All Chapters of Beneath the Wolf Moon: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

My feet finally remembered what to do. I ran. Down the stairs, tears blurring my vision. Someone’s leg shot out as I passed—whether by accident or intent, I didn’t know—and I went down hard.The crash of bottles beneath me was deafening. Pain shot up my arms as shards cut into my skin. The house went silent. Every eye in the room turned to me, making me the most gossip-worthy subject imaginable.“Are you kidding me, Avery?” Ethan’s voice was sharp, disgust lacing every word. He tried to keep it low, but I heard him clearly. “What the fuck are you even doing here? We don’t talk at school—you know that. How dare you crash my party? You know better than to embarrass me!”A shiver of pain ran through my back. Shards of glass must still be embedded, cutting into me, leaving small rivulets of blood on the floor.Then another voice cut through the chaos. Low. Dangerous.“That’s enough.”Jaxon.He wore that same nonchalant grin, but it was tighter now, colder. Somehow, he managed to look like

By Monday morning, I’d had enough.Enough of Savannah’s sharp whispers slicing through every hallway I walked down. Enough of girls bumping their shoulders into mine like I was something they could just scrape off. Enough of finding dead cockroaches in my locker and enough of Ethan’s cool, careless glances that always seemed to say, You’re embarrassing me.If they wanted a villain, I’d give them one.The plan came to me late Sunday night while I lay awake staring at the ceiling. My body still ached from where I’d fallen on the bottles at Jaxon’s party, and my lips still tingled from the way he’d kissed me in the quiet of his room. I hated that I could still feel him.I hated even more that a part of me wanted to feel it again.But that wasn’t the point. The point was that everyone kept treating me like a joke. And it was time they saw just how sharp the punchline could be.By the time the big football game rolled around Friday night, everything was ready.Savannah and her minions strut

Savannah stepped out of the deeper shadow as if she’d been carved from the night itself—effortless and deliberate, an image designed to make people look twice and feel intimidated. The streetlamp haloed her hair, the gold catching like a crown, and her smile spread slow and poisonous. She was exactly the kind of person who made me feel small without even trying.Lucas and I paused, the three of us forming a triangle of tense air in the middle of the sidewalk. He was close enough that our shoulders brushed; the contact was a quiet anchor I didn’t know I needed until it was gone. He shifted his weight, jaw tight. He looked ready—protective in the way he always was—but not searching for leadership. He gave me space to own whatever happened next.“Nice party trick,” Savannah said, voice butter-smooth. “Really, Avery, you should’ve known better than to humiliate people publicly. It leaves a mark.”I gripped the note in my pocket until the paper bent. “You sent the note. So say what you want

By the time I got home that night, the whispers of school still clung to me like smoke. No matter how many doors I closed or how many lights I turned on, I couldn’t scrub them from my ears. Avery hears voices. Avery’s obsessed with Jaxon Carter. Avery’s gone crazy.The Quinn household wasn’t any kinder.Mom barely looked up from her phone as I walked through the door. She was perched on the couch in her usual spot, legs curled under her like some elegant ornament. “You’re late,” she said, eyes never leaving the glowing screen.“I stayed to finish homework.” The lie slipped easily now.She hummed, not even pretending to care. “Dinner’s in the fridge.”Dad sat in his armchair, already half-asleep, the TV casting a dull light across his face. When I passed, he mumbled something about Ethan’s big game Friday, about how proud he was. Not a word for me.And Ethan—well, Ethan didn’t miss his chance. He leaned against the kitchen counter, hair damp from practice, a smug grin on his face. “Hear

The classroom smelled faintly of dust and old chalk. For once, it was empty, and I clutched my textbooks like a shield. Every nerve in my body was still on edge from the events of the past few days—the football game humiliation, Savannah’s whispers, the notes, and the relentless gossip. I had come here for a brief reprieve, a stolen moment of peace.I wasn’t alone.A shadow moved at the back of the room. My heart jumped, and I froze.“Hello?” My voice trembled more than I cared to admit.He stepped out of the shadows.Jaxon Carter. Calm. Deliberate. Dangerous in a way that made my chest tighten and my stomach flip. His eyes, that impossible ocean blue, caught mine immediately, holding me in place like gravity itself had shifted.“What are you doing here?” I asked, trying to sound confident.He arched a brow. “Funny, I was about to ask you the same thing.”“Studying,” I said quickly. “Away from… everything.” I waved vaguely, meaning the hallway, the gossip, Savannah, and all the whisper