Chapter 10 When the moon answer
The change began that night.
I felt it before I saw it. The air grew heavy, charged with something sharp and restless. The moon hung low and bright above the treetops, its light too strong, too insistent. Wolves across the camp were uneasy, pacing, restless, snapping at one another over nothing.
Aria did not come to the evening meal.
That alone was enough to set my instincts on edge.
I found her at the edge of the forest, standing barefoot in the grass as if she had wandered there without realizing it. Her eyes were unfocused, her breathing shallow. When I stepped closer, the shift in her scent hit me fully.
It was unmistakable.
Wolf.
But unfinished. Unstable.
“Aria,” I said quietly. “Look at me.”
She turned her head slowly. Her pupils were blown wide, silver threading through the brown like fractured moonlight.
“I cannot make it stop,” she whispered. “Everything hurts.”
My chest tightened.
Late awakenings were dangerous even under ideal conditions. For someone with human blood, it was worse. Bones resisted the change. Muscles fought it. The body did not know which form it belonged to.
“You need to sit,” I said, guiding her down gently. Her skin burned beneath my fingers. Feverish. Her heart was racing.
She gasped suddenly, clutching her side as pain rippled through her. I caught her before she fell forward, lowering her to the ground.
“Leo,” she said, voice breaking for the first time since I had known her. “I am scared.”
That did it.
I gathered her into my arms without thinking, anchoring her against me. Her body shook violently, every breath a struggle.
“Listen to me,” I said firmly. “Do not fight it. Follow my voice.”
She nodded weakly.
The snap of twigs behind us made my head lift.
Luna emerged from the trees with two elders at her side. Their expressions were grim, calculating.
“So it begins,” Luna said. “An unstable awakening. Just as I warned.”
“She needs help,” I said coldly. “Not judgment.”
“The law is clear,” one of the elders replied. “An uncontrolled awakening is a threat to the pack.”
Aria cried out as another wave of pain tore through her. Her fingers dug into my arm, nails biting into skin.
“She will lose control,” Luna continued. “And when she does, someone will die.”
“No,” I said. “Not if I am here.”
Silence fell.
“You would defy pack law for her,” Luna asked softly.
I did not hesitate. “Yes.”
The word settled heavily between us.
The elders exchanged looks. This was more than Aria now. This was a challenge to authority.
“Take her to the old stone clearing,” one elder said at last. “If she survives the change, we will reconsider her place. If she does not, the responsibility is yours.”
I nodded once.
I lifted Aria carefully and carried her into the forest. Her body convulsed as the change surged again, a low cry tearing from her throat. I spoke to her constantly, grounding her with my voice, with my presence.
“You are not alone,” I told her. “Stay with me.”
The stone clearing was ancient, carved by generations of wolves who had survived their first transformation there. I laid her at the center, kneeling beside her as the moonlight washed over her.
Her spine arched. Bones cracked. She screamed.
I stayed.
I held her hand as long as I could, even when her fingers curled too sharply, even when her strength became dangerous. I did not let go until the final surge forced me back.
The forest went silent.
Where Aria had been moments before, a small silver-gray wolf lay trembling in the grass. Too thin. Too young. But alive.
My breath left me in a rush.
She lifted her head slowly, amber eyes locking onto mine.
Recognition flickered there.
I smiled despite the tears burning my eyes. “You did it.”
She let out a weak sound that might have been a whine, then collapsed again, exhausted.
I shifted and lay beside her, my body forming a barrier between her and the watching forest.
No one would touch her tonight.
No one would take her from me.
When dawn broke, Luna stood at the edge of the clearing, her expression dark.
“She survived,” she said.
“Yes,” I replied. “She did.”
Luna’s gaze lingered on the small wolf at my side. “Then everything has changed.”
I knew she was right.
Aria had awakened.
And the pack would never see her the same way again.