Chapter 7 - THE NIGHT THE MOON TURNED SILVER
The first time I transformed, it happened in a parking garage.
Not beneath a majestic full moon.
Not on a mountain surrounded by ancient wolves.
In a concrete garage beneath Rainier Strategic Systems, next to a broken vending machine and a sign advertising discounted monthly parking.
Honestly, that seemed appropriate.
My life had never been particularly cinematic.
Nia and I had returned to collect a certified copy of my termination paperwork and meet an independent investigator examining the company's procurement practices.
We had an appointment.
We were supposed to spend twenty minutes in a conference room.
Instead, the elevator stopped between floors.
The lights went out.
And an unfamiliar voice spoke through the emergency intercom.
“Honey Evans.”
Nia went still.
I swallowed.
“Who's speaking?”
“You have information that doesn't belong to you.”
“That's funny. My employer said exactly the same thing before firing me.”
The voice ignored me.
“Return the Hollow Crown files.”
Nia stepped in front of me.
“Don't answer.”
A metallic scrape sounded above us.
The elevator doors began forcing apart.
Then a man appeared.
He wore a gray tactical jacket.
His eyes glowed an unnatural red.
Nia growled.
“Bloodbound.”
I looked at her.
“What's a Bloodbound?”
The man smiled.
“Something your king should have buried.”
He lunged.
Nia shoved me behind her.
Her body shifted in one violent blur.
A gray wolf landed between us.
I stumbled backward.
The attacker struck her.
She hit the elevator wall and cried out.
Something inside my chest tore open.
Not physically.
It felt like a locked room suddenly opening.
I heard a voice.
Enough.
I froze.
The voice was mine.
And not mine.
Warmth flooded my arms.
My vision sharpened.
The darkness turned silver.
Then the floor dropped away beneath my feet.
I remember fragments.
The smell of rain seeping through concrete.
A roar that seemed to come from the walls.
Nia lying injured.
The attacker's expression changing from triumph to terror.
Then I saw myself reflected in the elevator mirror.
Not a woman.
A white wolf.
My fur glowed faintly beneath the emergency lights.
Silver patterns moved across my shoulders like moonlight on water.
The attacker fell to his knees.
“Moonkeeper,” he whispered.
I bared my teeth.
But I didn't attack.
Something inside me understood that I could stop him without becoming what he was.
The silver light intensified.
His red eyes faded.
He collapsed unconscious.
And the elevator doors slid open.
When I woke, Dondre was beside my hospital bed.
Nia slept in the adjacent room.
My entire body ached.
I looked at him.
“Please tell me I didn't eat anyone.”
He stared.
Then laughed.
A real, relieved laugh.
“No.”
“Good.”
“You did transform.”
I closed my eyes.
“I remember.”
He took my hand after waiting for me to reach toward him.
“You saved Nia.”
I swallowed.
“Is she okay?”
“She'll recover.”
Relief flooded me.
Then I looked at Dondre.
“What did I do to that man?”
His expression grew serious.
“You broke a forced blood enchantment.”
I frowned.
“Is that bad?”
“It's something no one has done in decades.”
I stared at the ceiling.
“I'm starting to hate being special.”
Dondre smiled sadly.
“I know.”
That night, the moon outside my window turned silver.
Not literally.
At least, that's what I told myself.
But Nia insisted every wolf in the city had felt something awaken.
An ancient resonance.
A call that hadn't sounded since the Winter Schism.
Before dawn, the Sovereign Council issued an emergency summons.
Every Alpha lord was ordered to attend a royal tribunal.
And the subject of the tribunal was me.
Honey Evans — Unregistered Moonkeeper, Possible Threat to the Crown.
I stared at the notice.
Then looked at Dondre.
“Possible threat?”
His jaw tightened.
“They're afraid of what you can do.”
May you like
I folded the paper.
“Then perhaps they should start worrying about what they've done.”
