Marked by My Enemy Alpha

Chapter 6 — The Cursed Forest

The forest had always whispered to me. But now, it screamed.

Every rustle of leaves sounded like a voice. Every shadow felt like a memory clawing its way back to life. The trees were twisted, their bark blackened as if burned from the inside out.

Kael’s scent led me deeper, faint but steady — pine, smoke, storm. My wolf stirred beneath my skin, pushing me forward even when my body trembled.

The Blood Moon still hung above, red and heavy, watching.

Somewhere behind me, twigs snapped. I spun around, my claws half-formed, my senses sharp.

“Show yourself,” I hissed.

A wolf stepped out from the shadows — massive, white-furred, eyes pale as frost. Not Kael.

It circled me slowly, head low, teeth bared.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” I warned.

The wolf lunged anyway.

Instinct took over. I moved fast, ducking under its leap, rolling across the dirt. My wolf roared inside me, begging to be freed — but I held back. I couldn’t lose control. Not here.

The beast struck again. I caught its jaws mid-snap — the strength in its bite nearly broke my bones. But before it could overpower me, something flashed across its chest — a red mark identical to mine.

My heart stopped.

“Who sent you?” I gasped, holding it back with everything I had.

The wolf’s voice echoed in my head, broken, ancient.

The Blood Moon calls all her children home.

It lunged again, but this time the mark on my wrist flared, blinding us both in crimson light.

When it cleared, the wolf was gone. Only ashes remained.

I staggered, breathing hard. “What is happening to me?”

“You’re awakening,” a voice answered.

I turned — Kael stood there, shirt torn, eyes glowing faintly gold. He looked both real and unreal, like the forest itself had birthed him.

“Kael,” I breathed. “You’re alive.”

He didn’t move closer. “Barely.”

I stepped forward, tears threatening. “We have to go back—”

“No,” he cut in. “You can’t go back. The curse is binding us. The moment you touched the blood, you linked our souls again. Now whatever happens to me… happens to you.”

I froze. “Then we’ll break it. Together.”

Kael’s gaze softened, something unreadable flickering in his eyes. “You sound like her.”

“My mother?”

He nodded once. “She said the same thing before she died.”

And before I could ask what he meant, the ground beneath us trembled — and the forest howled.

The shadows around the trees moved like smoke, forming faces, shapes, and whispers.

Kael grabbed my hand. “Run.”

We ran.

But no matter how fast we moved, the forest followed — roots twisting, branches grabbing, shadows screaming.

And then, through the chaos, I heard her voice again.

My mother’s.

“Don’t fight the curse, Aria. Control it.”

I stopped running. Kael turned in shock. “What are you doing?”

I closed my eyes. Let the red fire burn through me. Let the mark glow. Let the Blood Moon see me.

And when I opened them — the shadows stopped.

Everything went silent.

Kael stared at me, disbelief in his golden eyes. “What did you just do?”

I looked down at my hands — the mark no longer glowed red. It glowed silver.

“I think,” I whispered, “I just became what they feared.”