Chapter Three: Teeth Beneath the Skin
1981 Words
Sofia dreamt of wolves.
Blood on snow. Snarling jaws. A full moon so large it swallowed the sky.
And in the center of it all stood Kael, his back to her, his body shifting, bones snapping, skin tearing until the man she hated was replaced by a monster she didn’t yet understand.
When she woke, her sheets were twisted, damp with sweat. Her pulse pounded in her ears, and her wolf howled beneath her skin.
She rolled out of bed and splashed cold water on her face. The fortress was quiet. Too quiet. Even the guards outside her door had gone silent, replaced by an emptiness that hummed with unease.
Her door creaked open on its own.
She froze.
Kael stood in the hallway, dressed in all black. There was blood on his collar.
Her eyes narrowed. “What happened?”
“Pack dispute in the southern borderlands.” His tone was clipped, jaw tight. “I had to remind a few young Alphas who lead this territory.”
Her stomach turned. “With violence?”
“With certainty,” Kael corrected. “Sometimes blood is the only language they speak.”
He didn’t wait for her judgment. He just walked away.
She followed, barefoot and silent, her curiosity overriding her better judgment.
They descended to the fortress’s lower levels through stone halls that grew colder and darker the farther they went. At the bottom was a door made of iron and bone.
“What is this place?” Sofia asked.
Kael turned, one hand resting on the door. “The Undercourt. Where our laws are written in blood.”
The door opened with a groan.
Inside was a pit. Not metaphorically, a literal pit carved into the rock, twenty feet deep, ringed with chains and carved runes. Two wolves circled each other below, both massive, both scarred. One lunged, the other dodged, and the sound of bone crunching filled the air.
Sofia flinched.
“This is how Bloodfang settles challenges,” Kael said from beside her. Dominance. Strength. It’s primal, but honest.”
"It’s barbaric,” she said.
“Barbarism keeps the peace.”
She turned to him, furious. “You’re not interested in peace. You want obedience. There’s a difference.”
Kael stepped nearby, his voice like a growl. “Obedience creates order. And order protects the pack.”
She didn’t back down. “You protect them by making them afraid of you.”
“They should be afraid of me,” he said. “So they’ll never be afraid of anything else.”
Their breath mingled. The heat between them flared again, infuriating, magnetic.
“You lead with fear,” Sofia whispered, “because you don’t know how to lead with love.”
Kael’s eyes darkened. “Love is a luxury Alphas can’t afford.”
“Then maybe you’re not the Alpha they need.”
That struck something. He turned, walking away.
Sofia stared after him, heart pounding. She didn’t know why she said it. Maybe because it was true. Or maybe because she needed him to see what he could be.
If he wasn’t already too far gone.
The rest of the day passed like fog.
Mara brought Sofia a stack of books from the Bloodfang archives, ancient lore, mate-bond history, regional laws. Luna devoured them in silence, trying to understand the world she’d been forced into.
She discovered that rogue-borns like her weren’t just rare, they were considered dangerous creatures. Unclaimed females were believed to destabilize pack hierarchies. Some packs exiled them. Others executed them.
And yet… the prophecy Kael had mentioned surfaced in one dusty volume:
The Moonmarked shall rise when the old ways fall. Born without a tether, she will bear both wrath and mercy, and all shall bow to her howl.
Moonmarked.
Could it be her?
No. It mustn’t be.
She didn’t want destiny. She wanted freedom.
As night fell, she slipped out of her chamber. The guards saw her but didn’t stop her. Kael had ordered she not be caged.
Not physically.
She found the training grounds behind the fortress, a wide open space under the stars, where warriors sparred in wolf and human form. A few nodded at her presence, wary and curious.
She found a wooden staff on the rack and took it to the ring.
A young enforcer stepped up. “You fight?”
Sofia twirled at the staff. “Try me.”
He lunged. She spun, ducked, swept his legs.
He hit the dirt.
A second came at her. Then a third.
By the time she was done, bruised and breathless, five were flat on their backs and a dozen more were watching with new eyes.
She looked up.
Kael stood at the edge of the ring.
Watching.
Their eyes met, and this time… it wasn’t about dominance.
It was something else.
Something older.
Something hungry.
Later, in her room, Kael came to her again.
No words this time. No demands.
Just silence.
He stood in the doorway, jaw clenched, hands fisted at his sides.
“I can’t get you out of my head,” he said finally, voice low. “The bond won’t let me breathe without feeling you.”
She stood still, her heart beating like a war drum.
“It’s not the bond,” she whispered. “It’s me. And you’re scared of that.”
Kael crossed the room in a flash. His hands found her waist. Her back hit the wall.
“I’m not scared of anything,” he said, mouth inches from hers.
Sofia’s fingers curled into his shirt. “Then prove it.”
And when his mouth crashed down on hers, it wasn’t gentle. It was a fire. Fury. Years of loneliness and lust and denial burning to ash in a single, devouring kiss.
