The sky was blood red.
Ethan stood in the center of the stone arena, dust clinging to his bare feet. The crowd was loud, but it wasn't cheering. They were waiting. Watching. Hungry for blood.
He swallowed hard, his heart thumping like a drum in his chest. His arms were sore, and the scars on his back itched under the cold wind. Around him, the wolves of Blackclaw Pack stood in a wide circle. Elders. Warriors. Omegas. Alphas. All staring down at him like he didn't belong.
Because he didn't.
A loud horn blew, deep and sharp. Ethan flinched.
"This is just a test of rank," one of the Elders had told him earlier, voice calm like he was offering bread. "You pass, you earn your place."
But they lied.
Everyone knew what this was. A trial by blood. A fight to the death.
Ethan's opponent stepped forward. Darius.
The Alpha's son. Tall, muscular, and covered in fresh rune tattoos. His golden eyes glowed with power, and his lips curled into a smirk.
"This won't take long," Darius said. He cracked his knuckles. "Try not to embarrass yourself."
Ethan didn't answer. He couldn't. His mouth was too dry. He looked up at the stone pillars, at the old carvings of wolves locked in battle. His hands curled into fists.
He had no choice. If he ran, they'd kill him anyway. If he lost, he'd die here. If he won… he didn't even know what that meant.
The horn blew again.
Darius charged.
Ethan barely dodged in time. The other boy moved fast, too fast. Claws swiped past Ethan's face, close enough to cut skin. He stumbled back, his feet sliding on the sand.
A sharp pain bloomed in his ribs. Darius had landed a hit.
The crowd roared.
Ethan coughed and raised his arms again. His breath came hard and fast. Darius wasn't just stronger. He was trained. Prepared. His attacks were wild but clean, like someone who had fought in this arena before.
Another blow came, hitting Ethan square in the chest. He flew backward, hitting the ground hard.
"Get up," someone yelled from the stands. "Or die like a coward."
Ethan tasted blood.
Darius walked toward him, calm and confident. "They sent you in here to lose," he said. "You're just a nobody. A mistake. You don't have a place in this pack."
Ethan's fingers dug into the dirt. His chest heaved. His vision blurred. Something inside him twisted, pulled, then burned.
He saw flashes.
A forest. A pair of silver eyes. A voice in the dark.
Awaken.
His back arched. His bones screamed. Heat shot through his veins like lightning. He didn't know what was happening. But it was power. Old, strange power. And it was his.
He stood.
Darius paused, just for a second.
Ethan's eyes glowed silver.
He moved.
Faster than he thought possible, Ethan rushed forward. His fist slammed into Darius's jaw, and the other boy flew backward, skidding across the dirt. Gasps rose from the crowd.
Darius got up, growling, his face twisted with rage. He shifted, bones cracking as fur spread across his arms and neck. His wolf form was huge, golden, fierce.
Ethan didn't shift. He didn't need to.
He moved again, dodging Darius's charge, spinning around, slamming his elbow into the back of his skull. Another blow to the chest. Then one to the throat.
Darius collapsed.
Silence.
Ethan stood there, chest rising and falling, blood dripping from his knuckles. His legs shook, but he stayed on his feet. He waited for cheers, or for the horn to blow again.
But no one moved.
The silence was worse than the noise.
He looked up at the Elders' platform. Their faces were cold, stiff, unreadable.
Then the High Alpha stood.
"That power," one of the Elders said, "it isn't from us."
Another whispered, "He used forbidden blood."
"He's cursed."
"No," Ethan said. His voice cracked. "You saw what he did to me. I defended myself."
The High Alpha's eyes burned into him. "Where did you learn that power?"
"I didn't learn it," Ethan said. "It just… woke up."
A long pause.
Then the Alpha turned to the guards.
"Seize him," he growled, "before he becomes something worse."
•••
"Run!"
Ethan didn't wait.
His feet hit the ground fast as he followed the voice. Behind him, the guards jumped down into the arena, claws drawn, ready to tear him apart. But someone had jumped in first—a blur of brown hair and a flash of silver.
Lena.
His childhood friend. The Alpha's niece. She grabbed his arm and pulled.
"Come on!" she shouted.
They ran through the old tunnel under the arena wall. It was small, narrow, damp with moss and blood. Only the Elders and a few guards knew it even existed. Lena must've stolen a key or found a way through.
