Chapter 1 ONE
My hands won't stop shaking as I stare at the full moon through my bedroom window.
The silver light bathes my cream-colored walls in an ethereal glow, but nothing can calm the fire burning beneath my skin.
Tonight's my seventeenth birthday, and my first shift is moments away. I've dreamed of this night since I was little, but now that it's here, something feels... different. Wrong.
A wave of heat courses through my body, making my silk nightgown cling uncomfortably to my sweat-slicked skin.
Mom said the first shift could be intense, but she never mentioned this burning sensation, this ache deep in my core that makes me want to crawl out of my own skin.
"It'll be okay, sweetheart," Mom whispers from my doorway. She's wearing her favorite lavender sweater, but something in her expression makes me wonder if she senses what I'm feeling. "Every Mitchell has shifted successfully for generations."
I try to respond, but another surge of heat steals my breath.
My legs tremble, and I grip the window seat's cushion, my nails lengthening into claws without my permission.
The moon's pull is stronger now, but it's not just calling to my wolf – it's awakening something else, something that makes my blood sing and my body yearn for... what?
"Mom," I gasp, as a particularly strong wave hits me. "Something's not right. I feel..."
"Alora?" Her voice sharpens with concern. "What is it?"
"Hot. Everything's so hot." I stumble to my feet, my nightgown sliding against my oversensitive skin like a lover's caress.
The thought makes me blush furiously. What's happening to me?
A sharp pain shoots through my spine, cutting off any response.
Mom rushes forward, but stops short, her nostrils flaring. "Oh, Goddess," she whispers, and for the first time, I smell it too – a sweet, heady scent rising from my skin.
"Is that...?" I can't finish the question. Heat scent.
I'm putting off heat scent. But that's impossible – first shifts aren't supposed to trigger heat cycles. Unless...
Another spasm rocks my body, and this time I can't hold back the cry that escapes my lips.
I fall to my hands and knees, the hardwood floor cool against my burning palms.
Every bone in my body seems to crack and reshape itself, but the physical pain is almost welcome compared to the other sensation – the one making me want to rub against something, anything, to ease the ache building between my legs.
"James!" Mom calls urgently. "James, get up here now!"
The shift rushes through me like a tidal wave. My nightgown tears as my body transforms, and suddenly I'm viewing the world from much closer to the ground.
New scents flood my nose, sharper and more intense than anything I've experienced before.
I can smell Mom's fear, Dad's approaching worry, and my own... my own need.
But something's wrong. Mom's gasp tells me everything before I even look down at my paws.
They're red. Blood red.
Not the beautiful silver I'd hoped for, or even the common brown or black. My fur is the color of freshly spilled blood, gleaming like rubies in the moonlight.
Ancient stories flash through my mind, tales whispered around pack bonfires about cursed wolves with fur like blood who brought death and destruction to their packs.
"Oh, Goddess," Mom whispers again, but this time I hear real terror in her voice.
She backs away from me, hand covering her mouth. "James! Bar the windows!"
Dad bursts into the room, then freezes at the sight of me.
His eyes widen, nostrils flaring as he catches my heat scent. "Elena, get the herbs. Now! And call the pack doctor."
"No!" Mom grabs his arm. "We can't let anyone see her. A blood wolf in heat... they'll kill her, James. Or worse."
I whimper, trying to back away from my own reflection in the full-length mirror beside my dresser.
A monster stares back at me. I'm no bigger than an average wolf, but my fur... and the way my eyes glow with an inner fire, pupils blown wide with the heat fever I can feel building.
The stories said the last blood-red wolf was a Luna who brought death to her mate. But they never mentioned this – this burning need that makes me want to howl for a mate I haven't met, this fever that makes my wolf want to submit and dominate all at once.
I crash into my bedside table, sending the lamp shattering to the floor. Down the hall, I hear pawing at doors – the unmated males in our pack responding to my scent. Horror fills me as I realize what this means. A blood wolf in heat... I'm not just cursed. I'm dangerous.
"Under the bed, Alora! Now!" Dad commands, his Alpha voice making my wolf whine in submission even as my heat makes me want to resist.
I obey, pressing myself against the wall, trying to become invisible in the shadows. Around me, chaos erupts – Dad barking orders through the pack bond to keep everyone inside, Mom rushing around with burning herbs to mask my scent, both of them desperately trying to contain the disaster I've become.
Because that's what I am now. Not just a cursed wolf, but a curse in heat. Every unmated male within miles will be drawn to my scent. Every pack will want to either kill me or use me. And I can feel it – the power humming under my skin, the need threatening to consume me, the knowledge that this is only the beginning.
I stay hidden as the moon continues its journey across the night sky, casting shadows that look like prison bars across my floor. My first shift should have been a celebration. Instead, it's become a death sentence sealed with the sweet scent of heat and the curse of blood-red fur.
And somewhere deep inside, past the fear and horror, my wolf howls – not in mourning, but in anticipation. Because somehow, she knows.
Our true Mate is out there.
And when he finds us, neither the curse nor the heat will matter.
Everything will burn.