When The Moon turns Red

When The Moon turns Red
###Chapter 053###
\### When the Moon turns Red###
(Adelina's POV)

The forest whispered constantly now low, mournful.

As I warmed my hands, I caught another scent beneath the smoke one I hadn’t smelled since Aspen.

Dax.

Before I could react, a figure stepped into the firelight. Cloak torn, eyes bloodshot, skin pale but unmistakably alive.

“Adelina.” His voice cracked on my name.

I froze. “You’re supposed to be locked in Silver Keep.”

“I escaped.” He gave a broken laugh. “Or maybe Caleb helped more than he’ll admit.”

I stared at him, torn between disbelief and the flood of emotions that threatened to drown me. “You shouldn’t be here. She’ll kill you for this.”

“She’ll kill everyone if you don’t stop her,” he said.

He staggered closer, collapsing beside the fire. When I saw the wound on his shoulder—dark, seeping—I knew he’d been hit with the same poison she’d used before.

“She called another meeting,” he whispered. “The Blood Summit starts tomorrow night. She plans to crown herself Matron Regent. The Council will back her if no one contests.”

My chest tightened. “Then that’s when I’ll expose her.”

He looked at me, eyes full of something raw and haunted. “How, Ada? She controls the guards, the healers, the records. Every truth you carry, she’s buried beneath her lies.”

“Not all of them,” I said, holding up the blood-stained documents from the outpost. “She allied with hunters. The Council won’t ignore that.”

His lips twitched into a ghost of a smile. “You always were better at finding light in rot.”

We sat in silence for a while, listening to the fire pop.

Finally he said quietly, “I see her when I close my eyes. Our daughter.”

My heart lurched. “What?”

“Lux,” he whispered. “I see her standing in the red moonlight, surrounded by fire. She looks like you, but her eyes…” He shivered. “They’re older. Ancient.”

The blood drained from my face. “You saw the Crimson Howl.”

He nodded slowly. “It felt real. Too real.”

“She’s warning us,” I said. “That night’s coming. And we have one chance to stop it.”

We moved before dawn.

Dax could barely stand, but he refused to be left behind. We reached the final descent into Silver Keep just as the first light touched the towers. The city shimmered—beautiful, cold, and crawling with soldiers.

I pulled my hood tighter. “Once we’re inside, follow my lead. No one must see you until the Summit begins.”

“And if they do?”

“Then make it count.”

He nodded, a flicker of the old Alpha steel flashing in his gaze.

By evening we reached the outer walls. Bells rang distantly—summoning the Alphas. Wolves in ornate armor filled the courtyards, their conversations sharp with tension.

Above it all, the Council tower loomed like a blade.

The guards didn’t question me when I showed them the Blood Oath mark burned into my wrist. They simply bowed their heads, stepping aside. The Moon Matron’s blood still commanded fear.

As we passed beneath the archway, Dax leaned close. “Do you feel that?”

I did. The air was alive with magic—old, oppressive. The walls hummed with it. Sylvia had woven wards across the entire keep, trapping power like a net.

“She’s preparing a ritual,” I whispered.

“For what?”

Before I could answer, a voice like velvet and venom rolled across the courtyard.

“Well,” Sylvia said from the stairs above, draped in silver robes that shimmered like frost. “The prodigal mongrel returns.”

Her smile was sharp enough to draw blood.

Dax stiffened beside me, instinctively stepping forward, but I caught his arm.

“Mother,” he said hoarsely.

She glanced at him with feigned pity. “Oh, my son. Still alive, are you? Pity. The poison was meant to cure your weakness.”

“Your poison is what made me strong,” he growled.

She tilted her head. “We’ll see, won’t we? The Council awaits. Come, little Alpha. Let’s show them what sort of creature crawls from the gutter of rebellion.”

Her words echoed through the marble hall, and the doors opened behind her like the maw of a beast.

I met Dax’s eyes briefly. His expression was grim but resolute.

The moonlight through the windows glowed faintly red.

Lux’s voice whispered in my mind: When the moon turns red, only truth can end the howl.

I straightened my shoulders and stepped into the hall.

Adelina receives a prophetic dream from unborn Lux foretelling the Crimson Howl.

She discovers Sylvia’s alliance with human hunters.

Dax escapes captivity and reunites with her.

Both reach Silver Keep on the eve of the Blood Summit.

Ends with Sylvia confronting them—setting up the political and supernatural showdown to follow.