Sure! Here's Episode 1 of your werewolf story with a strong, captivating start. The story leans into mystery, suspense, and romance, all wrapped in a supernatural thriller tone. Title and series name are included, but feel free to customize them.
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🌕 CURSED BLOODLINE
Episode 1 – The Mark of Midnight
By [Your Name]
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The forest never slept.
Even under the pale moonlight, it whispered and watched. Trees rustled with secrets, and the night air trembled with something more than wind.
Seventeen-year-old Aria Blackwood stood barefoot at the edge of the woods, the hem of her white nightgown soaked from the damp grass. Her breath clouded in the chilly midnight air, and her heart thudded with something ancient—something not hers.
She didn't know why she was there. Again.
Every month since her seventeenth birthday, the same thing had happened. She'd wake with dirt on her feet, scratches on her arms, and the faint memory of howls echoing in her ears. Sometimes, blood under her nails. She had never remembered the walk to the forest—only the jolt of waking up at the edge of it, terrified and breathless.
But tonight was different.
Because tonight, she wasn't alone.
A pair of golden eyes stared at her through the mist.
They belonged to a wolf. But not just any wolf—it was massive, easily twice the size of a normal one, with fur as dark as ink and a faint, silvery shimmer across its shoulders, as though the moon had anointed it.
And it didn't growl. It didn't blink. It just stared.
Aria should have run. Screamed. Cried for help.
But she couldn't move.
The moment stretched into infinity. Then, the wolf tilted its head—almost curiously—before backing into the shadows, disappearing like smoke.
The forest swallowed it whole.
A branch cracked behind her.
"Aria?"
She spun around, gasping.
Her cousin Liam came jogging up the hill, his flashlight beam jerking wildly.
"Jesus, I thought you were sleepwalking again." He reached for her arm, pulling her back gently. "What are you doing out here alone?"
"I… I saw something," she whispered, glancing toward the trees. "A wolf."
Liam stilled. "A wolf?"
"A huge one. But it didn't attack. It just… looked at me."
His face darkened. "You're sure?"
Aria nodded, her pulse still racing.
"Come on," Liam said sharply. "We're going home. And we're locking every door."
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The town of Graywood Hollow wasn't like other towns. Tucked deep in the Northern woods, it had no malls, no cinemas, no cell towers. But it did have legends.
Terrible ones.
The kind children dared each other to whisper on moonless nights.
Aria never believed them.
Until now.
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The next morning, Aria sat in the school library, her textbooks open but forgotten. She traced a finger absentmindedly over the bruises on her wrist. They hadn't been there last night. Another mark. Another mystery.
"You look like you got hit by a truck," said Maeve, sliding into the seat beside her with two lattes. "Or did you sneak out to meet some forbidden forest guy?"
Aria gave a humorless laugh. "If by 'forbidden forest guy' you mean a giant wolf, then yes."
Maeve blinked. "You're joking."
"I wish I was."
She told her everything—well, almost everything. Maeve was her best friend, but even best friends had limits on what they believed. Especially when it came to magical wolves.
But Maeve's reaction surprised her.
She didn't laugh.
She looked… scared.
"What?" Aria frowned.
Maeve leaned in. "You know that story our grandparents used to tell? About the Marked Ones?"
Aria snorted. "The cursed bloodline stuff? That's just folklore."
Maeve looked around, lowered her voice. "It's not just folklore. My grandma said the Blackwood family was once part of an old pack—a real one. Wolves that turned human. Humans that turned wolf."
Aria froze.
"She said some of them broke away. Refused the bond. Tried to live normal lives. But the blood never forgets, Aria. The forest always calls them back."
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That night, Aria locked her windows, closed the curtains, and pushed a chair under the door handle.
Then she dreamed.
Of silver.
Of blood.
Of fangs tearing through flesh.
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The next full moon rose two days later.
And this time, she didn't sleepwalk.
She ran.
She ran into the forest like something inside her had taken over. Her breath steamed in the cold air, and her legs moved faster than they ever had. Trees blurred. The wind roared in her ears.
Then the pain came.
White-hot. Crippling.
She fell to her knees, clutching her sides. Bones snapped. Skin tore. Her scream twisted into a howl.
And the world disappeared.
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She woke up naked, covered in dirt and blood, miles from home.
But she wasn't alone.
The same wolf stood beside her—except now it wasn't a wolf.
It was a boy.
Nineteen, maybe twenty. Tall. Pale eyes. Black hair. Barefoot. Shirtless.
And scarred.
Deep, claw-shaped scars crossed his chest, as if he'd once fought something—and lost.
"You're awake," he said, his voice rough like gravel.
Aria scrambled back, arms across her chest.
"Don't scream," he said calmly. "You'll attract the wrong kind of attention."
"W-who are you?" she rasped.
"I'm Lucien," he said. "And you, Aria Blackwood… are finally becoming what you were born to be."
She stared at him, heart hammering.
"What are you talking about?"
Lucien crouched down, eyes gleaming. "You're not human. Not fully. You never were. You've just been… asleep."
Aria shook her head. "No. That's not true."
"You changed last night," he said. "Did you think it was just a dream? You left the scent of blood and pine all across the valley. The others will smell it too."
"What others?"
"The ones hunting you."
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Later that night, back in her room, Aria clutched her pillow to her chest, unable to sleep.
Everything had changed.
Lucien said she was part of a bloodline cursed to shift under the moon. That her family had once ruled the northern packs before they were betrayed and hunted down.
He said she had powers. That the full transformation would happen on her eighteenth birthday. And that the mark on her wrist—a crescent shape burned into her skin—was proof.
He said she wasn't safe.
Not from the others.
Not from herself.
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At school the next day, Liam pulled her aside.
"We need to talk," he said.
She followed him behind the gym, heart pounding.
"I know what you are," he said quietly. "And you're not alone."
She stared.
"I'm one too," he admitted. "So is Aunt Elise. That's why she moved us here, to keep us hidden."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Aria asked, voice shaking.
"Because we hoped the curse skipped you," Liam said bitterly. "But clearly, it didn't."
Aria's hands trembled.
"What do I do now?" she whispered.
Liam looked out at the trees beyond the schoolyard.
"You survive," he said. "You choose who you become before someone else chooses for you."
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But that night, as the moon rose again, a deep howl echoed through Graywood Hollow.
It wasn't Aria.
It wasn't Lucien.
It was something older. Hungrier.
And it was coming for her.
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TO BE CONTINUED...