He stared at his hand, his eyes wide with a mix of agony and dawning horror.

"It’s not supposed to do that," he rasped, his voice trembling. "This is my bloodline’s steel. It should recognize me. Unless..."

He looked up at mom, his face pale. "Unless I’m carrying the very thing this sword was built to destroy."

"Malcolm's soul was marked by that ritual when he was a boy," Mom revealed, her voice heavy with a secret she had carried far too long.

"What does that even mean?" I whispered, my heart hammering against my ribs.

"It means half of Malcolm’s wolf was tainted by the Inverse Moon," she explained,...