. I yanked it from his belt, shoved it into the lock.

The door groaned open.

Chloe.

She stood at the doorway, dagger in hand. Her face pale, her aura dripping with borrowed power. Behind her—Wyvern's crest.

"You’re done," I said coldly.

She smirked. "No. You are. You think rescuing him matters? Alpha Wyvern will burn your kingdom to the ground. He’s coming for your blood. And when he sees your precious boy again—"

She never finished.

I raised my hand and unleashed the power I didn’t know I had.

The room ignited with red light. Chloe screamed as her body lifted from the ground, suspended in a vortex of raw Lycan wrath.

Blood dripped from her eyes.

"You wanted blood," I whispered. "Now drown in it."

I clenched my fist.

She exploded.

Outside, the surviving rogues fled in terror. Lycan Xander met me at the gate.

He saw the power still crackling in my hands. His eyes widened.

"Reya... who are you?"

I stared at the blood on my skin, the fire in the distance, the red moon above.

"I’m done hiding."

By dawn, word had spread. Not just among my warriors—but across packs, cities, and kingdoms.

The Luna lived.

The Luna fought.

The Luna killed.

And now they called me something else.

Blood Moon.

Back at the Lycan guard headquarters, I paced the strategy room.

" Alpha Wyvern will retaliate," Lycan Xander said. "That was his outpost. His soldiers."

"Let him come."

"You think this is over? Chloe was a puppet. Allpha Wyvern has witches, assassins, spies inside Riverdale."

I froze. "Inside Riverdale?"

"Yes. And Tristan—"

"Don’t," I snapped.

  Lycan Xander lowered his voice. "He needs to know Luis is safe."

"He forfeited that right when he rejected me. When he hunted me. When he let Chloe touch my son."

"He still loves you."

I stared into the mirror at the crimson glow that lingered in my eyes.

"Then let it destroy him."

Far across Riverdale, in a dark surveillance room...

Tristan watched the footage.

Blood.

Power.

Reya, glowing like a goddess, standing over Chloe's broken body.

He fell to his knees.

"I made her into that..."

His Beta stood in the doorway; arms crossed.

"What now, Alpha? You gonna keep lying to the council? You gonna keep pretending you don’t know what you lost?"

Tristan turned; eyes bloodshot. "She’s not just a Luna."

"She’s a weapon. And she’s pointed at your heart."

Tristan whispered, "I still want her."

Back in the Lycan citadel, I stood over Luis as he slept.

He was safe.

But I wasn’t done.

My mate had broken me. My enemies had underestimated me.

Now the world would learn what it meant to betray a Luna.