ade a silent vow. I was going to find out who was behind this. I

ng that we were only just beginning to un

cold realization settled over me-I was no longer just a

re dangerous, something that threatened

iend, who had been standing silently besid

re about the curse, about the prophecy

n. "I'll start searching through the library t

st the wall, his face set in grim resolve. "Gi

ut being seen. We need to tighten sec

tance. "Consider it done. I'll gather the patrol teams

red wolf, a wave of helplessness washing over me.

them. But I couldn't stand idly by while my pack was tor

e," she said quietly. "These wounds-they're not just from any ordinary werewo

I asked, dread cre

istening. "Years ago, before you were born, there was a simila

these. I always suspected there was something u

ys been shrouded in mystery, their bodies found in the for

ttack, but now... now it seemed there w

say anything?" I aske

d no one wanted to believe that there could be dark forces at

tever attacked your parents is the

he puzzle starting to come together i

was all connected. And if we didn't figure out h

ice steadier than I felt. "You'v

, Sera. Whatever this is, it's powerful. And

weren't random; they were targeted, deliberate. And if they were connected to the curse that had

ories. I had to get back to that book, had to find out more about t

other scream echoed through the p

hall toward me, her face pale with fear. "Sera!" she called o

h my veins. We burst into the common room where a small group h

ack member, this one barely conscious, their body co

rved into the floor beside them. The same symbol, the Mark of the Shadowed Moon, etch

ispered, my voice barely audible over t

to apply pressure to the wounds, but it w

f was palpable in the air, thick and s

ed with desperation. "Sera, we can't keep l

asn't just about me anymore. This was about the entire pack, and

ier than it had any right to be. "But first,

d out what really happened to the first

d with uncertainty. "And what if we

't know if we could stop whatever dark force was at wo

d wolf to the infirmary, I couldn't shak

more brutal. Whoever-or whatever-was behind them was g

e Shadowed Moon still etched into the floor, I k

d teeth. This was something far more insidious, something that had been fes

t would determine the fate of my pack, I realize

h about the curse, about my parents, and about t

xt attack might be the one

gun to show its true face. As the moon hung high in the sky, c

took. And I would make sure that whoever was behind

't just a healer. I was a fighter. And I would do whatever it took to

as thick with tension as I pace

the feeling that we were on the verge of something

etermined to find the key to breaking the curs

quinted into the darkness, trying

oice trembling slightly despite m

Then, from the shadows, a figure stepped forw

hey slowly approached, their movem

with an unsettling familiarity. "You've been asking

figure lunged forward, a