Page 44 of Moon Claimed

Rhona grabbed my arm and pulled me aside. “You need to take better care of yourself.”

“I know,” I retorted sharply. “I will.”

Her brows shot up. “Alright, keep your hair on.”

“Sorry, just tired. What can I help you with?”

She released my arm. “Came to tell you that everyone is prepared, and they completed the new manoeuvres without issue.”

“Thank you. How’s the training going?”

She hummed. “Good. Really good. But it doesn’t feel like I’m doing enough.”

Gripping her hand, I squeezed. “You’re helping more than you know. Keep doing what you’re doing.”

“It’s just—”

“Andie,” Wade hollered. “Speech!”

The chant was taken up on the muddy shore of the lake. I sucked in a breath at the assault on my ears.

Myreallysensitive ears.

Tears pricked my eyes. Something was happening to my body. I was becoming something I hated.

The new moon passed. I thought I was safe.

Sascha saidbiting didn’t make werewolves.

Rhona would never forgive me for my part in Herc’s death, and the stewards wouldn’t trust me if they knew about the mating call with Sascha. But awerewolfleader?

I might not understand so much about Ragna’s decisions, but I understood why she ran instead of staying.

Hate ran deep. And it would turn on me. Without doubt.

I couldn’t even tell Wade.

No one.

Mum always dated her journals, and I spent the hours before dawn figuring out what phase of the moon Murphy was bitten during.Waning Gibbous.Just after the full moon.They left before he actually changed. The speck of desperate hope in my heart wanted to believe that meant nothing ever happened.

But then why didn’t they return?

No. Murphy changed alright. Then he came back to explain everything to Herc.

And Herc killed him.

I’d reasoned that myfatherwouldn’t hurt a human, but I’d seen first-hand he had no qualms about killing Luthers.

I climbed atop a rock with Billy’s help.

Eager faces stared up at me. One thousand of them.

I was an imposter.

A fraud.

A letdown.