Bound by Two Alphas

Chapter 8: The Mark

Moving into the Alpha's wing was exactly as suffocating as I'd feared.

The quarters were luxurious — a bedroom twice the size of my attic, a private bathroom, a sitting area with a fireplace. Kael had furnished it with the dresses from the wardrobe, plus books, jewelry, and a mirror I avoided, because I didn't recognize the girl in the red dresses who stared back.

Kael was meticulous about appearances. Every morning, he came to my room to escort me to breakfast. Every evening, he sat beside me at dinner. In public, he was unfailingly polite — opening doors, pulling out chairs, introducing me as "my Elara" with a possessive warmth that made the pack murmur approvingly.

In private, he was something else.

Not cruel — not physically. Kael never raised a hand to me. But he was relentless. He questioned me about my days, my movements, my thoughts. He read my silences like other men read books. And when he touched me — a hand on my waist, fingers on my wrist, lips brushing my temple — the bond turned each contact into a d**g, flooding my body with warmth and want that made me nauseous with its wrongness.

My body, whispering *yes*. My mind, screaming *no*. The bond didn't care which one won.

On the fifth morning in the Alpha's wing — twelve days into the thirty-day ultimatum — Kael came to my room earlier than usual.

He stood in the doorway, dressed in black, grey eyes sharp. "Tonight is the pack gathering," he said. "I will announce our bonding ceremony."

My heart lurched. "Bonding ceremony?"

"The ceremony where I mark you as my Luna." He stepped into the room. "It's time, Elara. The pack needs to see commitment. A formal mark will settle the questions and silence the doubts."

A mark. The mate mark — a bite on the neck that permanently bonded two wolves. Once marked, the bond would deepen into something almost unbreakable. I'd feel Kael's emotions constantly, sense his thoughts, be tied to him so completely that separation would cause physical agony.

"I'm not ready," I said.

His jaw tightened. "You've had twelve days."

"The agreement was thirty."

"The agreement was an *ultimatum*," Kael corrected. "And I've been patient. More patient than any Alpha should be with a mate who *runs from him*." His voice dropped. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing, Elara. The eastward runs. The late-night absences. The way you flinch when I touch you but lean into the bond like you can't help yourself."

My blood went cold.

*He knows. He knows about—*

"I don't know what you're talking about," I said.

Kael was in front of me in two steps. He cupped my face in his hands — not roughly, but with a control that was worse than roughness. His thumbs traced my cheekbones, and the bond surged, golden and warm, trying to make me lean into him, surrender, *want*.

"I can feel you through the bond, Elara," he murmured. "Every time you pull away, I feel it. Every time you fight the connection, I feel that too. And every time you run east—" his voice went flat, "—I feel *that*. Something pulls you. Something that isn't me."

My heart hammered against my ribs. "The bond is new. It's confusing. I don't—"

"Don't lie to me." His grey eyes went black at the edges. "I have been patient because the bond requires trust. But patience has limits. Tonight, I will announce the ceremony. Tomorrow, I will mark you. And after that—" his thumb traced the line of my throat, "—there will be no more running. No more secrets. You will be mine, Elara. Completely. As the Moon Goddess intended."

He released me and walked out. The door clicked shut behind him with the softest, most terrible sound I'd ever heard.

I stood in the middle of the room, shaking. The bond sang in my chest. Terror clawed at my throat.

I had eighteen days left on the ultimatum.

But Kael wasn't waiting eighteen days. He was going to mark me tomorrow.

And once marked, I would never be free again.