All Chapters of The Moon Chose Me Twice: Chapter 51 - Chapter 60

EzraThe wooden wolf sits in the center of my circle like it’s waiting for permission to breathe.It’s carved too well. Not art. Instrument. The eyes are polished smooth, the mouth cut shallow, the grain chosen like someone cared about how it would hold a signal.We bring it up from containment wrapped in lead-lined cloth and silver mesh. Valerius insists on the mesh. Aris insists on the lead. I insist on both, because arrogance is how you end up as a cautionary tale.Charlie insists on being present.Kaleb doesn’t try to argue her into a safer corner. He just stands at her side, shoulder-to-shoulder, the way a shield stands with a spearpoint.The ritual room is an old panic chamber repurposed for magic. Stone, iron, one door, no windows. Wards layered into the threshold like teeth. The kind of room you use when you expect something to fight back.I draw three rings on the floor in chalk and star-metal dust. I set the pendant at the north point and feel the air tighten immediately.Ch

CharlieThe map of the territory is spread across the heavy oak table in Kaleb’s war room.It’s a topography of my childhood. The ridges I ran along, the rivers I swam in, the dense pine forests of the Silverwood borders.But the markers Valerius is placing on the map aren't memories. They’re tombstones."This came in from our spy posted at the ravine," Valerius says, sliding a grainy, printed photograph across the wood. "Taken at dawn yesterday."I pick it up. The image is blurry, taken through a long-range scope, but the details are unmistakable. A convoy of three armored trucks is moving through the main gates of the Silverwood estate.They aren't Silverwood vehicles. They’re painted a matte, slate gray. On the door of the lead truck is a stencil of a claw gripping an iron bar."They aren't even hiding it anymore," I say, my voice tight. "They’re driving through the front gate.""Under the guise of 'territorial stability,'" Kaleb adds from the other side of the table. "The official

CharlieThe Medical Wing is a submarine. Sealed tight, humming with recycled air and the low thrum of the backup generator.I sit in the rocking chair, a shotgun resting across my knees.It’s an ugly weapon. A Remington tactical pump-action. Valerius tried to give me a sleek little handgun, something that would fit in a purse. I gave it back. I don't want to wound, I want to obliterate.Orion sleeps in the crib three feet away. Ezra is in the adjacent lab, muttering over the star-metal relay, his voice a low drone through the glass partition."Alpha," Valerius’s voice crackles over the comms unit on the table. "Status check.""Secure," I reply, my thumb brushing the safety. "All quiet.""Copy. Perimeter rotation in five."I lean back. My eyes are dry and gritty. I haven't slept more than twenty minutes at a stretch in two days. Every shadow looks like a cloaked woman. Every creak of the building sounds like a footstep.Suddenly, the red emergency light above the door flashes.CODE BLU

CharlieThe rain has turned the world into a blur of gray and black.We’re parked two miles from the border, deep in the dense scrub that separates Bloodmoon land from the southern edge of Silverwood."We walk from here," he says in a low voice.I step out into the mud and my boots immediately sink an inch. I adjust the shotgun strap across my chest, feeling the cold bite of the wind through my jacket."Mila, Soren," Kaleb commands. "Flank positions. Fifty yards out. If you see movement, you don't engage unless they spot us. We are ghosts tonight.""Understood, Alpha," Soren says, checking the suppressor on his rifle. He and Mila melt into the tree line like smoke.Kaleb turns to me. Rain drips from his hair, running down the sharp planes of his face."You know the terrain better," he says. "Lead the way."He’s right. I know which ravines flood in the rain, which ridges carry sound, and which game trails the deer use to avoid the wolves."The Manor is five miles north," I whisper, wip

RohanThe containment cells beneath Bloodmoon could do with an upgrade.I sit on the narrow metal cot, leaning my head back against the cold stone wall.The metal cuffs on my wrists are heavy, burning with a low-level irritation that keeps my wolf subdued, pacing in the back of my mind like a caged dog.I close my eyes and try to listen.Upstairs, the house is tense. I can feel the vibrations in the floorboards. Boots running. Voices shouting. The Alpha and the Silverwood Heir are gone, I felt the shift in pressure when Kaleb’s aura left the territory.That leaves the rest of us. The leftovers. And in the guest suite, the Spider Queen. Madilyn.I laugh softly, a dry, rasping sound.I underestimated her. I underestimated all of them. I thought I was playing the game, but I was just a piece on the board.Ryker played me. He promised me the Silverwood seat, promised me the territory if I helped destabilize Marcus.Instead, he left me here to rot while he plucked Silverwood for himself.T