Time fractured.
Not slowed—sharpened.
Nyra felt the shift ripple outward as the mark ignited, silver flooding her veins like wildfire.
[THREAT LEVEL: ESCALATED]
[AWAKENING STAGE: INITIATING — 12%]
Her wolf surged forward.------------
Not claws.
Not fangs.
Awareness.
She saw intent before movement. Smelled fear before sweat. Dominance lines snapped into clarity—and she knew exactly where they could be broken.
Nyra stepped aside.
The first guard missed her completely and slammed into reinforced glass hard enough to spider-crack it.
Silence fell.
The man in black studied her now—not as a variable, but as a phenomenon.
"Stop," he said. "If you cross the threshold here, the moon will brand you permanently. You will never belong to a pack."
Nyra glanced at the interface.
18%.
19%.
The wolf inside her stirred—hungry, unafraid.
"Good," she said softly. "I don't kneel."
The system pulsed violently.
[AWAKENING STAGE: 20%]
[LUNA PROTOCOL UNLOCKING]
[CONFIRM PROGRESSION?]
The building groaned.
Nyra stepped forward.
"Confirm."
Silver light exploded outward.
And across the city, every Alpha felt the howl—
the birth of something the packs had failed to record.