Moonbound: The Curse of Lycaria

ove the sleepy town of Theron Hollow, the sky bled crimson. Eirene stood at the edge of the ancient cliff known as The Watcher's Crown, a jagged outcrop overlo

alling hard to the ground. Stones bit into her palms. She rolled onto her back, gasping and then froze. Standing at the treeline was a wolf. No. Not a wolf. A man. Tall. Barefoot. Shirtless. His skin was the color of bronze smoothed by moonlight, and his dark hair fell in waves to his shoulders. His eyes, gold, glowing, inhuman, were fixed on her. And though he said nothing, she heard him in her mind like a whisper. Eirene. She scrambled back. "Who, what are you?" The man stepped forward slowly, like he didn't want to startle her. "I won't hurt you." "You, how do you know my name?" He tilted his head, eyes soft but unreadable. "I've always known it." Her chest heaved. "This is a dream. It has to be." "No dream." His gaze flicked to the sky. "The moon is bleeding. It begins tonight." "What begins?" He said nothing. Instead, he crouched, placing a hand to the earth. The ground pulsed beneath his touch. Glowing lines of silver bloomed from his fingers like veins of starlight, curling outward into symbols Eirene couldn't read but somehow... recognized. "What are you doing?" "Waking the old magic," he murmured. The moment he said it, a wind unlike anything she had ever felt surged through the trees. It wasn't just wind, it was memory. Fire. Fury. Screams. Wolf howls layered with voices. The sensation tore through her mind like claws. She clutched her head, crying out. "Stop it!" And just like that, it ended. Silence fell. Eirene gasped, panting. "Who are you?" He looked at her with something between sadness and awe. "My name is Demetrius. I am Alpha of the House Drakonis." She blinked. "You mean... like a wolf pack?" He nodded. "One of the oldest. And you" he stepped closer, his voice dropping" are Luna-Born." She shook her head. "That's not a thing. That's some kind of cult talk." "It's in your blood, Eirene. You were marked before birth. The prophecy is awakening." She backed