Behind them, roars echoed. The crowd had turned wild.
"They're going to hunt you," Lena said as they pushed through the exit and into the woods. "You know that, right?"
Ethan nodded, panting. "I didn't choose this."
"No one ever does."
The trees swallowed them up. Leaves whipped across Ethan's face as he ran, branches clawing at his arms. His chest ached, his legs burned, but fear kept him going.
The pack had already called him a threat. A cursed wolf. It wouldn't take long for them to declare him rogue.
That meant kill on sight.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"Out of pack territory. Past the river."
"That far?"
"You want to live, don't you?"
He didn't answer. He didn't know.
They ran until the sound of the arena faded behind them. The wind in the trees was sharp, full of whispers. The kind that made your skin crawl.
Ethan slowed near a fallen log, breathing hard. "Lena, why did you help me?"
She looked back at him. Her eyes were bright, filled with something between fear and anger. "Because you're not a monster, Ethan. But they'll make you one if you stay."
He sat down, chest still heaving. "I don't understand what's happening to me. I felt… different. Like something old woke up inside me."
Lena looked down. "That power. It wasn't normal. Not from Blackclaw blood."
"What are you saying?"
"There were rumors. About a bloodline that was wiped out long ago. Wolves who had… something else in them. Power that came from the Moonbloods."
Ethan blinked. "That's just a story. A myth."
"No. It's real," Lena said quietly. "The Elders called it forbidden blood. And now they think you have it."
Ethan's hands shook. "But I was born here. My parents—"
"Died when you were a baby," she said. "No one ever told you where they really came from."
Ethan stared at the dirt. A strange buzzing filled his ears. The same feeling he had before the trial came rushing back. Pressure. Fire. A pull deep in his bones.
And then a voice.
You are not one of them. You were never one of them.
He jerked back. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"A voice. It said… I wasn't one of them."
Lena frowned. "There's no one here, Ethan."
He clutched his head. The voice was calm, but cold. Not his. Not even fully alive.
They fear what they cannot control. Let me show you the truth.
Ethan shut his eyes and shook his head. "Get out," he whispered. "Leave me alone."
"Ethan?" Lena touched his shoulder.
"I'm fine," he said quickly. "Let's keep moving."
They pushed deeper into the forest. The light was fading, and the trees grew taller, thicker, hiding the sky. Every sound made Ethan flinch. Cracking branches. Shifting leaves. The forest felt alive in the worst way.
They crossed the river by walking on fallen stones. Lena moved fast, but Ethan hesitated halfway. The water rushed beneath him, cold and black. He looked down.
And saw glowing eyes in the trees.
"Lena," he said, but it came out as a whisper.
She turned.
"Hunters," he said.
Shapes moved in the shadows. Dark figures, fast and silent, spreading out around them.
Lena cursed. "They must've followed our scent."
"We're trapped."
"We're not," she said, pulling him toward a narrow path. "We'll circle left. There's a cave past the ridge."
But it was too late.
One of the hunters leaped from the trees. Ethan ducked just in time. The wolf's claws sliced the air above him. Lena spun and kicked the attacker hard, sending him crashing into a tree.
More came.
Three. Four. Five of them.
Ethan backed away, heart racing. His body felt strange again, like something was crawling under his skin. His breath came in short, sharp gasps.
"You need to go," Lena said, standing in front of him. "I'll hold them off."
"No!" he shouted.
"You have to. You're the one they want."
A hunter lunged. She blocked it, claws out, her wolf form already halfway there. The others followed.
Ethan turned to run, but the path behind him was blocked too. A black wolf stepped into view, lips curled in a snarl.
He was surrounded.
His blood roared.
His fingers curled. His bones cracked.
The heat came back—worse this time. His heart pounded, not with fear, but something else. Something wild. Ancient.
Pain shot through his chest.
He fell to his knees, gasping.
Let go, the voice said. Stop fighting what you are.
Ethan screamed.
His back arched. His body twisted. Fur ripped through his skin. His hands became claws. His teeth stretched into fangs.
The hunters stepped back.
Then Ethan stood.
Not as a boy. Not as a broken runaway.
As a wolf.
Tall, silver, glowing with light that shimmered through his fur. His eyes burned like fire.
And the forest went silent.