Sierra forces a laugh like Heidi’s intimidating aura doesn’t make her heart jump. Her wobbling voice, however, betrays her. "Fine. Fine. Play scary wolf all you want. But don’t forget..." she swallows, disguising it as a sniff... "you’d better meet us here tomorrow. After you get back from the labyrinth. Your stupid awakening wolf might have chilled by then. I can’t deal with a feral wolf, so I’ll let you off tonight. But tomorrow, I will tell you exactly what you need to do for me. Or..."
She waves her phone again, though her hand shakes. "Your little movie goes live on the school’s website. Imagine that. Heidi, the porn star."
One of the minions snickers nervously. "That’s if she gets out of the labyrinth alive," she mutters.
The girls burst into laughter again, though it’s thinner now, like they are careful about provoking Heidi further.
Heidi’s growl shakes the trees nearby. "Get. Out." Her voice is feral when it escapes her throat.
She doesn’t expect the intensity of her yell to be this hoarse and impactful, but it is. It doesn’t even sound like her. The jokes in fancy clothing sense this too. They go quickly, glance over their shoulders, and try to look casual but fail at it.
As much as Heidi wants to explode on them right there, she doesn’t feel in the right headspace for it, and should a day come when she has to put Sierra and her minions in their place, she wants to savor every moment.
And that means being in the right headspace for it.
The moment their figures disappear into the night, Heidi leans against a pillar, trembling. Her heart is beating so fast it feels like it’ll break through her ribs. Her claws retract slowly and her fangs start to pull back, but her eyes still glow faintly. The wolf inside her is restless and wild, like it’s not ready to sleep again.
Adrenaline roars through her. Her skin prickles, her muscles ache, and her mouth is dry.
Is this what it feels like to be a first-time shifter? She has no idea what to do.
Going back to the dorm? That doesn’t seem like a smart thing to do. Not with her body buzzing like it’s wired to a lightning pole. Not with her skin crawling, not with her wolf scratching and whining, begging for space.
So Heidi runs.
Her heels clink against the tile as she takes off down the hall. Faster, faster... her legs pump, her lungs burn, but she doesn’t stop. She barrels through the school doors and into the cold night air. It hits her face like a slap. She sucks it in greedily.
Her wolf howls inside and for the first time, Heidi can hear her voice clearly and her words eloquently. "Yes, this is it. Freedom. Now, let’s go bask in the colors of the night."
If her adrenaline isn’t popping right now, maybe Heidi would have taken a moment of shock and awe to dwell in the glory of having something... a beast become a part of her, share a mind link that helps them communicate, and send her senses on such high fleek.
However, she’s in a high trance. One that leaves her body raving and senses all over the place. She just wants one thing right now—the same thing her wolf desires: freedom.
To marry the night.
She sprints across the courtyard, past the dorm buildings, and past the track field. Straight toward the edge of campus, where the shadows grow darker and the woods loom.
She doesn’t stop and doesn’t look back.
The trees swallow her whole.
.
Heidi doesn’t know when it begins. At first, it’s only that whisper... like a fingertip tracing her ribcage from the inside, like a stretch she can’t quite reach. Then it grows, quickening, spreading, and seeping into her like fire in dry grass. She gasps, her hand flying to her chest with the emerald silk of her dress, or rather, Daphne’s dress damp with sweat.
Her skin is burning. The itch deepens, every nerve of her is alive. They are humming and demanding. The realization of what’s about to happen nearly drops her knees. Her wolf is awake and it’s a shadow of the ghost she feared she didn’t have.
It’s real—alive and breathing.
Oh goddess.
Her lips part on a shaky exhale, and she almost laughs from sheer disbelief. She thought she was broken... that maybe she’s so cursed, even the striker didn’t want her presence—something like what Sierra had just told her.
She thought the Moon had overlooked her, that she would live and die a half-being, an omega with no wolf, just a body and a heartbeat.
But then the laugh dies as the energy multiplies. It claws up her arms, shoots down her spine like a buzzing under her skin that makes her fingers twitch. She grips her dress so hard the seams whine in protest.
"Finally," a rich voice growls in her head.
Heidi freezes. Her heart stops, then thunders, rattling her ribs.
Her.
Her wolf.
The voice is in her bones, in her blood, in every thrum of her heartbeat.
"You’ve been running, little rabbit. But no more."
Heidi gasps as she’s both terrified and exhilarated. She doesn’t know if she should cry or scream.
The wolf chuckles inside her. "Don’t be afraid. I’m you. You’re me. Tonight, you’ll feel what freedom tastes like."
And suddenly—oh goddess... there’s laughter bubbling in her throat. Because for once, for the first time since stepping into this suffocating pack and school, she feels light. The pressure, the judgment, the whispers, the way her name has always been dragged like a burden is gone. Melted under the heat of this primal energy. She feels... powerful.
The wolf howls in her chest. It’s a sound only she hears, and her blood answers.
Her cells come to life. Her legs start to shake under the weight of what’s coming. She knows what’s coming. The infamous shifting she’s read about and even seen in movies as a human.
She grips the stone wall beside her, nails scraping, dragging pale lines over it as her breath saws in and out. She doesn’t know if she can contain it. She doesn’t know if she wants to.
"Let go," the wolf urges. "Burst free. I’ll show you what it means to hunt. What it means to belong to the Moon."
Thus, Heidi closes her eyes... and lets go.