The Wolf God's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 39: The Needle

There was a tightness in my chest that didn’t belong. Unease clawed at me, sharp and subtle, a strange blend of dread and quiet. My skin prickled even as a chilling calm blanketed me, and deep down, I knew something was wrong.

Then came the shift.

The beast stirred. No, more than stirred, he roared.

A violent surge of instinct and fury crashed through my mind as he lashed against the walls I’d spent centuries fortifying. He didn’t just push, he tore through them, snarling, snapping, sending pain ricocheting through my skull.

I grit my teeth, spun the chair toward the desk, and yanked the drawer open with shaking fingers. Even in the dim light, I found what I was looking for, the syringe. The liquid inside was thick and deep purple, almost black in the darkness. My salvation. My curse.

As soon as I gripped it, the beast went berserk. He tore at me from the inside, claws digging into the flesh of my chest until I gasped out loud. Fire lanced through me, and I felt my shirt rip. Warm blood trickled down my torso before the wounds closed over with unnatural speed.

Still, I didn’t stop.

I jabbed the needle into my arm. The sting was fleeting, a whisper of pain compared to the storm raging inside. The second the sedative hit my bloodstream, he faltered. His fury dulled, his howls faded to growls, then fell silent.

Peace, bitter and fleeting, settled over me like ash after a fire.

He was never fully gone. Just buried. Waiting.

It hadn’t always been like this. Once, the beast was manageable. But when that bone-deep unease crept in, when my instincts sensed danger or something unfamiliar, he rose. Wild. Brutal. Blood-hungry. I’d grown sick of the destruction, the needless death. So I made something stronger than him.

But it came with a cost.

I left the cold office and walked into the forest. The clouds shifted, moonlight spilling through the canopy. I looked up, wondering just for a breath what Vivian would think if she knew the truth about what I was. What I really was, beneath the flesh.