#Chapter 46: Nox

ELENA Shifting was always strange. Like being peeled apart and stitched back together, breathless and brimming with something ancient. And then I was Nox. The world changed. Light fractured sharper. Sounds layered in ways the human ear could never catch. I could hear Derek’s heartbeat hammering in his chest. Smell the metallic tang of Logan’s tension like a storm waiting to snap. I planted myself between them, paws spread, hackles raised, and snarled. Nox’s snarl wasn’t just sound—it was a command. It rang out like thunder. A threat. A warning. A promise. Erebus hesitated. Ares stiffened. They didn’t move, but they didn’t back down either. So I bit them both. Quick snaps—one to each of their forelegs. Enough to sting. Enough to bleed. Enough to remind them that whatever grudges they were nursing, I was the one in control right now. These two arrogant, overgrown, testosterone-addled wolves. Erebus and Ares. Derek and Logan. They'd squared off like two rival Alp