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The yellow eyes multiplied.
First one pair. Then three. Then ten. Until the whole forest seemed alive with them, glowing in the black like sick lanterns strung between the trees. They did not blink. They did not waver. They only stared, burning with hunger.
The rogues had answered my howl.
The sound that had been torn from me after my first kill had carried farther than I'd realized. It had rolled over the trees, over the hills, over every shadow. And the shadows had answered.
A circle of hunger was closing in.
I stood in the center, chest heaving, silver fur matted with blood. My body screamed with every breath. My paws trembled where they dug into the dirt. The Moonlight Veil, that flickering shield of silver light, sparked weakly over my body, no longer the blazing defense it had been when adrenaline first drove me. I felt it guttering, felt how close it was to vanishing altogether.
The corpse of the first rogue lay twisted at my paws, its throat mangled, its eyes already dull. The air reeked of its blood, hot and metallic, cloying thick in my nostrils. I thought its death might have warned the others back. Instead, it was a beacon. The scent called them, promised them meat, promised them me.
Shapes prowled between the trees. Gaunt silhouettes with ribs sharp as blades and fur hanging in filthy clumps. Their snarls overlapped, rumbling low, a chorus of hunger that made the very ground seem to vibrate. My ears flattened against my skull, but I did not look away.
I bared my fangs. Silver sparks flared faintly across them. My throat vibrated with a growl, low and fierce, though it shook with exhaustion. I could not show weakness. Not now. Not with so many watching.
But inside me, my wolf whimpered.
We were still new to this body. Still raw from the transformation that had torn me apart and remade me. Bones ached. Muscles burned. My heart thundered so hard it felt as though it might break free from my ribs. I had only just become this—and already, the forest demanded more.
The System answered the doubt in my bones.
[Quest Updated]
Survive until dawn.
Progress: 30% → 32%
Until dawn.
The words slammed into me harder than claws. My gaze flicked upward, to the silver moon still hanging high above the canopy. Hours remained. Long, merciless hours before the first light of day.
My heart stuttered. A broken thought flickered—I can't. I could collapse now, sink into the dirt, let them come, let the hunger finish what rejection had begun. No one would stop them. No one would care.
No Alpha to shield me. No mate at my side. Only blood and the System.
But the System pulsed again, cold and merciless, carved into my very marrow.
Failure = death.
I drew in a breath that scraped like glass through my throat. My lips peeled back from my fangs.
The nearest rogue crept forward. Its ribs jutted so sharply they looked like they might tear through its hide. Its mangy fur writhed with crawling insects. Its mouth sagged open, revealing broken fangs slick with spit. Its growl was low, uncertain, but hunger drove it on.
It lunged.
I met it head-on.
Claws ripped down its muzzle, silver sparks bursting where I struck. It yelped, recoiling, but before I could breathe, another rogue hit me from the side, heavy and fast. My legs buckled. Pain flared white-hot through my ribs as claws tore shallow furrows across my flank.
I roared, twisting, and sank my fangs into its foreleg. My jaws closed with a crunch. Bone cracked. The rogue shrieked, its cry cut off as I wrenched sideways, tearing the leg to ruin. Blood gushed over my tongue, bitter and hot, flooding my throat.
The System chimed, its voice steady and inhuman:
[Moonfang Bite Effect Triggered]
Additional damage inflicted.
Quest Progress: 35%
Another lunged from behind. I spun, veil flaring weakly as claws scraped my side, sparks hissing where corruption met silver. My paws slipped in the dirt, my balance wavering.
Snapping, I caught its shoulder in my jaws. Its blood burst against my tongue, rank and foul. It thrashed, muscles ripping under my bite, nearly throwing me free. My teeth tore deeper, splitting veins, until the beast staggered, blood spraying in hot arcs across the clearing.
Its jaws clamped around my foreleg. Pain shot up my spine, white-hot, stealing my breath. For a heartbeat my grip faltered. But I forced it tighter, roaring through the agony, until I felt flesh tear and bone crack. The rogue collapsed, limping away, leaving a steaming trail of blood.
The clearing rang with chaos.
Snarls and yelps overlapped, filling my ears. My claws shredded fur, raked deep into hides. My fangs cracked bones and ripped sinew. Blood sprayed. Sparks hissed. The dirt churned beneath us, thick with mud and gore.
I don't know how long it lasted.
Minutes. Hours. Time blurred into motion, into instinct. Strike. Bite. Tear. Stumble. Rise. Over and over. Every heartbeat was another chance to die. Every breath was carved out of fire.
At last, the rogues hesitated.
They circled me, snarling, their yellow eyes wide and wild. Several limped, hides torn open, blood steaming where my Moonfang Bite had burned them from within.
I stood shaking. My fur was streaked with red. My body trembled violently. My chest heaved so hard I thought my ribs might shatter. My paws quivered, claws barely finding purchase in the blood-slick dirt.
But still, I lifted my head. Still, I bared my fangs.
The crescent mark at my throat burned hotter, searing silver through my veins with every breath I refused to surrender.
The System pulsed again, unrelenting.
[Stat Check: Stamina Critical]
Warning: Your body is failing.
Suggested Action: Shelter required. Quest progress will pause if safe haven is found.
Shelter.
The word struck like a bell through the fog of blood and exhaustion. My mind clung to it, desperate, even as my legs threatened to fold beneath me.
Step by step, I forced myself backward. My eyes never left the rogues. They followed, pacing me, jaws snapping, hunger clear—but none lunged. Not yet. The faint glow of silver in my eyes and mark still kept them wary.
I pushed deeper into the forest.
Branches clawed at my fur. Roots snagged my paws. My lungs dragged in ragged breaths, each one raw and burning. My heart thundered, wild, unsteady. My wolf whimpered with each step, begging to stop, to collapse.
But now it snarled too, pressing me onward, refusing to let us fall.
At last, stone.
A rise jutted ahead, jagged and ancient, half-swallowed by twisted roots. At its base yawned a gap: a cave, shallow and narrow, its mouth jagged with rock.
Enough. Enough to hide. Enough to breathe.
I staggered inside. My claws scraped stone, leaving smears of blood. Behind me, rogues circled, their eyes gleaming at the treeline. They snarled, pacing, but none followed. The cave was a threshold they would not cross.
The shadows closed around me. My silver glow dimmed, guttering. My body convulsed, the wolf form faltering. Bones cracked again, smaller this time, retreating. Fur receded in painful bursts. My claws shrank, scraping the floor as bloody nails.
I collapsed naked onto the cold stone.
Blood smeared the rock beneath me. My breaths came shallow, broken. Every muscle screamed. My body shook violently, torn by the shift, by the fight, by the sheer will it had taken to reach this place.
The System's final words flickered faintly across my vision as the darkness claimed me:
[Temporary Shelter Found]
Quest Progress: 38%
Night Phase Paused
My chest rose one last time, a ragged exhale, before blackness swallowed me whole.
Outside, the rogues paced, their yellow eyes fixed on the cave mouth. They would wait. Dawn was far away.
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