As rain pattered against the town starting at midnight, there was a howl growing closer and closer to the cottage. 

As thunder cracked, the loud, piercing wail trampled the fields. The sound that once carried such beauty was now ridden in a rush of urgency. Beatriz! Then, silence fell outside the door. And then there was the roar of nature's fury again. 

I scrambled to the door, my bare feet squeaking against the floorboards. The frame of the door grew bigger and bigger until the varnished oak painted the wall beside it. Huddled outside the threshold was a trembling mess. Silk, raven tresses drooled over her eyes and down her cheeks. A drenched, oversized tee-shirt stretched over her knees which were against her stomach. Her lips quivered. 

A wave of heat lashed my forehead, and I staggered back an inch. I glanced over my shoulder for a second. My wavering gaze took in Rylan: he was still on his back. His loud snores consumed the cottage every few seconds. Quickly, I returned to the wreck in the rain. "Keanna, what are you doing here?"

"No." At first, it was a whimper. She slowly rose to her feet. The drenched garb swallowed her frame. Her moans grew shorter and shorter until they disappeared. Silence throbbed between us. My mouth finally was open; there was a gentle click from my tongue against the roof of my mouth. It was then that Keanna lashed at the atmosphere. "No!" 

"Keanna—" 

"Shut the hell up!" 

My heart hammered against my chest as the loud snoring came to screeching halt. Tepid heaving replaced the droning. My eyes lingered over Rylan's face. Those cognac eyes twitched furiously. "Zoido." His lips grasped the surname like a pair of fingers clenching a squeeze ball. He shook vehemently as he slowly rose from the sofa. His nostrils flared, and his lips pulled back to bare his teeth. Each word that left his mouth came out like a steady blast of a shotgun. "What. Did. You. Say. To. My. Mate?" 

I stretched my hand out to Rylan's arm and touched the warm skin of his wrist. "Babe, calm down—" my eyes flickered to Keanna who heaved to the rhythm of her likely pounding heart "—Keanna's merely drunk for some unknown reason." My fingers intertwined with his. "Babe—" 

Raucous laughter beat at the air. When I glanced at Keanna, she was hunched over her stomach, which she held with a tender touch. "Oh, how long have you been fucking?"  

My teeth pressed together tightly. There was no way in hell that I would explode at Keanna's derision. She was my friend. My best friend. There was no way she meant any of it. 

However, Rylan yanked his fingers out of mine. "You know nothing!" My heart stilled for a harsh second. When I blinked, my fiancé was flooding across the floor in a flash of muddy gray. Keanna was on the floor. Her scream pierced the cottage. 

"Rylan Castilla!" I lunged forward to rip my fiancé from Keanna's body, but his hard, cognac eyes burned through my soul. My heart throbbed against my chest, and I stumbled another inch backward. I felt my insides shrivel. I might as well have cheered him on. 

My eyes pressed together gently. Over the exchange of huffs and yelps, I found my inner wolf and the thought shuddered out and inundated the city. Kyran, where are you? 

For prolonging moments, I kept my eyes pressed together. I needed to hear my brother's voice before I could find the gumption to watch my fiancé leave bruises against my best friend. A minute passed. My heart sank. 

Silence seeped through the cottage for a moment before a harsh screech whipped the air. "Hey!" 

My eyes flung open. Holding Keanna up from the ground by the shoulders was my brother. Blood oozed out of a gash down the middle of her lower lip. She was barely conscious. "Leave her alone." There was a husky undertone to Kyran's voice. The bulging muscles of his biceps twitched. He then called out over his shoulder, "Eliana, do you think you can patch her up?" 

My teeth rammed into my lower lip. Blood boiled in my veins. Then I heard my sister-in-law's voice in the atmosphere. "This isn't even the worst I've seen." Eliana's words seemed to caress the air.

And then, it struck me like lightning: a group of five people was gathered in a part of Howl Falls meant to be vacant. "Guys ..." My eyes studied the night beating against the door frame. Cold sweat seeped my body. 

Footsteps boomed against the field. I couldn't decide which was worse: the storming or the bellowing. "What the hell is going on here?"

"Kyran!" Eliana brushed her side up against Kyran's. The whimper in her voice left a smirk cracking against my cheeks. "Kyran—" she tugged at his sleeve, a frantic hue swelling in her eyes "—we need to go." 

"Yeah!"  boomed the voice growing closer and closer. It shook the entire town to its very core. "I would run!"

Within seconds, Kyran and Eliana were a blur of color as they dashed through the fields into the night. Inside, I wanted to flee with them, but then the booming voice emitted my name in a harsh growl. "Not you, Beatriz Wilson. You and I have a lot to discuss." 

A deep pit swelled in my stomach. As he drew out of the shadowy night, his bulky chest flexed. His windswept, amber locks failed to conceal his piercing eyes. Those dead irises—black as coal—flared at Rylan and me. Those roundly defined curves of his bulging biceps throbbed like my heart as he flooded the frame of the door.

