The Werewolf's Bride
The Hollow Spire loomed like a broken crown against the starless sky, its black stone absorbing what little moonlight remained as the dark moon approached its zenith. Elara stood at the crater's edge, silver-black fur rippling in the cold wind, claws sunk deep into cracked earth. Lyra slept against her chest, tiny heartbeat steady and trusting, a fragile rhythm that anchored Elara even as the fragment of Darius inside her stirred again, cold and patient, waiting for the moment the Second Dark Moon rose. The mark above her heart pulsed once, slow, almost gentle, a reminder that the enemy was not outside but within.