Chapter 2: Marked by Midnight
328 Words
The mark on Aria’s skin burned like fire under her collarbone, pulsing with every breath.
Kael watched her with lazy amusement, arms folded, his dark coat slick with rain. “Feel that, witch? Fate sinking its claws into you?”
“I don’t believe in fate,” she hissed.
But the rune twisting under her skin disagreed. It seared through her magic, making her vision shimmer. This bond wasn’t human. It was old. Wild. Binding.
“I should kill you,” she said, flicking the silver blade toward him.
Kael laughed—a low, rich sound that curled along her spine like smoke. “Try.”
For a second, the street’s neon flickered, casting gold in his eyes. They weren’t human anymore. Beast flickered beneath. Hungry.
“Poor little witch,” he murmured, circling her like a wolf scenting prey. “You have no idea what you’ve stepped into.”
Aria’s grip tightened. One strike. One cut across that perfect throat. It would break the bond. Maybe.
But the magic in her blood trembled. Fated mates. She’d read of it only in cursed old grimoires. Witch and wolf—an impossible pairing. Dangerous. Deadly.
“Stay away from me,” she breathed.
Kael’s hand caught her wrist in one smooth move—fast, unhuman. His touch burned against her skin. Sparks of magic leapt between them.
“You smell like power and death,” he whispered, eyes locked on hers. “And now you smell like mine.”
His words curled around her soul, sharp and sweet as poison.
A shadow stirred in the alley behind him. Low growling. More wolves. Watching.
Kael leaned in close, voice dark silk against her ear.
“Run home, little witch. Before the city’s real monsters find you.”
His breath stirred her hair—and then he was gone. A blur into the dark.
But his scent stayed. On her skin. In her blood.
And the bond pulsed, hungry and alive.
- Writer
