The moon hung heavy in the sky—brighter than it had ever been. It bathed the forest in silver light, painting shadows on the ground and making every leaf shimmer like it was holding its breath.
Tonight was the night.
My eighteenth moon.
The night I would finally shift.
I stood at the edge of the clearing, heart pounding in my chest. The rest of the pack had gathered around the perimeter—quiet, reverent. No one spoke. Everyone watched.
My father stood beside me, arms crossed, face unreadable. My mother gave me a soft nod of encouragement from the crowd. Kye hovered just a few steps behind, hands clenched at his sides.
And inside me, Ria stirred.
"Are you ready?" her voice whispered, stronger than it had ever been.
"I think so," I whispered back, even though my throat was dry.
I felt her press against the edges of my consciousness. Not pushing, not forcing—just waiting.
The ground beneath my feet hummed, like the very earth was welcoming something sacred. I stepped forward, barefoot in the soft grass, and looked up at the moon.
Everything else fell away.
The fear.
The expectations.
The weight of the pack's eyes.
Gone.
All that remained was the bond between me and Ria—the wolf who had lived inside me for six years, waiting for this moment.
Then it began.
It wasn't pain. Not exactly. More like… unraveling. My bones stretched, cracked, reshaped. My skin burned, shimmered, vanished. I collapsed to my knees with a gasp, hands sinking into the soil as fur rippled down my arms.
My senses exploded.
The scent of pine. The whisper of wind. The heartbeat of every wolf in the clearing pounding like distant war drums. And one heartbeat—one steady, calming rhythm—was mine.
Mine and Ria's.
"I'm here," she said, her voice no longer just in my mind, but through me. "I've always been here."
A soft howl rose from my throat—low, uncertain.
And then I ran.
I didn't think. Didn't hesitate. My paws tore across the clearing, powerful and sure, as if I'd always known how to do this. The air tasted like freedom. Like power. Like truth.
The pack howled behind me, voices rising as one, not in command but in celebration.
Ria was real. She was free.
And I was no longer just Liana Rivers, Alpha's daughter.
I was a wolf.
When I slowed near the river's edge, panting and wild-eyed, I stared at my reflection. A sleek silver wolf with fierce green eyes stared back. I blinked. So did she.
It was me.
All of me.
But just as I turned to return to the clearing, Ria's voice rang sharp in my head.
"Wait."
A low, foreign growl rippled through the trees.
Something shifted in the air.
And I froze.
Because the wind carried a scent I'd never smelled before.
Warm. Dark. Electric.
Ronan.
But I didn't know that yet.
Not until my eyes met his.
And the bond snapped into place.