All Chapters of Moonbound Legacy: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

I never thought I'd be back in Cedar Grove, yet here I was, sitting behind my father's old desk in the clinic he'd built from the ground up. Dr. Isla Rivers, following in her father's footsteps – that's what everyone in town kept saying, their voices laced with pity. Twenty-eight years old, newly appointed head veterinarian of Cedar Grove Animal Clinic, and completely alone. Well, not completely. I had my patients – the four-legged variety that couldn't ask questions about Dad's disappearance or why I'd abandoned my promising career at a prestigious Chicago animal hospital to return to this tiny town.The scratching sound came again, pulling me from my thoughts. It had been haunting me all afternoon. I set my pen down on the last patient file of the day, trying to ignore how my hand trembled. Through the clinic's windows, I watched dusk paint our small town in shades of amber and shadow. The scratches had been getting louder, accompanied by whimpers and whispered conversations beyond

By the time I reached the edge of the forest, my lungs burned, and my legs felt like they’d been turned to lead. I stumbled into the clearing behind the clinic, my flashlight swinging wildly, illuminating nothing but empty darkness. My heart pounded in my ears, drowning out the distant howls that still echoed through the woods.The journal was clutched tightly to my chest, its crescent moon mark now feeling more like a brand than an emblem. My hands trembled as I slid down against the side of the building, struggling to catch my breath.What had I just seen? Wolves that weren’t wolves. Astra turning into one of them like it was the most natural thing in the world. And those rogues… they weren’t just after me. They were after this.The journal.I glanced down at it, my fingers tracing the edges of the leather cover. Questions swirled in my mind, each one more impossible than the last. Was Astra okay? Who—or what—had my father been? And why did these creatures care so much about this ol

I followed Isla into the clinic, my feet heavy on the floor as though the weight of her uncertainty was pressing down on me. She moved ahead, the journal still clutched in her hands like it held the answers she didn’t yet know she was searching for. There was a strange tension between us, a pull neither of us could deny, and it made the air feel thick, like the calm before a storm.The clinic was quiet now, the bustle of the day long gone, leaving only the soft hum of fluorescent lights above. The smell of antiseptic and animal medicine lingered in the air, mixing with the faint trace of pine and earth that clung to me from the forest. Isla walked to the counter, setting the journal down with a soft thud. She seemed to be trying to process everything—what had just happened, what she had seen, and what it meant for her.I leaned against the doorframe, watching her with a mix of wariness and something I couldn’t quite place. She was braver than most people I knew. Hell, braver than I’d

The moon had already begun its descent when I arrived back at the clinic, the eerie stillness of the night settling in around me like a blanket. The events of the past few hours felt like a blur—fragments of conversations, whispered secrets, and the weight of my father’s disappearance pressing down on my chest. I had spent my whole life pushing away the idea that something extraordinary, something outside of the life I had known, was waiting for me. But now, with the journal in my hands and Luca’s words echoing in my mind, I couldn’t deny it any longer. I was part of something bigger.I pushed open the clinic door, the familiar scent of antiseptic and dried herbs greeting me. It should have been comforting, but the silence that hung over the place was unnerving. The clinic had always been full of life—dogs barking, cats meowing, and the chatter of patients’ owners filling the air. Now, it felt empty, almost hollow. My father had built this clinic with so much love, and now I was here,

The wind was picking up again, swirling around us in the clearing, tugging at the edges of my coat as if it, too, were impatient for the truth to be spoken. I stood between Luca and Astra, feeling smaller than I ever had before. The world seemed so much bigger than I had realized, and I had no idea if I was ready to face whatever lay ahead. But there was no going back now. Not after the things I had seen, the things I had learned.Luca’s eyes flicked over me, a quiet tension in his gaze, but he didn’t speak right away. Instead, he stepped forward, his tall figure casting a long shadow in the moonlight. His presence was heavy, like the weight of the entire forest was resting on his shoulders. Astra watched him closely, as if waiting for him to make the first move, but I could sense her own impatience, a quiet energy vibrating in the air around her.“You don’t have to do this, Luca,” Astra said, her voice unusually soft, though there was an underlying firmness to it. “You can walk away.