ly lit by the warm glow of her bedside lamp. She had read it a million times, her fingers tr

Moons

cur

wol

now

d she just didn't know how to steady herself. The thing that really terrified her was that her whole

to face it all head-on. Liam had promised her answers, and if she was going to make

quiet except for the soft murmur of birds chirping in the outside air. She grasped the journal tightly in her clu

her yard, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes-which she had learned to read when h

ity. While she had stopped a few feet away, soon enough, she found herself diving

asked softly i

ournal tightly to her chest. "

s gaze flicking to the journal clutched in

ollowing him. The trees stood sentry, their shadows stretching out in a rectangle across the path. The deeper they

he sun poured through the treetops onto that space, casting a kind of macabre light. In the middl

yes were unreadable. "This is whe

e, and she looked around

f years ago, two families-your and mine-were joined in blood. A pact between wolves and healers. But something

art hitched

e until the rightful heir of the healer's bloodline-your bloodline-was united with the Moonstone. Without it,

her throat. "So... that's

u, tried protecting you from the wolves that would come after you. She

ad. _The key._ That was it-that was what her mom had written in that j

his features for a rare moment. "You're not normal, Ariana. Not anymore. The cur

h the swell of panic. "W

felt it, haven't you? The dreams. The heightened senses. The changes in your body. Yo

es had heightened, how her body healed in record time compared to how it ever had.

d, voice shaking. "Just wait till I turn

p you learn to control it, but we do have to find the Moonstone. Without it

s words came onto her like a thick blanket

the curse will drive you mad. And on

. Madness. Death. Too much. She'd never asked for this. She'd never wanted to be a part

words. Her mother had tried to protect her, keep her sheltered from this world. Now it wa

ather binding. "Okay," she whis

between them. "I've been tracking Yulian for months," Liam said lowly. "H

an... your stepbrother, right?

the Moonstone he will be able to keep the peace between wolves and h

ured up in a lifetime, knowing well it was not only her life that hung i

es kicked out of their pack. He is preparing for something huge, and if we

ing everything he had to tell

. "This isn't going to be easy," he warned in a s

ly giving way to a growing determination. "I'm not tur

th the faintest hint

s. Ariana wasn't able to follow him immediately

pered. "Things are ab

With each step further inside, the air seemed to turn a few shades colder, the trees starting to close in with the semb

t know, but of one thing she was ce