The Moonblood Fights

They didn't speak much after that. There wasn't time.

Mara moved with purpose, setting protective wards around the cabin using herbs and symbols Ava didn't recognize. Aiden checked the perimeter, his steps silent but tense. And Ava… Ava stood by the window, watching the shadows move, heart pounding like a war drum.

She could feel it now.

Something shifting inside her like a second heartbeat, a second skin.

Like something had been locked away for too long and now it was stretching, awakening, remembering.

She turned to the old book again, flipping through pages she hadn't seen before. Her finger stopped on a drawing. It was an eclipse, painted in blood-red ink.

The Blood Moon opens the gate. The Moonborn's power is no longer bound by flesh or fear.

Ava's hands trembled slightly. "What happens to me when it rises?" she asked quietly.

Mara looked up from where she knelt near the door. "No one knows for sure. The last Moonborn died before she could rise."

"She was hunted," Aiden added. "Just like they're hunting you now."

Ava met his eyes. "Then I need to survive what she couldn't."

A howl split the night again, closer this time. This one was joined by others, dozens or maybe more.

Aiden stepped away from the window, tension carved deep into his face. "They're surrounding the cabin. We're not getting out the same way we came in."

"Then we don't leave," Ava said. "We make our stand here."

Mara raised an eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

Ava nodded. "I've been hiding, afraid of what's inside me. Not anymore."

Mara handed her a small silver blade. "This belonged to your mother."

Ava froze. "You knew her?"

"She was Moonborn too. She was strong and brave but didn't get the chance to fight." Mara met Ava's eyes. "But you do."

A heavy knock rattled the door.

Then a voice, deep and cold.

"Ava. Come with us peacefully, and no one else has to die."

Aiden snarled. "Cowards."

Ava didn't move. Her pulse beat like thunder in her ears. She walked slowly to the door and pressed her hand against the wood.

"You want me?" she called. "Come take me."

And then… she opened it.

A cold wind swept through the cabin as figures stood waiting just beyond the treeline. There were men, wolves and something in between. Their eyes glowed red with hate.

Aiden stepped beside her, already shifting, fur pushing through his skin, bones reshaping into something lethal. His snarl echoed through the trees.

Mara stayed back, her hands glowing faintly with old magic.

Ava didn't shift.

She didn't need to.

Because the moment the Blood Moon rose over the treetops, blood-red and enormous thing inside her snapped free.

It felt like her chest cracked open. Like her bones remembered something her mind had forgotten. Light burst beneath her skin, not fire, but something older like moonlight made flesh.

The enemy took a step back, sensing the change.

Ava's eyes glowed white.

Her body stayed human, but around her, the air shimmered, outlines of the white wolf flickering like a ghost above her skin. For a moment, she was both a human and wolf, human and legend.

She raised the silver blade.

"Let them come."

And they did.

The first one lunged, but Ava moved faster, her body fluid and her senses sharpened to something inhuman. The blade found its target with terrifying ease. A second attacker fell before it even reached her.

Behind her, Aiden tore into the others, a blur of teeth and fury. Mara's magic lit up the clearing like a storm, fire, wind, and something that felt like the forest itself was rising to protect them.

But the enemy kept coming.

Ava fought harder.

Each strike felt more natural, more right. The wolf inside her was no longer sleeping, it fought beside her, through her, with her.

But even legends get tired.

Even power has limits.

Ava stumbled, breathing hard, blood on her hands. One last creature charged from the trees, larger than the rest, eyes burning with hatred.

She braced herself... but didn't have to.

Because suddenly, a second white wolf slammed into the beast, fangs tearing deep.

Aiden?

No. Not Aiden.

This wolf was different, taller, older.

And somehow, familiar.

When the beast fell, the white wolf turned to her, then shifted.

A woman stood before her.

Dark hair, pale eyes and a long scar down one cheek.

She smiled.

"You're stronger than I was."

Ava's mouth fell open. "Mom?"

But the woman didn't answer. She simply raised a hand, brushing Ava's cheek.

Then vanished like mist.

Ava fell to her knees, shaking.

The clearing was quiet now.

The enemy gone. The night still.

Aiden returned to her side, panting, scratched and bleeding. "Are you okay?"

Ava looked up at the moon, still red above them. Her hands still glowed faintly.

"No," she whispered. "But I will be."

The Blood Moon had come and Ava was no longer lost.

She was rising.