Etched in fire
1302 Words
Kaitlyn
The pain from last night still lingers like smoke under my skin.
I wake up before the bells ring, staring at the ceiling, my body slick with sweat. My arm still feels like it’s been branded. The message 'Come back home, Kaitlyn' isn't glowing anymore, but the skin is raw, tender. I don’t need light to know the shape of the words is still there.
My hand hovers above it. Not quite ready to touch.
My parents.
Of course it was them.
Only they would dare use a bloodbind like that. Only they could.
but why do they want me back so desperately?
I roll my sleeve down quickly and sit up. My heart hammers in my chest like it wants out. My wolf shifts restlessly beneath the surface, but not from excitement or anger _this is fear. Pure and feral.
I don’t even hear Jax stir until I feel his eyes on me.
“You okay?” His voice is low, gravelly from sleep.
I startle, then nod quickly. “Yeah. Just couldn’t sleep.”
He frowns, sitting up slowly, his hair sticking out at wild angles. Normally, I’d tease him, say something stupid to break the tension, but not today. I can't fake it that well.
“You sure?” he presses. “You look…”
“Like I’ve been chewed up and spat out?” I offer, trying to grin.
He doesn’t laugh. He keeps watching me, that deep quiet gaze that always seems to see more than it should.
“I’m fine, Jax.”
He doesn’t believe me, but he lets it go.
~~~
By the time the bells scream through the dorm, I’m already dressed and heading for the mess hall. Every step is tight, like I’m walking through fog. The scrape of boots, clatter of trays, and buzzing voices all feel distant. Unreal.
Reed’s already in rare form when I sit down.
“Morning, zombie squad!” he chirps. “Guess who took down two Squad B guys in less than ten seconds yesterday?”
“Let me guess,” I mutter. “You?”
“Nope. You.”
I look up sharply.
He points a sausage at me. “Kai the Assassin. Your legend grows.”
Jax chuckles beside me. “He’s not wrong.”
I shake my head and dig into the bland eggs. “Let’s not make a thing out of it.”
Reed leans in, voice low. “Too late. People are talking. Wondering where you trained before this. Or if you’ve got some secret Alpha lineage. Or if you’re just a robot built in a lab somewhere.”
I laugh, short and humorless. “Definitely not Alpha lineage.”
Kael eyes me across the table. Quiet. Still. Like he knows something’s wrong too.
And of course, Jax doesn’t stop watching me.
~~~
Drills are torture.
My reactions are slow. I flinch at every movement near my right side, and the pain in my arm is back, a dull throb beneath the bandages I wrapped around it under my shirt.
“Focus, Rivers!” the instructor barks.
I try. Goddess, I try.
We’re paired off in hand-to-hand, and I get lucky. I end up with a guy who underestimates me. I win the bout, but it’s sloppier than usual. Slower.
Jax notices. He always does.
When we hit the showers after, he corners me by the lockers.
“You’re off,” he says simply.
“I’m fine.” please leave me be.
He folds his arms. “No, you’re not.”
I slam the locker a little too hard. “Let it go, Jax.”
His brows furrow. “Did I do something wrong?”
“What? No! It’s not you, it’s—”
I shut my mouth.
He waits.
I want to tell him. I almost do. But the words get caught in my throat. There’s too much at stake.
So instead, I shake my head and walk away.
~~~~
That night, I try calling Yuna.
six times.
No answer.
The line doesn’t even ring long—it cuts off like someone’s powering down her phone manually.
Panic sets in, fast.
I know my parents. If they’re desperate enough to bind me with blood magic, they’re desperate enough to go after her too.
She’s not safe.
And it’s my fault.
~~~~
I wait until lights-out. Everyone's asleep or pretending to be. I grab my hoodie, shove a flashlight and some cash in my pocket, and slip out the dorm window.
The air outside is crisp, stars dusting the sky like glitter. I move through the training yard and across the far field. The forest looms ahead, dark and swallowing.
I’m maybe a hundred feet from the edge when I hear the voice.
“Going somewhere?”
I freeze.
Captain Renna steps into view, arms crossed, expression unreadable. She doesn’t look surprised.
“I was—”
“Don’t lie,” she cuts in. “I’ve been doing this longer than you’ve been alive. Talk.”
I say nothing.
She steps closer. “You’ve been off for days. Flinching. Zoning out. And now you’re sneaking off campus in the middle of the night. You think I don’t notice?”
My throat tightens. I look at the ground. My fists clench.
“My friend,” I whisper. “She’s in trouble.”
Renna’s expression softens. Barely. “From who?”
I want to say it. I want to scream it.
My parents. The ones who raised me in golden cages and called it love. The ones who offered me off like a prize to strengthen alliances.
But I can’t. Not yet.
“I can’t say....”
Renna studies me. “If you want me to help you, you will have to tell me what I’m helping you with.”
“I’m sorry.”
She sighs. “You’re lucky I’m not dragging you back to your dorm by the ear. But listen. if you sneak off again, I will expel you. No trial. No second chance. This isn’t a playground.”
I nod.
She turns away but pauses. “You’ve got strength. You’ve got secrets too. I suggest you decide which matters more before they tear you apart.”
~~~
Back in the dorm, I climb silently into bed, exhausted.
Jax stirs. “Kai?”
“Yeah?”
A pause.
“I had a dream about you.”
I smile softly. “Hope I was wearing pants.”
He chuckles. “You weren’t.”
I laugh, quiet and tired. “What was the dream?”
“You were surrounded. Rogues closing in. You shifted. But not into a wolf. Into something else.”
I freeze.
“Something… ancient. Bigger. Stronger.”
“…And?”
“And I wasn’t afraid.”
We both go quiet.
My heart won’t stop racing.
Because he’s not wrong.
Something is changing in me. And I don’t know if I should fight it—or let it happen.
When sleep finally comes, it’s shallow and restless. I wake every hour. I check my phone again.
Still no word from Yuna.
The bond we share feels thinner now, like a thread stretched too tight.
And worse, the mark on my arm begins to glow again. Not bright, but enough to illuminate the outline of my sleeve in the dark.
I pull it up.
Come back home, Kaitlyn.
Fresh letters curl beneath it like vines.
You have until the next full moon.
My stomach sinks.
That’s only a week away.
I have to get Yuna out. I have to figure out what’s happening to me. I have to choose between the lie I’ve built and the truth clawing its way out of me.
Because my time is running out.
And the past?
It’s coming for me.
I have to tell her.
- Writer