"F-father," Rylan stammered, "wha-what are you-you doing here?" I glanced in my fiancé's direction. His eyes seemed damp. Beads of sweat glistened against his forehead, which he wiped away with his wrist that shook. 

"So—" Llwyd tsked while circling his son "—you went behind my back and dated someone." There was a moment of quiet that left my heart pounding rapidly against my chest. The muscles in my back were stiff. My lips were frozen together. To provoke the alpha was punishable by expatriation. Then, his word exploded like a bomb through every inch of the cabin, ricochetting off the ceiling. My pulse was heavy. Cold sweat beaded my forehead. "For two fucking years, you have gone against my rules!" 

"Yes, father," was all Rylan managed to answer. The words were like a gray hue—devoid of emotion. 

In the blink of an eye, Llwyd left a dark shadow against his son's cheek. Rylan's screams saturated the atmosphere. Slowly, a burning sensation ravaged my stomach. My fingers balled into fists which were heavy at my sides. My heart was racing. My blood was boiling.  

"When I fucking speak to you, you fucking speak back!" Llwyd seized Rylan by the shoulders.

With a heavy, sweltering heat searing my skin, I cracked like a whip. "Leave. Him. Alone!" Maybe it was some adrenaline rush pumping in my veins. Even as a beta, everyone—including myself—would agree that it was impossible for me to have thrown the alpha onto the floor. 

I seethed over Llwyd while Rylan dotted the air with light gasps. At the same time, Llwyd was bursting with hysterical laughter. As the laughing brushed against the atmosphere, a cold sensation seeped through my veins. 

"Oh, Beatriz!" Llwyd pulled his upper body into an upright position. His body jittered from the bubbling laughter, and he banged his knuckles against the floor. "Oh, Beatriz Wilson, I am excited about our cahoots." 

"What?" The sound sank from my lips as Llwyd's words permeated my brain.  

The laughter vanished as quick as it came. Once on his feet, the alpha brushed off his shirt and cleared his throat. "Beatriz, did Sabia not share this tale with you at some point?" 

"No." I lowered my eyes to the floor, shaking my head gently from side to side. "Sabia passed along many recollections of our history, but none even remotely relate to whatever you're babbling about." 

"Then, let me tell you a tale." And Llwyd began the story: "It was less than two centuries ago that Eloísa Caro led us out of hell." 

I knew the story of my great-great-great-grandmother. It was in eighteen-fifty-five when the audacious fifteen-year-old put the foot down over our menial lifestyle of scaring off rabid pack animals for ranchers in Mexico. She led the tribe out of Mexico in an exodus to America; however, life in the United States wasn't much better.  

After being hunted by the commoners for a decade, one fact became evident: wherever we went, humans would never accept us. With this in mind, a city was built to ensure that no wolf would ever face derision from humans. 

"But life in Howl Falls wasn't perfect." Llwyd's voice dragged me out of my thoughts. I blinked as he continued. His voice was low and gravelly. "Some refused to believe that humans would and will never accept us. Some also believed that it was unfair that we didn't extend the asylum to other oppressed species. These rogues formed a resistance. They call themselves the Blood Moon Renegades."

I folded my arms across my chest and scoffed. "What does that have to do with me?" 

"My ancestors prayed to the moon goddess for aid in disbanding this resistance," Llwyd explained. I rolled my eyes when he wasn't staring into them. "She told my ancestors that we would have to wait for the right Ochoa to prove herself as strong as Eloísa. This Ochoa will end the resistance." 

"You want me to disband a band of rogues?" I couldn't help laughing at the thought. My stomach jolted with each wave of mirth. My sight flickered between the orange glow of the cabin and the darkness. The same word ran through my brain again and again. No. No. No. "Oh my god, that's hilarious." 

Llwyd's arms crossed in the middle of his chest. His lips were pressed together in a firm line. With a gulp, my laughter died away. "I'm serious," he said point-blank. 

"Me?" My heart nearly skipped a beat. A flash of cold seeped through my veins. I gulped again. I tangled my fingers with the collar of my blouse. "How would I do that?" 

Llwyd placed his hands on my shoulders. My breath was rugged from the lack of space between us. "Easy," he said. His dead eyes tried to swell against my gaze. I swallowed a hard ball of air as he continued. "You get close to them, find out their secrets, and report them back to me. Then, when they think they have the upper hand, we sweep in and show them what the consequences for conspiring against the pack are." 

"But you're forgetting one thing," I reminded him with a smirk. "I need motivation. What do I get out of this?" 

"The status of the next luna, my blessing to marry my son, my acknowledgment of your future child's claim to the title of alpha." Llwyd's lips pursed as he watched me glance down at my stomach.

