Page 11

When Mira told me there was going to be a Trial, I thought she was joking.

"A trial for what?"

"To earn your place."

I blinked. "I thought I already did that."

She gave me a flat look. "You earned our respect. But Crescent Fang doesn't just let outsiders stay-especially not ones with Alpha attention and Ashmoon scent still clinging to their skin."

I felt my jaw tighten.

"What do I have to do?"

"Survive."

Of course.

?

The Trial of the Hunt wasn't just a test-it was legend. A rite of passage dating back to the old bloodlines, when Crescent Fang was still a rogue pack living in the shadows of larger ones.

Each year, anyone hoping to claim Crescent status-especially outsiders-had to enter the deep woods alone for one night, armed with only their wolf and their instincts. Somewhere in those woods, a marked predator would be released.

Find it.

Defeat it.

Or be hunted instead.

The thought made my stomach twist. But I knew one thing: I wasn't going to run. Not again.

I would face this.

For myself.

?

At sundown, I stood at the edge of the forest, barefoot and breathing steady.

Kael stood nearby, expression unreadable. "You don't have to do this to prove anything to me."

"I'm not doing it for you," I said. "I'm doing it for me."

A flicker of pride crossed his face.

"I'll be waiting at the border," he said. "Come back whole."

I gave a small nod and stepped into the trees.

?

The forest was quiet. Too quiet.

Moonlight filtered through the branches in slanted beams, and the cold air carried the scent of damp moss, pine, and something else...

Blood.

I shifted quickly, my wolf breaking through in one sharp pulse of light and fur. She was smaller than most, built for speed and silence-but tonight, she was hungry for something more.

Validation.

We tracked the predator quickly. A mutated rogue-part bear, part wolf, infected with sickness and fury. They called it the Duskbeast.

Its roar shattered the stillness, but I didn't hesitate.

I ran toward it.

?

The fight was brutal.

It tossed me into a tree, ripped into my shoulder, snapped its jaws inches from my throat-but I kept moving. Dodging. Tearing. Learning.

And when it lunged for me a final time, I used its weight against it-spinning, snapping its neck between my jaws with a growl that didn't sound like it came from an omega at all.

It sounded like a warrior.

?

When I limped back to the edge of the forest at dawn, covered in blood and dirt and half-shifted, the entire pack was waiting.

No one spoke.

Until Mira stepped forward and dropped a crescent-shaped fang pendant into my hand.

"Welcome to Crescent Fang," she said.

Kael didn't move toward me-but his eyes said everything.

Pride. Awe. Respect.

And something else I wasn't ready to name.

But I saw it.

And maybe... I was starting to feel it too.