The sun climbed steadily overhead as we sprinted through the woods. Determination, driven by terror over Ares’s condition, led the way. Birdsong and the chirping of crickets swirled through the air like dust motes, undaunted and uninhibited by our presence in their woodland home. They sounded too sweet, too jolly, for the sour mood that clung to us as we ran. A perpetual cloud hovered over me, casting the pale winter sunlight in shades of grey.I had to keep blinking to make sure my vision wasn’t truly returning to the grey scale I had once known. Between the shadows and my sadness, it was hard to tell. The claw marks on my arm, sliced there by Mum by accident, had already healed, but they still hurt somewhere deeper, somewhere darker, within my soul. If I’d been in my human body, I would’ve rubbed at the healed wound, irritated by the force of my emotions.I had bigger things to worry about, but I couldn’t get it out of my head. The way my mum had looked when she’d seen what she’d d

Mist swirled around my ankles. My brain felt heavy and slow as I looked down, tracing the way it coiled, snake-like, up my legs. There was something ominous about it. Something I didn’t like.I tried to kick it away. It didn’t move; it just kept coiling, around and around, up and up, until it reached my thighs.Huffing out a sigh, I pushed myself onwards. Forcing my legs to march, darting through the undergrowth in the dense patch of woodland we’d set up camp in – if it weren’t too rudimentary to be called a camp, with nothing more than a couple of cloaks scattered across the ground to keep the damp and the frosty winter’s chill from settling into our bones – I curved away from the tree line and the clearing, where I’d be too exposed, and ducked under strands of ivy as I began my hunt.Dawn light painted the horizon in sweeping brush strokes. I squinted at it through the thick foliage; it took on an unreal quality the longer I tried to watch the colours shift with the sunrise. Shaking

My mouth flapped uselessly, my numb tongue and lips unable to make any real sound. Ares didn’t seem to be in a much better state than me, though he’d curled his hands into fists where they lay, as uselessly as my tongue against the roof of my mouth, upon the ground.Wolfsbane. It cut a werewolf off from their wolf-side - along with a slew of other side effects. In short, we were screwed.I tried to mindlink Ares, Dad, Nana, Grandpa, even damned Flora, but it felt like I’d been cut off from that ability. I stared helplessly up at her, this pretty young girl with a bright sunshine smile, and I felt hatred like I’d never felt before.“You betrayed us all, Haile,” she said, saccharine sweet and clearly loving hearing the sound of her own voice. I sagged against the tree trunk, unable to do anything but listen as the wolfsbane held me hostage in my own body. “You chose him over us.”Not you too, I thought. And stars, Ares was going to be so damn smug about the fact that he’d been right –

The wolves were upon us.My heart still felt slow, still felt sluggish, but I had to try to stand. Grandpa Attie helped me up, and I felt so useless as my legs shook beneath my weight. Wolves filled the clearing; we had only a smattering of trees and vines to keep them at bay. Our last defence, and it all seemed hopeless.Because how could we survive this? Other than Dad, Ares and I were our two strongest fighters. And we both could barely stand.If I were being honest with myself, even if I’d been at my peak physical form, I wouldn’t have been able to lay a claw against any one member of the Blue Moon Pack. Duty or delusion, I couldn’t stop seeing them as my family.I didn’t know what to do. Panic set in. Not for me – but for everyone else. I still couldn’t mindlink, but I tried and tried and tried, over and over and over, my thoughts rattling around in time with my unsteady heartbeat. We needed a plan. And we needed one fast.“We need to be your prisoners,” I said again, my voice h

Ares and I took cover in the edge of the woods, backing away from the battle until we were well hidden but still able to watch. Everything in me told me I should be out there, shoulder to shoulder with my Blue Moon wolves, but the poison in my system insisted I remain hidden.I ducked under a curtain of ivy, shrouding us further from view as I stared out in horror at the carnage unfolding in the clearing. Wolves snarled and snapped; chunks of flesh were ripped clean and flung through the air. It was gory and it was vicious, and there was nothing I could do. I couldn’t even mindlink, couldn’t even keep watch for my friends and family. “Do you feel as helpless as I do?” murmured Ares. His fingers stroked down my cheek, but the steadying movement was making me more on edge if anything. Still, it seemed to be soothing him, so I let him continue.“Yes.” My tone was clipped, abrupt, so I pulled an apologetic face at him. “Sorry.”“No, I get it. This is driving me mad.”“It has to be Greyhi