MARKED BY THE ALPHA'S HATE

Selene's legs burned as she ran, the jagged forest tearing at her borrowed clothes. The moon was hidden behind clouds, but her vision was sharper than ever every branch, every shadow etched with strange clarity.

Magic. Or maybe instinct.

Behind her, Neris moved like smoke silent, fast, always one step ahead.

Where are we going? Selene panted.

A place they won't look. A place even Victor fears.

Selene swallowed hard. "You mean him? The one behind the Blackfangs?"

Neris didn't answer. Instead, she stopped at a bend in the path and crouched, pressing two fingers into the soil.

"Three trackers. Half a mile back. Fast ones."

Selene's breath hitched. "What do we do?"

Neris pulled something from her satchel a curved dagger carved from bone. "We draw them in."

Before Selene could ask what that meant, Neris bit her own wrist, letting her blood drip into a circle on the forest floor. A glowing rune flickered into life, pulsing like a heartbeat. Magic shimmered through the trees, warping the air.

Keep moving north, Neris said, eyes glowing. Don't stop. You'll find a cave marked with a red stone. Wait for me there.

What if they find me first?

They won't. Her voice was calm. Because they're going to find me.

And then Neris stepped into the center of the blood circle and vanished.

Selene stumbled through the forest, heart hammering. Her body wasn't used to this speed, this strength. But something inside her was waking up. Her senses prickled. Her hearing sharpened. She could feel someone else's heartbeat echoing nearby—someone close. Watching.

Then it hit her.

She wasn't alone.

She spun around, claws instinctively pushing through her fingers.

From the trees stepped a tall figure cloaked in tattered red. His face was hidden beneath a carved wolf mask. But the energy rolling off him was ancient. Wrong. Like a stone soaked in blood.

He didn't speak at first.

Then he said, "Your mother was the last one to run."

Selene froze. "Who are you?"

The masked man tilted his head. "Some call me the Harbinger. Others call me… father."

Her breath caught.

I'm not your

You carry the Red Moon's blood, he interrupted. "You are the memory she left behind. And they've been killing to erase it."

Selene's chest tightened. "The elders…"

They knew. And they died for it.

He stepped closer, and though he made no move to harm her, her legs refused to move. His presence was like gravity inescapable.

You're being hunted, little heir. But not just by the ones you think.

I don't understand

You will. When the next moon bleeds. He pressed two fingers to her temple.

Visions slammed into her skull. Flashes of her mother kneeling before a circle of wolves, Darius standing over a grave, Victor's hands soaked in blood, and a symbol carved into bone: a wolf devouring the sun.

Selene gasped and fell to her knees.

When she looked up, the Harbinger was gone.

Meanwhile...

Back at the Syndicate stronghold, Victor stared down at another corpse an elder, throat ripped clean. His brow furrowed.

"This one was off our list," Talon said quietly.

Victor's jaw tightened. Then someone else is cleaning house.

Talon shifted on his feet. Another faction?

No, Victor muttered. Something older. Something that remembers the prophecy

Talon hesitated. Should I tell Darius?

Victor turned. Tell him… the girl's blood has more enemies than he thinks.