Chapter 59. Blood Moon

The moon rose like a blade.

Selene stood in the center of the Hollow Grounds, the earth cool and solid beneath her boots. Above her, the sky had turned the color of old blood, deep crimson soaking the clouds as if the heavens themselves had been wounded. The full moon hovered on the horizon, heavy and swollen, casting a strange, shivering light across the clearing.

The blood moon.

She could feel it soaking into her skin, thick as a second heartbeat.

Wolves gathered around the perimeter of the grounds, silent and waiting. Some crouched low, tension rippling through their bodies. Others stood stiff, arms crossed, faces guarded. No laughter. No jeering. Only the low, grinding hum of breath and heartbeat and expectation.

Alaric stood at her right hand, still as stone, his tattoos glowing faint silver in the moonlight. Kael waited a few pa