My fingers, overcome with trembling, spread across my stomach. My eyelids fell together, consuming the cabin into darkness. I focused on steadying my breath which panted while my heart hammered against my chest. I felt myself choke on a moan. 

Then, the rough texture of a pair of lips was against my ear. The warmth swelled against my flesh, and his undertones filled my ears. "The honor to kill Athan Solano." 

At the bastard's name, a flame in my soul ignited. My jaw clenched and my eyes twitched. "Why would I want to kill that mutt?" 

"Because that hellion is also your mate." Llwyd dangled the fact over my eyes as if it were a hundred-dollar bill. "He's the little pest that stands in the way of your happiness." 

"Wait," Rylan interjected. His lower lip quivered as he managed to emit, "What?" 

I heaved a sigh and melted into Rylan's eyes. "Babe, it's nothing to worry about. The moon goddess said both you and Athan are my mate." I bared the imprints on my forearms. 

"I want that blood-sucking bastard dead," Rylan said with a low growl. 

"Soon." My fingers curled around his wrist. My lips pressed to his ear. "For you, babe, I shall make sure Athan suffers a slow and excruciating death." I pulled away and turned to Llwyd. "Where can I find Athan?" 

"He went missing at midnight," Llwyd explained with a shrug. "But he's probably with the Blood Moon Renegades, so he's impossible to find." 

"Not when you're his mate,"  I sang. My lips, pressed together, curled into a smile. 

My eyes flickered Rylan who shook his head vigorously. "Hell no!" With his hands, he made an X over his chest. "I am not getting involved. I am not hurting you." 

"Exploiting his protective instincts is the only way to draw Athan out of the dark." I squeezed my fiancé's hand and gazed into his eyes with a warm smile swelling against my cheeks. "Trust me."  

"Listen to your fiancée," Llwyd insisted in the background. 

With a groan, Rylan muttered, "Fine," under his breath. He then planted his lips onto my forehead. "I'll hurt you but only because it'll help us reach our overall objective." 

As his fingers tightened around my wrist, I yanked my hand away and cleared my throat. "Not now. Tonight. I need to say goodbye to Sabia before I disappear to wherever the Blood Moon Renegades are." My heart was still racing against my chest. 

With tears brimming his eyes, a tender smile plastered against his face. "You're fucking brave, Beatriz." In the background, there was a huff, but my fiancé still drew himself to me, cupping my cheeks in his hands. "You'll make a great luna." 

With the echo of his heartbeat against my chest, I leaned my lips into his. I savored the warm taste of his kiss. Our breaths gently mingled in our slow movements. It was better to make this kiss last forever, as it might've been our last for a while. 

Suddenly, our breaths slowed down, and the space between our lips grew and grew. The proximity of our bodies decreased and decreased until we were at our fingertips. "Go give Sabia a thought to soothe herself with while you're gone." 

I flooded the fields after a heat swept over my skin, and I was on all fours. I sprinted through the damp grass and forests until I collapsed at the foot of the patio of my house. 

My legs spread out after the heat left my body. "Sabia!" I called out and rose to my feet. The canopy of shingles that shadowed the patio spilled its darkness over me. I brushed off my blouse and cleared my throat a few times as I tried to stay still outside the door. 

A few seconds later, a dim glow poured out from the window on the side. The mahogany door opened. The orange light of the foyer spilled out over the patio. Sabia stood behind the screen. Her eyes locked on my figure and shined. Her lips parted with a slight moan. She seemed to sag against the wall next to her as a long breath escaped her mouth. "Beatriz. Thank the moon goddess." 

Once she opened the screen, I stepped inside with a sigh. "Sabia—" 

Sabia interjected, "Don't ever leave me like this again," before I could say anything past her name. She threw her arms around me and pulled me to her body.

I leeched onto the moment for the minute it lasted. I melted into the plumpness of her sagging chest while her ropy arms engulfed my back, squeezing me. A slight whimper trembled against my lips as our contact faded away. "Sabia—" 

"Join me in the kitchen," Sabia insisted and ushered me through the rectangular cut in the wall on the right. The checkered panels caressed my skin with its watery light hanging overhead. To my right, a long span of glass stretched along the back of the kitchen sink. To my left, there was a long plank of mahogany settled on spindly legs and shoved against the wall. Four chairs lined the table. One for Sabia, one for me, one for Kyran, and one for Eliana. 

The coffeemaker emitted a low drone through the kitchen. I plopped into a chair facing the black-and-white walls. Maybe if I tried a different approach, I thought in my head, Sabia won't interrupt me again. "Umm—" 

"Hazelnut or caramel?" It didn't matter what word left my mouth, Sabia would always interrupt me. 

"White chocolate." My finger pointed in her direction—she was slouching against the corner of the kitchen next to the coffeemaker—and my tongue made a click at the roof of my mouth. 

