Marked By The ShadowFang Alpha

# **📘 CHAPTER 7 — *“The Scream Inside Me”***

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The night split open with a roar.

Wolves crashed against each other, snarling and tearing through the darkness. Shadows moved like living nightmares around Aria, but she couldn’t look away from the one wolf she recognized instantly—

**Kael.**

His black fur was streaked with moonlight, muscles coiled with lethal power. Every movement was brutal, precise, terrifying—yet somehow, comforting. Because even in the chaos, he never looked away from her.

Not even once.

A rogue leaped toward her.

Aria’s heart stopped.

Before she could scream, Kael slammed into the rogue with a force that shook the ground. Bones cracked. Blood splattered. Kael’s fangs sank deep into the enemy’s throat, ending its life in seconds.

“Aria!” Rowan’s voice cut through the crashing sounds of combat. “Stay behind me!”

But Aria’s eyes remained locked on Kael.

Because something was wrong.

He wasn’t just fighting.

He was… *changing.*

His wolf form flickered—too large, too dark, too violent. The shadows around him pulsed like they were alive, wrapping around his body like smoke. His growl was deeper than any wolf she had ever heard. Almost… monstrous.

Aria felt it—

**a scream rising inside her chest, but it wasn’t her own.**

It was his.

His rage.

His fear.

His desperation.

She felt everything.

Her knees buckled under the force of the bond.

“No, no, no…” she whispered, clutching her chest. “What’s happening to him?”

Another rogue launched at Kael. He tore it apart with a savagery that didn’t look natural. His eyes—those normally cold, silver eyes—were now glowing with a violent, burning black.

A color no wolf should ever possess.

“Kael!” Aria screamed without thinking.

His head snapped toward her.

Even in the middle of battle—bleeding, surrounded, half-shifting—her voice dragged him back like gravity.

But the moment his gaze met hers, Aria felt a blast of emotion through the bond so powerful it stole her breath.

**Fear.**

Not fear for himself.

Fear for *her.*

Another wolf lunged behind her. Rowan grabbed her shoulders and pushed her aside—

“Aria, move!”

But Kael got there first.

He ripped the rogue off the ground and snapped its spine. The body fell in two pieces at Aria’s feet. Steam rose from Kael’s breath; his fur bristled with an energy that felt wrong, ancient, cursed.

Aria stumbled back.

“Kael… what are you?” she whispered.

He wasn’t shifting back.

He wasn’t calming down.

He wasn’t stopping.

He was losing control.

Rowan swore. “He’s going feral. The bond made him snap—Aria, get away!”

But she didn’t move.

Because Kael—her Alpha, her mate-marked protector—was trembling. Not from rage.

From **pain.**

A low howl tore from his throat, cracked, broken. It sounded almost human. Aria felt it inside her bones. Felt it like her own soul was splitting.

The world blurred.

Her ears rang.

Her body swayed as if pulled toward him.

“Kael…” she whispered again.

The shadows around him writhed violently, swallowing his form in swirling darkness. His body jerked, half-shifted, caught between wolf and man. His claws dug into the dirt. His chest heaved.

He was fighting something.

Something inside him.

Something ancient.

Something dangerous.

“Aria, DON’T!” Rowan shouted, but she walked toward Kael anyway.

She couldn’t stop.

The bond dragged her forward like an invisible chain of fire.

Kael roared—too loud, too broken—and turned away, trying to stop himself from hurting her. His massive body shook. He clawed the earth like he was trying to anchor himself to reality.

He was losing.

And Aria felt it.

Tears blurred her vision.

“Kael, look at me,” she begged.

He didn’t.

He couldn’t.

He was terrified—she felt that terror flooding into her through the mark.

So she did the only thing her heart screamed for.

She ran to him.

The instant she touched his fur—

the shadows exploded outward in a shockwave.

Wind blasted across the clearing, knocking wolves off their feet. The whole forest shook. Aria clung to Kael’s trembling wolf form as darkness pulsed around them like a living storm.

But then—

**he stilled.**

The shadows slowed.

The monstrous energy dimmed.

His body stopped shaking.

And he leaned into her touch.

Just a little.

Just enough.

Aria buried her face against his warm fur, tears soaking into him.

“You’re not a monster,” she whispered.

“I’m here. I’m not leaving.”

Something unspoken passed between them—raw, fragile, powerful.

Then—

Kael collapsed.

His huge body hit the ground with a heavy thud, shifting back into human form in a burst of smoke. He lay there, shirtless, bloodied, unconscious, breathing shallowly.

Aria dropped to her knees beside him.

“Kael? Kael!” Her hands shook as she touched his face. “Wake up… please, wake up.”

Rowan reached them, chest heaving, eyes wide with fear.

“What happened to him?” Aria choked.

Rowan swallowed hard.

His voice was barely a whisper.

“Aria… Kael isn’t just an Alpha.”

He looked at her like the truth might destroy everything.

“He’s something else. Something the pack has been hiding for years.”

Aria’s heart froze.

“What is he?”

Rowan hesitated.

“Kael is cursed,” he said finally.

“And only you can save him.”

Aria’s breath caught.

Because even unconscious—

Kael’s fingers curled weakly toward her hand.

As if he was reaching for her.

As if he always would.

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