Iris Montgomery's POV
The pain hits me without warning.
One moment I'm standing by the window watching the Blood Moon, and the next moment fire explodes through my entire body like someone lit my veins on fire from the inside out.
I scream.
I don't mean to but the sound just rips out of my throat before I can stop it. My body collapses and my grandmother catches me before I hit the ground.
"It's okay," she says, and her voice is calm in a way that doesn't match the urgency in her movements. "This is natural. Your body is finally becoming what it always was meant to be."
Nothing about this feels natural.
It feels like my skin is too small for my bones. Like something ancient and angry is waking up inside my chest and tearing through everything in its path. Like I'm being ripped apart from the inside and put back together into something that's not quite human anymore.
"Luna," my grandmother calls out. "Get the herbs from the back shelf. The ones in the blue jar. Hurry."
Luna disappears and my grandmother helps me to the bed. She sits beside me and takes my hand. Her grip is strong. Steady. Like she's done this before.
"Breathe," she tells me. "Just breathe through it."
I try to breathe but breathing makes it worse. Every breath I take seems to feed the fire. The burning spreads from my veins into my bones. Into my blood. Into places I didn't know could burn.
I scream again.
My grandmother holds my hand tighter and starts speaking in a language I've never heard before. The words don't sound like any language that belongs to this world. They sound like starlight being broken into pieces. They sound like blood singing ancient songs.
The words wash over me and for just a moment, the pain lessens.
But then it comes back twice as strong.
I think I'm dying.
I'm absolutely certain that I'm dying and there's nothing anyone can do to stop it. The pain is too big. Too intense. Too absolute. I would do anything to make it stop. I would give up anything. Promise anything. I just need it to end.
Luna comes back with the herbs and my grandmother forces them down my throat even though I'm screaming. The taste is horrible. Bitter and earthy and wrong.
"This will help," my grandmother says. "I promise you this will help."
But it doesn't help. Nothing helps.
I'm on fire and nobody can put out the flames.
The burning reaches a peak that I didn't think was possible. I think this is what dying feels like. I think this is what breaking apart completely feels like.
Then something shifts.
Something inside me unfolds like a flower blooming in fast motion. Like something that's been folded up tight for my entire life is finally opening up and expanding.
Suddenly I can feel everything.
I can feel the pack members moving around downstairs in my grandmother's house. I can feel their confusion. Their worry. Their fear. I can feel their blood like it's connected to my blood through invisible threads.
I can feel Luna moving through the kitchen, searching for more supplies. I can feel her panic. Her loyalty. Her absolute determination to protect me even though she has no idea what's happening.
I can feel the Blood Moon above us, pouring red light through the windows. I can feel its power feeding into my skin, making everything stronger and more real.
And I can feel something else.
Something impossibly far away that's waking up just like I'm waking up. Something ancient that's moving through the world toward me. Something that was sleeping and dreaming of this moment for so long it forgot how to live any other way.
The connection between us is getting stronger.
I can almost see its face.
I can almost hear its voice.
I can almost feel its hands reaching for me across the distance.
Then the burning stops.
It doesn't fade gradually. It just stops. Like someone turned off a switch. Like the ancient thing inside me suddenly decided it was done transforming and settled into place.
I open my eyes.
The room is bright. Too bright. Like I'm seeing everything through a filter that's been removed. I can see the individual threads in the curtains. I can see dust motes floating in the air. I can see colors that I don't think have names.
My grandmother is staring at me and her face has gone very pale.
"What happened to my eyes?" I whisper.
She walks to the mirror across the room and guides me to stand in front of it.
I don't recognize the girl looking back at me.
Her eyes are silver. Not the silver of wolf form that comes and goes. Permanently silver. Like someone poured moonlight directly into her irises. Like she's been touched by starlight and it decided to stay.
My grandmother reaches up and touches my face gently. Tears are streaming down her face.
But she's not crying from sadness.
She's crying because she's looking at something powerful. Something ancient. Something that she's been protecting her entire life finally became what it always was meant to be.
"You're beautiful," she whispers. "God help us all, you're beautiful."
That's when we hear it.
Footsteps pounding against the ground outside. Fast. Urgent. Multiple people moving at once toward the house.
My grandmother's entire body goes rigid. She moves to the window and looks out. Her face hardens.
"They felt the surge," she says quietly. "Pack council. At least four of them."
Luna draws a knife from her boot so quickly I almost miss the movement. She positions herself between the stairs and us.
"We're leaving," my grandmother says, taking my hand. "Right now. Back room. There's a passage my grandmother built. It leads to the forest."
"I'm not leaving you," Luna says.
"You're keeping her alive," my grandmother responds. "That's what matters."
The pounding starts on the front door. Hard. Demanding.
"This is pack council business," a voice shouts from outside. "Open this door, old woman. We need to see Iris Montgomery now."
My grandmother squeezes my hand. "Go. Luna will take you through the passage. Get to the forest. Keep running until you reach the old oak tree with three trunks. Wait there."
"Grandmother," I start to say.
"Go," she commands, and her voice carries power that stops any argument.
Luna pulls me toward the back room. I can hear my grandmother moving downstairs. I can feel her power rising. Like she's preparing for a fight.
We reach the back room and Luna finds the passage my grandmother mentioned. It's small and dark and leads down below the house.
"Run," Luna whispers, pushing me toward it.
I want to stay. I want to help my grandmother. But I can feel her intention through the connection we share. She's going to stall them. She's going to buy us time.
We move through the passage as fast as we can. Behind us, I hear the front door crash open.
I hear my grandmother's voice rising to meet the council.
"Iris is under my protection," she says from somewhere above us. "Ancient law states that blood family claims supersede pack law."
We reach the exit to the passage and push through into the cold night air. The Blood Moon is bright above us. Red and alive and watching.
We're running now. Running away from the house. Away from my grandmother. Away from everything I've ever known.
And behind us, I can feel the confrontation happening.
I can feel my grandmother's power building like a storm.
I can feel the council's fear.
Something arriving at the house just as we reach the forest edge.
Something that's going to change everything.