A snort softly entered the air. "I knew you would say that." Sabia turned to the coffeemaker with a packet of my preferred flavor of coffee. 

I tested the atmosphere for a few moments. Each time, Sabia didn't emerge with more words. A gathered a light collection of air. "This will be the last time we see each other for a while," I said as quickly as possible. 

Sabia spun around to face me. The coffeemaker was able to work without her nurturing at this point. "What?" Her word fell to the ground with her jaw. After a few seconds, she drew a long sigh and enunciated, "You're leaving?" 

"Sabia—" 

Her eyes lowered to her chest before the back of her hands concealed them. "No." She shook her head from side to side. "You're not going rogue. Not on my watch." 

"Sabia—" 

"They're banishing you, aren't they?" She removed her hands from her eyes. Those eyes were now wide and throbbing in their sockets. She circled the corner in frantic strides.

"S—" 

"I'm coming with you," she said. It was firm against her lips. It seemed more directed towards herself than to me. "I'm not going to let you navigate the human world alone." 

"Sabia!" 

"What?" Sabia's voice matched the volume of mine in the previous words. 

"I'm not going rogue," I assured her between deep breaths. "I am also not banished." Sabia cocked her head to the side. "Think of it as a quest: I'm leaving to find something, and when I find it, I'll be back in Howl Falls faster than you can say wolf."

And then, Sabia latched onto me again. This time, it was tighter as if it meant I would've felt it longer than the previous one after both were nothing more than a memory in my brain. "Be brave," she whispered against my chest. "Be safe, Bea."

I rested my forehead against her shoulder. "I love you," I breathed against her tight, white blouse. Sabia was the only person who had been a constant from the beginning. "You're the only one who has been here for me at all times. You're a mom to me." 

Her lips kissed the top of my head. "And you've been like a daughter to me." From there, we pulled away, a sigh growing in the air with our increasing distance. "You should go tell your brother what you told me." 

"Fine," I muttered and clutched the sleeves of my blouse as I trudged out of the kitchen and into the tiny foyer. My side leaned into the screen to hold it open. "But leave my white chocolate coffee alone." 

"I wouldn't be caught dead drinking white chocolate!" Sabia hollered back. Somehow, unintendedly, we shared a light chuckle. "You know I only drink hazelnut." 

"Okay!" My voice carried through the colonial, and I stepped out onto the patio. "I'll be right back." And I cruised through the high fields of grass glistening from the midnight storm. Drops of moonlight illuminated the field. 

I navigated my way through the forest, retracing the steps I took as a wolf. This led me to the courtyard of the school. I swallowed a gulp as years of enduring scorn from my peers flashed through my brain. Screw them, I thought. I'll be their luna someday. 

To the right, a red-brick cottage was cozy in between the hug of an endless cluster of oaks. It wasn't much compared to the colonial. Plastered in the middle was a thin door. On each side of the door was a small, square pane. One revealed fragments of the bedroom; the other showed the living room. In neither window was there a speck of light. 

I shrugged and propelled forward to the door. My knuckles banged against it. "Kyran!" I paused for a moment. Even a minute later, there was no sound of movement inside. I exhaled heavily. "Shit. He must've gone hunting." 

With the swift twist of my hips, my back rested against the door. My arms folded over my chest. I shifted one of my feet up and down to a restless rhythm. Sigh after sigh, readjustment after readjustment, I waited for my brother to return. 

It must've been an hour or more that I waited before I gave up. I unfolded my arms with a groan. It was then that a deep rustle appeared in the atmosphere. "Kyran?" I called out. 

The rustling grew louder and louder. It was a harsh screech of air against the foliage in the forest. And it drew closer and closer, its intermingling with a rugged grunt becoming audible. Then, a figure, bathed in shadows, emerged from the forest. The rustling and grunting didn't stop. Then another one, and another one, and another one. The drops of moonlight spilled over their dark hoodies. In a collective harmony of heavy breath, my heart was screaming against my chest. 

Screw common courtesy. It wasn't breaking and entering if the house belonged to my brother. I threw the door open and scrambled inside. I used my body as a barricade. My chest heaved rapidly. Sweat beaded my forehead. Even as safe as I felt, my heart wouldn't stop banging against its cage. 

My heart nearly jumped out of my skin when the floorboards screeched. "Who's there?" I called out and gasped. My muscles stiffened. Which was worse: the danger that lurked in the cottage, or the four threats outside?

There was no use in seizing something to use as a weapon. If I released the pressure against the door, the four threats outside would've been able to come inside. I could handle one fucker. 

There was a loud brush against the floorboards. My heart thudded against my chest. "You're a coward if you hide." 

Then, something sharp pierced the skin of my neck. It swelled inside until the darkness consumed me. The last thing I heard was the clash of my body against the floorboards. 

Then, there was silence. 

Moon goddess, have mercy on me.