Chapter 174 The Blood Moon Battle Begins

Chapter 174 The Blood Moon Battle Begins
Luna’s POV

The second the moon turned red and every wolf in Crescent Valley lost control. Howls exploded across the town so loudly the buildings trembled.
The sound wasn’t random anymore.
It was unified. It was a call to war and below the rooftop, wolves flooded the ruined streets in massive numbers, silver-eyed creatures moving like one living army toward the church ruins at the center of town.
Toward the First Wolf and toward me.

The Blood Moon painted everything into deep red, the smoke, the broken buildings, the blood in the streets. It looked like the end of the world.
Maybe it was.
Pain ripped through my body again, as I collapsed forward gasping as the transformation surged harder than ever before. Bones cracked violently under my skin and silver-black fur spread across my arms and ribs and my claws extended fully. And this time….They didn’t retract.

Kai caught me before I hit the rooftop floor.
“Luna.” His voice grounded me instantly.
The bond between us pulsed hard against the chaos consuming my head.
Safe, it was mine and an anchor. But the Blood Moon hated that connection.
The voice of the First Wolf slammed through my skull again.

HE WEAKENS YOU.

“No,” I whispered.

Kai’s hand tightened around mine. “What’s happening?”

“It’s trying to separate us.”

Selene stepped backward immediately. “Then it’s starting the claiming ritual now.”

Ethan looked sharply toward the church ruins. “It’s pulling every wolf there.”
Below us, hundreds of wolves gathered around the destroyed church in widening circles.
Moon-sick creatures knelt beside fully transformed wolves and humans were dragged through the streets screaming. Sacrifices.

My stomach twisted violently. “No.”

The First Wolf stood at the center of the ruins under the Blood Moon like a king before his army.
Waiting for me. Then suddenly a teenage boy broke free from the crowd below. He was human and he looked terrified. He sprinted desperately through the ruined streets trying to escape.
One silver-eyed wolf intercepted him instantly. The boy screamed and the wolf lunged….
And something inside me snapped.
“STOP!”

Power exploded outward from my body violently enough to crack the rooftop below us. Across Crescent Valley….
Every wolf froze instantly, and absolute silence swallowed the town.
The boy below stared upward shaking and alive. Because they obeyed me.
Not the First Wolf.
Fear crossed the creature’s silver eyes below for the first time. Then rage.
The First Wolf roared so violently nearby buildings shattered from the force.
And suddenly every wolf broke free from my command at once. Chaos returned instantly and the war officially began. The First Wolf lunged toward the rooftop.

“KAI!” Selene shouted.

Too late.

The massive creature crashed into the building hard enough to collapse half the roof beneath us and concrete exploded everywhere.
Kai shoved me aside just before the First Wolf’s claws tore through where I’d been standing. The rooftop gave out below us and we fell.
I crashed through three floors of the ruined school before slamming hard into a hallway below and pain exploded through my ribs.

Dust filled the air. Then silence.
No.
Not silence, we heard footsteps. They were heavy and felt ancient.
The First Wolf landed inside the ruined hallway ahead of me slowly, silver eyes glowing through the smoke. It was closer now. Too close.
My wolf reacted instantly, not with fear, but with recognition.

HEIR.

I staggered backward breathing hard. “I’m not yours.”
The creature tilted its massive head slightly. Its voice echoed directly inside my skull now.
YOU ARE MY BLOOD.

Images slammed violently into me again: ancient wars, wolves burning cities, humans chained below lunar empires, the first transformation rituals.
And then….
My mother. Standing before the First Wolf centuries after the original war.
She was crying. Sealing it away and the truth hit me instantly. The Ashford bloodline had never just guarded the seal. We carried part of the First Wolf inside us. That was why the hierarchy answered me.
That was why it wanted me alive. I wasn’t separate from it, I was descended from it. Horror crashed through me. “No…”

The First Wolf stepped closer.
JOIN ME.

The wolf inside me surged painfully and the temptation became unbearable.
No fear. No pain. No conflict. If I joined it….Everything inside me would finally stop tearing apart.

The hallway suddenly exploded sideways and Kai crashed through the wall in full wolf form tackling the First Wolf violently away from me.
The impact destroyed classrooms nearby.

Both wolves slammed through concrete and steel in a blur of claws and blood.
“Kai!”

The First Wolf recovered instantly and hurled Kai across the hallway hard enough to crater lockers into metal shards.
Kai shifted partially human again, with blood pouring down one side of his face.
Still standing and still between me and it. Always between me and it.
The bond between us pulsed so hard my chest hurt and the First Wolf noticed.
And finally understood. It wasn’t losing control over me because I was stronger. It was losing because of him. Then its silver eyes narrowed murderously. Then suddenly….
The creature changed targets. It launched straight toward Kai. Not to fight him, but kill him. And instinctively, I transformed further than ever before.
My scream turned fully inhuman as silver-black energy erupted around my body; my claws lengthened, and my fangs sharpened.
My golden eyes burned bright under the Blood Moon. Then I moved fast enough the hallway shattered under my feet. I intercepted the First Wolf midair before it could reach Kai.
The collision exploded through the school like a bomb. And for the first time, the First Wolf looked genuinely shocked by my strength.