The ancient stone circle felt different at three in the morning.
I stood among the moonstone pillars, silver light from my birthmark casting eerie shadows that danced like living things across the carved surfaces. Sleep had been impossible since yesterday's pack meeting, my mind churning over political fractures and family divisions and the growing certainty that everything was about to get much worse.
So I'd come here, to the place where Elder Celeste had first shown me what I could become, hoping the familiar environment might help me process the chaos swirling through my thoughts.
What I hadn't expected was to find her already there.
Elder Celeste knelt in the center of the circle, her silver hair loose around her shoulders instead of its usual intricate braids. Her eyes were rolled back until only the whites showed, and she was speaking in a language that predated English by centuries.
The air around her shimmered with power that made my enhanced senses scream warnings.
