Blessed By The Moon

Chapter 61

Storm's POV

The moment it starts, there's no hesitation or reasoning, there's only the pure, raw instinct that's been honed over centuries.

They surge forward like a living wall of teeth and claws, their eyes glowing with the thrill of the hunt. My muscles coil, my teeth bare, and instinct takes over.

"Echo- stay close!" I bark, grabbing her arm. Her eyes blaze back at me, and she snarls, teeth flashing. She doesn't need to be told twice, my beautiful Echo.

The first wave hits us with a feral force that would have killed any normal being. We shift. Claws tear through flesh, teeth find throats, bodies hit the ground in seconds. The smell of fur and fear floods my senses. I'm used to carnage, but this, this is personal. This is a town against me, against us.

I duck a swinging claw from a beta, snapping his neck with one brutal twist. Another tries to tackle me from behind. 

I pivot, kick him into another wolf, and hear a sickening crack, I'm pretty sure that was old mr. Howdie who runs the grocery store, poor man is so old that kicking him into him another wolf killed him. 

Their numbers are staggering, but we're faster and stronger.

Echo moves beside me, her strikes precise and lethal, even without her magic. I catch her mid-flip, pulling her out of a snap attack. She growls low in her throat, that rumble I feel in my chest, and slashes another one across the stomach. She's beautiful like this, terrifying, untouchable. but my eyes keep flicking to the numbers. There's too many. Too damn many.

I mind-link "We need to run, there's a path, we need to lose them in the woods."

"Roger that."

A shadow darts toward the edge of the fray. Kaiden. I see him guiding Gemma, dragging her behind him as he runs through the chaos. My heart clenches, but I can't leave the fight. I can't afford it.

Another wolf leaps at me, teeth gnashing. I meet him mid-air, arms locking around his shoulders, and we crash into the cobblestones. Pain flares across my side, but I push through. My fangs sink into his neck. His howl cuts the night air.

I spin, scanning. Echo takes down another three before I even have time to register it. We're killing and moving together like one entity. Every strike, every motion is perfect instinct. but my body is screaming. Without the Moon, without our full powers, every attack takes double effort, and every hit leaves us closer to collapse.

A knife whistles past my ear, barely missing. The hell? who brings a knife to a claw fight? That's just cheating.

I grab the attacker, hurl him into another wolf, and slam a fist into his chest. They fall in piles, but more keep coming. I roar. a long, primal sound that shakes the stones beneath our feet. Echo answers with her own, and for a second, the pack hesitates.

Kaiden yells something. I glance toward him. Gemma is safe, for now. That's enough to keep the rage burning higher.

The numbers are insane. For every wolf we kill, two more seem to take its place. Blood slicks the ground, claws tear at marble and wood. But we don't stop, we can't. Not until the pack understands what they've done. 

Not until they understand that even without our powers, we're still the apex predators.

My arm sweeps in a wide arc, sending three wolves sprawling. Echo spins beside me, teeth bared, eyes blazing, and I feel the tether between us, centuries of blood, love, and survival threading through every strike.

"Go now " I mind-link Echo, I need to get her to safety first.

The woods.

I round the bend, lungs burning, heart hammering, but something's wrong. The movement in the shadows, the way the branches snap ahead... my stomach drops.