Bound to the witch

The wolf's mark

Selene.

This night’s pain was unlike anything I’d ever known.

My blood burned, and my magic surged like a violent tide—both prickling my veins, tearing through my body. No spell I cast brought even a flicker of relief.

I forced my breathing into measured rhythm and waded into the stream, sinking down until only my face remained above water. The fire dulled, extinguished slowly by the cool embrace. Relief struck like a wave, too sudden, too strong, and just as my vision blurred at the edges, I felt my body surrender to the dark.

Then, agony ripped through my wrist, sharp and searing.

I gasped back to life.

My eyes fluttered open, heavy with fatigue. A figure knelt beside me, shadowed against the fading night. Him. The wolf I had healed fourteen nights ago.

The sky above had shifted, light beginning to break behind the horizon. Somewhere in the distance, a shrill, eerie sound pierced the silence. I blinked hard, trying to place it. Trying to understand.

Then, I saw his chest open, glowing brightly, and in that moment, I saw everything.

His pain. His rage. His confusion. His memories.

All of it, laid bare as though they were mine.

The forest went still. The moon, bright and watching, floated behind a veil of dark clouds.

“What—what did you do?!” I shrieked, panic clawing up my throat.

This wasn't healing. This was a sigil. Ancient. Forbidden. A magic long lost to the covens and sealed by blood.

And now, it had bound us.

The council would feel it. They’d already be on their way to the forest.

I scrambled to my feet, legs unsteady beneath me. Every ounce of strength had drained from my body, leaving me hollow and trembling. And yet—this. Of all nights, this had to happen. The council would come, but not immediately. With the humans deep in sleep, no spells could be cast to hasten their arrival. I had a sliver of time. A fleeting chance.

I could run.

The footfalls grew heavier before and behind us. My heart thundered in my chest. I couldn’t breathe. The Council would order my execution, and perhaps the pack would support them. I didn’t know. My knees buckled, and I fell, a cry tearing from my throat as pain coursed through every limb.

I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the end.

This was it. My end.

But then, I felt arms. Strong, warm, unyielding.

I was lifted, cradled like something breakable. Large hands wrapped around me with a strength that felt terrifying and… safe.

I struggled weakly. The grip only tightened.

“Let me go,” I gasped.

He hissed, voice low and ragged.

“Shut it, you pesky fly.”

I twisted again, desperate and burning, but he only clamped me tighter against his chest like I weighed nothing.

“Do so much as twitch,” he growled, “and the pack will feed you to the vultures.”

A hollow sound escaped me, meant to be a laugh, but it came out a whimper.

“You’ll live the rest of your life in pain if you let me die,” I said.

He chuckled, deep and low in his throat.

“I’m no stranger to pain, woman.”

His grip shifted, arms caging me closer as he leapt—one smooth motion, then air. The world blurred into streaks of silver and dark green as he carried me deeper into the woods, away from the stream, away from the borders, away from whatever fate had been racing toward us on four legs and bloodlust.

We didn’t speak. Not when the trees thickened around us. Not when the sound of howls split the sky.

But I felt him.

Every heartbeat. Every breath. Like he was tethered to my soul now, digging deeper with every step.

Kael tilted his head slightly, golden eyes glowing even in the darkness. “They’ll hunt you now. My pack. Your council. Maybe even both.”

A chill slid down my spine. “Then why didn’t you let them take me?”

He didn’t answer right away.

Instead, he dropped to a crouch across from me, forearms resting on his knees. The silence stretched between us, thick with the things neither of us understood.

Finally, he spoke. Quiet. Rough

“I have been looking for you.”

My heart thudded.

“You have?”

He turned his gaze away, as though searching for the right words and failing to find them.

At last, he said, almost accusingly,

“What is this thing you've done to me?”

I blinked at him in disbelief. This thing?!

“What are you talking about?”

Did he think I wanted to be bound to him this way? To feel everything his heart dared to feel? Did he really believe I’d willingly walk into a wolf’s den with no sense of self-preservation? Was there no brain in that pretty skull of his?

Silence stretched between us, awkward and brittle. He looked everywhere but at me. I, on the other hand, stared at him with calculated defiance, forcing myself to feel nothing, giving him nothing.

Then he spoke, cautiously, like every word could break something fragile between us.

“Perhaps you could return with me... to where I live? So we can figure out how to undo this.”

I said nothing. The silence was my weapon. I wanted to strike him with the hilt of a sword.

He cleared his throat, visibly unsettled. I looked away—I’d been caught. The damned bond.

Before either of us could speak again, a dense, feral scent filled the woods. Furs and damp earth.

The pack of Taryn was close.

My heart seized. If the pack was this close, the Council couldn’t be far behind. I couldn’t be found—not yet. Not before Llora paid for what she’d done.

Then, with a whoosh of air, I was yanked into a hollow. Kael again, always with his surprises. I tried to step back, but the nearness of him made my thoughts soft and disoriented.

His large hand covered my mouth. My back met the rough bark of a tree. His eyes were shut tight, his expression a quiet storm. Those lashes—long and dark—rested against his skin like they didn’t belong on a creature so dangerous.

Heavens. He was beautiful.

My eyes fluttered shut before I could stop them, completely, helplessly, mesmerized.