Casimir:
The Blood Moon rose over Eldryn like an open wound.
Its red light soaked the towers and walls, bleeding across the mountains until the whole realm seemed to pulse with it.
I felt it in my bones before I saw it, the pull, the heat, the ache that came with every full turning.
The wolf inside me stirred.
It clawed against the edges of my control, restless, furious, alive.
My hands trembled as I fastened the clasps of my coat. Even that small act felt foreign, human movements in a body that no longer felt my own.
Nicholas found me at the archway of the courtyard.
He looked at the moon once and then at me, his jaw tight.
"Blood Moon," he said, voice low. "You should not be outside."
"I have no choice," I answered. "The Veil calls louder when the moon burns."
He stepped closer, his expression sharpening. "And she will feel it too. If you lose control…"
"I will not."
"Cas," he pressed, "you cannot keep both beasts caged forever. The Veil is stirring through you. Through her."
I said nothing. The air was heavy, thick with the scent of storm and ash. The Veil's hum followed me as I crossed the courtyard, faint silver veins glowing in the cobblestones where my boots touched.
By the time I reached the edge of the forest, I was shaking.
The trees swallowed the light of the city. Only the moon remained, red and swollen, its reflection gleaming on wet leaves and silver bark. The smell of pine and blood hung thick in the air.
I walked until I could no longer see the palace behind me, until the sound of my heartbeat drowned out the hum of the world.
Then I stopped fighting.
The shift came like fire. My skin burned, my vision split; claws pushed through my fingers, my teeth sharpened, my breath deepened into growls that shook my chest.
The wolf surged forward, snarling at the restraint I forced on it.
I fell to my knees, hands sinking into the earth, claws digging into dirt and root.
The ground trembled with me.
"Casimir."
Her voice cut through the roar in my head like light through fog.
I lifted my gaze.
Ava stood between the trees, her cloak clinging to her shoulders, her hair glowing gold beneath the crimson moon.
She shouldn't have been there, she couldn't have known where I'd gone yet somehow she had found me.
"Go back," I growled, my voice deeper, broken between forms. "You do not understand."
She took one careful step forward, the sound of her boots on leaves a whisper. "Then make me understand."
The wolf pushed harder, straining toward her. I felt its hunger, not for blood but for warmth. For the scent of her. For the magic that sang in her veins and called to everything wild inside me.
"Do not come closer," I warned, my claws carving deep lines into the soil. "I cannot hold it."
She didn't stop.
The light from the moon caught in her eyes, turning the green into molten gold. "You are not the beast," she said softly. "You are the man who tamed it."
The words hit something deep inside me, something older than language, older than the curse that bound me.
My body trembled, the air vibrating with power. I could taste the Veil between us, alive and waiting.
She moved closer still, until I could feel her breath against my throat.
Her hand reached up, trembling only slightly, and brushed my jaw.
The wolf shuddered. My breath broke. For one impossible moment, everything went still.
Her scent, her warmth, her voice, all of it tangled together until there was no difference between the man and the beast.
I looked down at her, at the firelight dancing across her face, and every wall I'd built cracked open.
"Ava," I said, her name a warning and a plea all at once.
She didn't back away. "I am not afraid."
Something inside me snapped.
The distance between us vanished. My hand cupped her neck, rough and trembling, and I kissed her.
The world exploded into light.
Her lips were soft, but the power between us was anything but. The Veil surged, wrapping around us like smoke, humming in the rhythm of our hearts. The air burned cold and hot all at once.
The wolf inside me howled, not in rage, but in surrender. The kiss was hunger and fire. I wanted to devour her, my wolf wanted to mark her.
She was clinging to me, her hands were around my neck. My hand was tangled in her hair, the other around her waist pulling her closer.
The taste of her soothed a primal hunger that refused to fade, even as it grew stronger with every breath.
The wolf inside me clawed for release, my restraint splintering under its weight. One more breath, one more heartbeat, and the Blood Moon would finish what I had fought all my life to resist. If I gave in now, there would be no turning back, no man left to return to.
It took everything in me to pull back, she was breathing hard, her eyes wide, her pulse racing under my fingers.
Silver light shimmered between us, rising from the ground in thin threads that coiled through the air before fading.
The forest had gone utterly silent. Even the wind held its breath.
I stepped back first.
If I stayed, I would not stop.
If I touched her again, I would burn the world down to keep her.
Her eyes searched mine. "Casimir," confused, shocked, consumed by the same hunger, she whispered. "Please. Don't run."
But I already was.
I turned and vanished into the mist, the Blood Moon at my back and the taste of her still on my lips.
The trees closed around me, the shadows swallowing everything.
Behind me, the Veil whispered my name, and hers, over and over, two heartbeats echoing as one.