All Chapters of Beneath the Wolf Moon: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

The late afternoon sunlight filtered through my bedroom window, slanting across the floor in golden lines that seemed almost alive. I sat cross-legged on my bed, notebook open, pen hovering over the page, but nothing I wrote made sense. My thoughts had been scattered all day, a thousand little pieces of tension and confusion lodged in my chest. I tried to ignore it, tried to tell myself it was just the aftermath of the chaos Savannah had caused and the unrelenting tension with Jaxon, but deep down, I knew it was something else. Something I didn’t understand.It had started subtly. I noticed it first during lunch, when a tray full of food teetered dangerously in front of me. My hands moved before I even realized it, steadying it with an instinctive reflex that shouldn’t have been there. My pulse raced—not from panic, but from the sheer clarity of movement. Everything around me seemed sharper: the glare of the fluorescent lights, the hum of the chatter, and the faint rustle of paper agai

The morning air was crisp when I slipped out of my front door, backpack slung carelessly over one shoulder. The neighborhood was quiet, just the distant hum of cars on the main street and the occasional bark of a dog. I needed this—somewhere I could think, somewhere I could move, somewhere I could… experiment.Lucas had suggested it. Not directly, of course. He had a way of guiding without pushing and suggesting without ordering, and somehow it always worked better than if anyone else tried. “Go outside,” he had said, his sandy-blond hair tousled in the sunlight streaming through his window. “Move. See what your body wants to do. Just… pay attention.”I hadn’t understood at first. But now, walking down the trail behind the school, I was beginning to. Every step felt sharper and more deliberate. My senses tingled—sounds seemed louder, the wind brushing past me carried more nuance than it ever had before, and even the smell of damp earth felt… alive.I stopped at a clearing. No one aroun

The school halls felt colder that morning, like the walls themselves were conspiring against me. Every step I took echoed louder than usual, my shoes clattering against the linoleum in a rhythm that made my skin crawl. I wasn’t imagining it. Savannah had been ramping things up, her subtle manipulations now edged with menace. And I could feel it—something darker than teasing or gossip, something that had the potential to hurt me physically if I wasn’t careful.Lucas walked beside me, his presence a quiet reassurance. Sandy blond hair catching the morning light, brown eyes alert, he scanned the hallway constantly. “Stay close,” he murmured, voice low enough that no one else could hear. “She’s… planning something bigger today.”I nodded, my grip tightening on my backpack strap. I didn’t want to show fear, but the tightness in my stomach was impossible to ignore. Savannah’s reach had grown. Whispers had turned into deliberate stares and notes slipped into my locker—not just rumors this tim

I didn’t mean to get involved. Really, I didn’t. I was walking down the hallway, my backpack heavy on my shoulders, head buzzing with the usual frustration from the day—Savannah’s latest rumor, Ethan’s passive-aggressive comments at breakfast, the constant tension at home—and all I wanted was to make it to my locker, grab my books, and disappear into the quiet of the library.But the universe had other plans.I rounded the corner near the science wing, and in that split second, I saw him: a freshman, the boy who had recently transferred, running late, distracted, his foot catching the edge of the floor tiles. Time slowed, and I knew he was going to fall straight into the edge of the lockers.Without thinking, I lunged. My arms shot out instinctively. I caught him by the upper arm and shoulder just as his momentum carried him forward. The lockers screeched under the force, but he didn’t hit them. Not fully. Not hard enough to break a bone or make him bleed. My hands were still on him, g

I could still feel the lingering tension from earlier that week—Savannah’s latest humiliation, Ethan’s smug smirks at home, and the sharp sting of my parents’ dismissive glances. It was all sitting on my shoulders, heavy and oppressive, but I knew I couldn’t let it crush me. I needed a distraction, something to make me feel alive again.The library had always been a refuge, but today it felt more like a labyrinth, full of corners I hadn’t explored and shadows that seemed deeper than usual. My fingers trailed along the spines of books as I wandered the aisles, more out of habit than intent. I wanted to lose myself in something unknown, something that didn’t involve Savannah’s cruel whispers or Ethan’s relentless need to prove he was perfect.And then I saw it—a small, unmarked door tucked behind a row of forgotten encyclopedias. My pulse quickened instantly. There was something about the edges of the door, the way it didn’t quite align with the wall, that screamed hidden. My instincts p