Chapter 15

Leona I thought the truth would crush me. Instead, it felt like I could finally breathe. For the first time in weeks—no, months—the noise in my head quieted. Aunt Elyss’s words replayed themselves again and again, and the more I turned them over, the more they aligned with reality. The gaps that had terrified me before now felt… structured. Explained. I was a werewolf. Or half of one. That alone should have terrified me. But strangely, it didn’t. Because if my father was a monster, that didn’t mean all werewolves were. This town existed because of them. I had grown up hearing stories—half legends, half folklore—about how the town survived winters that should have wiped it off the map, how wild animals never crossed certain borders, how lost children were always found. I had always assumed those were just comforting lies people told themselves. Now, I wasn’t so sure. Maybe Aunt Elyss was one of them. A guardian. A watcher. Someone who had stayed behind to protect the town—and me. And if