The night I turned eighteen, the moon bled.
Not literally.
But it felt that way.
It hung low and swollen in the sky, stained a deep crimson that no elder could explain and no wolf dared ignore. The air in Blackridge Forest was heavy, thick with something electric. Even the trees seemed to lean inward, as if they were waiting.
For me.
I stood at the edge of the clearing, my heart pounding so hard I was certain the entire pack could hear it.
"Relax, Elara," my best friend Tessa whispered beside me. "It's just your first shift."
Just.
As if shifting into a wolf for the first time was as simple as stepping into a new dress.
Most wolves shift before eighteen. Seventeen at the latest. But I hadn't.
No wolf.
No sign.
No connection.
The pack had begun to whisper.
Maybe she's weak.
Maybe she's broken.
Maybe she's human after all.
The thought burned worse than silver.
I wasn't human. I could feel it in my bones. In my blood. Something restless lived beneath my skin. It paced. It waited.
And tonight, under the Blood Moon, it felt closer than ever.
The pack gathered in a wide circle around the ceremonial fire. Flames leapt high, casting golden light against the red sky. At the center stood Alpha Darius—broad-shouldered, commanding, his gray eyes reflecting both fire and moonlight.
"Elara Vale," he called.
My stomach dropped.
This was it.
I stepped forward, boots crunching over dry leaves. Every gaze followed me. Some curious. Some skeptical. Some almost pitying.
I lifted my chin.
I would not bow my head in shame.
"You stand before the pack on the night of your eighteenth year," Alpha Darius said. "Under the Blood Moon, when power runs closest to the surface. Do you accept the trial of the shift?"
My voice nearly failed me.
"I do."
The elders began chanting softly, an ancient rhythm that seemed to vibrate through the earth itself. The wind picked up, swirling ash and leaves into a spiral around me.
Pain struck without warning.
It started in my spine.
A sharp crack.
Then another.
I gasped, dropping to my knees as fire tore through my veins. My bones felt like they were being shattered and remade. My vision blurred. The world tilted.
Somewhere in the distance, I heard someone shout my name.
Then—
Silence.
Darkness.
But not empty.
I stood in a vast, shadowed space beneath a silver-red sky. The air shimmered faintly. And across from me—
Glowing eyes.
Not one pair.
Two.
One silver.
One black.
They stepped forward together.
Two wolves.
Identical in form—but opposite in presence.
The silver wolf radiated cold moonlight, calm and piercing.
The black wolf moved like smoke, its edges blurring into shadow.
I couldn't breathe.
"You are late," the silver wolf said—not with words, but with thought.
"You are divided," the black wolf added.
"I—I don't understand," I whispered.
"You carry both," they said in unison.
Moon.
And shadow.
Light.
And dark.
The two wolves stepped closer.
Instead of circling me… they merged.
Silver and black twisting together in a spiral of blinding light.
And then—
They lunged.
I screamed as power exploded through me.
Back in the clearing, my body arched violently. Gasps erupted from the pack.
My skin shimmered.
But I didn't shift into a normal wolf.
Silver fur rippled across one side of my body.
Black shadowed fur across the other.
My eyes snapped open.
One glowing silver.
One deep obsidian.
The chanting stopped.
The fire bent toward me as if drawn by gravity.
The Blood Moon above flared brighter.
I rose slowly to my feet—no longer fully human.
No longer fully wolf.
Something else.
Something ancient.
The forest responded instantly.
Wolves whimpered.
Some bowed without realizing it.
Alpha Darius stared at me with something I had never seen before.
Fear.
The power inside me felt enormous. Unstable. Alive.
I could hear everything—the rush of blood in every wolf's veins, the crackle of flame, the heartbeat of the earth itself.
And beneath it all—
A voice.
Awake at last.
The Moonbound has risen.
The words echoed not just in my mind—
But across the clearing.
Every wolf heard it.
A collective gasp swept through the pack.
Moonbound.
A legend.
A myth whispered in half-believed stories.
A wolf tied directly to the celestial balance. A being said to be born once in centuries—if ever.
Impossible.
And yet—
Here I stood.
Half silver.
Half shadow.
Fully marked by something far greater than pack hierarchy.
The Blood Moon above flickered once more.
And in that flicker—
I felt something else.
Not from the forest.
Not from the pack.
From beyond.
Watching.
Waiting.
Interested.
My legs trembled as the power began to recede slightly, my form stabilizing into something more manageable—human, but changed. My eyes remained mismatched. A faint silver-black marking curved along my collarbone like a crescent eclipse.
Silence held the clearing captive.
Alpha Darius stepped forward cautiously.
"What are you?" he asked quietly.
I swallowed.
The answer felt both terrifying and undeniable.
"I think," I said, voice steady despite the storm in my veins, "I'm what the moon has been waiting for."
Above us, the Blood Moon burned brighter—
As if in agreement.
And somewhere in the unseen dark—
Something ancient smiled.