Her wolf roared inside her. His hands gripped her like a lifeline. Her legs wrapped around him, and the world blurred.
But just as suddenly, she pulled back.
“No,” she said, breathless. “Not like this.”
Kael froze. “Why?”
“Because I want you to choose me. Not just crave me.”
His hands fell away.
And she walked to the window, her heart cracking open.
Behind her, Kael whispered, “Then teach me how.”
Sofia didn’t answer.
Not immediately.
She stood at the window, heart slamming against her ribs, trying to breathe through the fire his touch had lit beneath her skin. The bond pulled at her like a tether stretched too tight, but she didn’t turn.
She needed space.
She needed control.
Behind her, Kael’s silence stretched long enough that she thought he might have left.
Then:
“I’ll assign you a trainer.”
Her brow arched. “A what?”
“You need to learn how to defend yourself against the council. The court. "My world.” He hesitated. “Against me, if it ever comes to that.”
That admission stunned her.
When she turned to face him, he wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at the floor, as if the words had cost him.
“You’re scared of yourself,” she said quietly.
Kael looked up, eyes glowing faintly gold in the low light. “You should be too.”
She didn’t flinch. “I’m not.”
A beat of silence.
Then he turned, walked to the door, and paused with his hand on the frame. “Your trainer will meet you at dawn. Don’t be late.”
“Don’t assume I’ll come.”
He glanced over his shoulder, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. “You’ll come. You’re too stubborn not to.”
And then he was gone.
Dawn bled across the mountains in shades of fire and frost.
Sofia arrived at the training grounds before the sun had fully risen. She wore black leggings, boots, and a leather tunic
Mara had delivered sometime during the night. Her braid was tight. Her body ached from yesterday’s sparring, but she welcomed the soreness.
It meant she was still alive.
A tall woman stood waiting in the center of the ring older, scarred, hair cropped close to her scalp. Her posture was straight, her presence commanding.
“You must be Sofia.”
“You must be the trainer.”
The woman inclined her head. “Call me Darya.”
Sofia stepped into the ring. “How much did Kael tell you?”
Darya’s eyes glinted. “Enough to know you’re worth the trouble.”
“Good.”
Without warning, Darya struck.
Sofia barely dodged, the woman’s foot missing her ribs by an inch. She rolled, came up on her feet, eyes wide.
“You didn’t say we were starting!”
Darya grinned. “No one will warn you in real life. Why should I?”
For the next hour, Sofia learned what pain really was.
Darya didn’t pull her punches. She didn’t coddle. She taught through bruises, through breathless repetition, through whispered insults meant to provoke fury.
And it worked.
Because somewhere in the middle of the lesson, Sofia’s wolf stirred.
Not just stirred and growled.
It flooded her veins with heat, her senses sharpening. Her body moved faster, struck harder. Her fists found Darya’s side, and this time, the older woman stumbled.
Sofia stood panting, hands trembling with something close to euphoria.
“What was that?” she gasped.
Darya straightened, eyes shining. “That was the beginning of your awakening.”
“My…?”
“You’re not just Kael’s mate,” Darya said. "You’re something more. "I felt it the moment you landed that hit.” She stepped forward, her voice low. “You need to be ready for what’s coming, Sofia." Because power like yours doesn’t go unnoticed.”
Sofia’s heartbeat slowed. “You think I’m the Moonmarked.”
“I know you are.”
Sofia turned away, throat tight.
Because deep down, her wolf already knew it too.
Later that night, Sofia found herself in the library.
It was an enormous room, four stories tall, filled with ancient tomes and more modern records. Candles flickered on wrought-iron chandeliers, and the scent of old parchment filled the air.
She needed answers.
She needed truth.
She found a book bound in black leather with a silver moon on the cover. Inside, she read of a female wolf born without lineage. Untethered. Uncollared. The prophecy said she would rise during an age of corruption, loved by one who ruled in blood but destined to reshape the world through mercy and rage.
Sofia closed the book.
And Kael was there.
Watching her from the shadows.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said.
“Neither are you,” he replied. “But I knew I’d find you here.”
She looked at him then, really looked and saw the weariness in his eyes. The way the weight of the Alpha crown had begun to chip away at the man beneath.
“I don’t want to be your weakness,” she said softly.
Kael stepped forward. “You’re not.”
She raised her brow.
“You’re my undoing,” he murmured. “But that might be the same thing.”
Sofia’s breath caught. “You don’t even know who I am.”
“I know what I feel when I’m near you.”
“That’s the bond,” she snapped, turning away. “It’s a lie.”
“No.” Kael’s voice was sharp now. The bond is the truth. Everything else is a lie.”
He crossed the room in three strides, caught her wrist gently. She froze.
His hand was warm.
His gaze burned.
“I don’t want to control you, Luna. I want to earn you.”
She searched his face for deceit.
Found none.
And that terrified her more than anything.
Because what if she wanted to be earned?
What if her wolf didn’t just crave his power…
…but his heart?
- Writer
