I stand in the empty hallway long after Danny disappears around the corner, his words echoing in my head like a curse. You're Blake Morrison's girlfriend. Whatever this is, it's not real.
The mate bond burns in my chest, a constant reminder of what I can't have. What I apparently don't deserve.
I make it through the rest of Monday in a haze, mechanically going through the motions of being the perfect popular girl. Blake tries to talk to me at lunch, but I barely hear him. All I can think about is the way Danny flinched when he saw me, like I was something toxic.
By the time I get home, I'm ready to crawl into bed and pretend this day never happened. But my phone buzzes at 6:47 PM with Luna's distinctive ringtone—three sharp notes that sound like a hunting horn.
My phone buzzes at 6:47 AM with Luna's distinctive ringtone, three sharp notes that sound like a hunting horn. I'm still in bed, staring at the ceiling and replaying Danny's rejection on an endless loop, when her voice cuts through my misery.
"Meet me at the old oak. Now."
I throw on yesterday's jeans and a hoodie, not bothering with makeup or even brushing my hair. The mate bond thrums in my chest like a second heartbeat, reminding me that somewhere across town, Danny Walter is probably eating cereal and getting ready for another day of pretending I don't exist.
The old oak stands at the heart of our territory. Luna paces beneath it, her silver hair catching the early morning light. She's wearing her formal pack regalia—leather jacket embossed with the Silvermoon crest.
"Tell me what you know about necromancy," she says without preamble.
I stop walking. "What kind of question is that?"
"The kind that might save your life." Luna's violet eyes, so like mine, are haunted. "The Ironfang Pack is gone, Scarlett. All of them. Twenty-three wolves, wiped out in a single night."
My wolf goes still. The Ironfangs were one of the strongest packs in Washington. Their Alpha, Marcus Ironfang, once arm-wrestled my grandfather and won. "Gone how?"
"Ash." Luna pulls out her phone, shows me a photo that makes my stomach clench. Where a werewolf should be, there's only a vaguely human-shaped pile of gray dust. Ritual scars are burned into the earth around it—symbols I don't recognize but that make my skin crawl. "Every single one of them. The youngest was fourteen."
"Jesus." I sink onto a fallen log, my legs suddenly unsteady. "Who could do this?"
"Someone with considerable power and a very specific hatred for our kind." Luna's voice is carefully controlled, but I can smell her fear. "The ritual marks... they're ancient. Necromantic. Designed to not just kill, but to erase. No chance of an afterlife, no peace. Just... nothing."
The image burns behind my eyelids. I've seen death before, it's part of pack life, part of being a predator. But this isn't death. This is annihilation.
"Any idea who?"
Luna's silence stretches too long. When she finally speaks, her voice is barely above a whisper. "There's only one person I know who had both the knowledge and the motivation to learn this kind of magic."
The name hits me like a physical blow before she even says it.
"Victor."
My uncle. My father's brother. The man who taught me to hunt, who carried me on his shoulders when I was small, who read me bedtime stories about brave werewolf warriors. Victor, who disappeared three years ago after rogue wolves killed his wife Emma and daughter Lily.
"He wouldn't." The words come out strangled. "He's family. He's pack."
"Family doesn't make someone immune to grief." Luna's expression is grim. "Or to the kind of rage that can twist a person's soul beyond recognition."
I think about the last time I saw Victor—at Emma and Lily's funeral. He stood at the graveside like a statue, his face carved from stone. He didn't cry. Didn't speak. Just stared at those two coffins with eyes that had gone completely dead.
"So what do we do?" I ask.
"We prepare. We warn the other packs. We..."
"No." I stand up, pacing now, my wolf demanding action. "We find him. We stop him."
"Scarlett, if this is Victor, he's not the man you remember. Whatever he's become, he's powerful enough to destroy an entire pack in one night. We need to be smart about this."
"Smart?" I whirl to face her. "He's murdering our people! There's no time to be smart!"
"There's no time to be reckless either." Luna's Alpha voice cuts through my fury. "This isn't a simple hunt, child. If Victor has truly embraced necromancy, he's beyond our reach. We need help."
"What kind of help?"
Luna meets my eyes. "The kind that comes with a price. Old magic. Alliances that haven't been called upon in centuries." She pauses. "And you'll need your mate."
The bond flares in my chest, sudden and sharp. "Danny? He's human. He can't even order coffee without stuttering."
"The prophecy was clear—you cannot face the darkness alone. Whatever Victor has become, whatever power he's wielding, you'll need every advantage." Luna's gaze bores into mine. "Including the one fate has given you."
I want to argue, to insist that I don't need anyone, especially not a boy who thinks werewolves are movie monsters. But the image of those ash piles won't leave my mind.
"He hates me," I say finally.
"Then you'll have to change his mind."
That night, I dream of silver trees and moonlight that flows like water. I'm standing in a forest that doesn't exist in the waking world, where the air itself seems to hum with ancient power. The Moon Goddess appears before me, her form shifting between wolf and woman, her voice echoing from everywhere and nowhere.
"You are the sword, Scarlett. But a sword cannot move without the arm that wields it. You will not defeat the darkness alone."
"I don't understand," I say, though somehow I do.
She gestures to a pool of liquid moonlight at my feet. In its depths, I see Danny's face, not the nervous boy from school, but something else. Something powerful. His eyes glow with inner fire, and when he looks at me, I see recognition there. Acceptance. Love.
"He is more than he appears," the Moon Goddess says. "As are you. But time grows short. The shadow that was once your blood seeks to unmake everything you are meant to protect."
"Victor," I whisper.
"He has chosen his path. Now you must choose yours." The Goddess's form begins to fade. "Find him, Scarlett. Find your mate. Before the darkness consumes all."
I wake gasping, my heart hammering against my ribs. The dream clings to me like smoke, and I can still smell that otherworldly forest, still feel the weight of destiny pressing down on my shoulders.
But alongside the fear, something else burns in my chest. Determination.
I grab my phone and scroll through the school directory until I find Danny's number. My fingers hover over the keypad. What do I say? 'Hey, sorry you think I'm a bitch, but I need you to help me stop my psychotic uncle from committing werewolf genocide?'