Chapter 2: Betrayal and Fear
1572 Words
The rogue's gaze pinned me like prey.
Golden eyes—feral, focused, far too interested.
I thrashed beneath his paw, shifting back with a snarl, forcing human form through sheer panic. My bones snapped into place. My knees hit the dirt.
He didn’t flinch. Just watched me, head c****d like I was something interesting. Something broken. Something... marked.
His eyes flicked to my wrist.
“Didn’t expect you to be the one,” he murmured, voice gravel, smoke, and rough as it scraped on every word. “They’re already hunting you, aren’t they?”
“What do you want?” I croaked, trying to sound dangerous. It came out hoarse, half-broken. “Who the hell are you?”
The rogue’s smirk didn’t touch his eyes. “Dead girl’s asking questions.”
I dug my nails into the dirt, preparing to shift again.
“Don’t bother,” he said, finally stepping back,
“If I wanted you dead… you wouldn’t still be standing.”
A howl rose in the distance—sharp, furious. That was pack.
The rogue stepped back into the shadows like he belonged there. “Run, Moon-Blessed.”
And then he was gone.
---
I tore through the trees, lungs aching, branches tearing at me as I shifted again mid-sprint.
The trees blurred, my paws thudding against the earth. I didn’t think—I just moved.
Behind me, the howls grew louder.
They were coming.
Not just to capture. Not just to restrain.
To erase.
---
I made it back to the edge of the pack grounds without realizing it, just long enough to catch sight of flickering torches.
And then the mark on my wrist began to glow.
A low hum buzzed through me. No pain this time—something more alive, something wild that refused to be silenced.
Gasps. Sharp and fast.
I stumbled into the circle of light, shifting back again. My body was trembling, slick with sweat and blood. My wrist burned, light pulsing beneath the skin like it wanted to scream.
Pack members backed away.
Eyes wide. Mouths open. Whispers spreading like infection.
“She’s cursed.”
“It’s that mark.”
“She should’ve died before it woke.”
And then—Lyra.
She pushed through the crowd, eyes wide. She didn’t look scared. She looked wrecked.
“Selene,” she whispered, her voice scratchy and broken.
I stumbled toward her as my body moved on its own. I just needed to reach her—needed someone to hold onto before I completely fell apart.
She caught me. Her arms tightened around me for one second.
Just one.
Then she pulled back and grabbed my shoulders. “They’re going to kill you. You need to run. Now.”
“What?” I looked over her shoulder. The pack was circling like I was an animal. The kind they’d put down.
And then—
Alpha Darius stepped forward.
His expression was stone.
“Restrain her.”
My breath caught.
“You don’t… you don’t have to do this,” I said, with my head slowly shaken.
“I didn’t do anything… in fact, I don’t even know what I did wrong.”
His jaw clenched. “That mark is not meant to exist. You are not what we thought.”
“I’m still me!” My voice cracked. “I didn’t ask for this!”
“Doesn’t matter,” he growled. “You’re dangerous now. You’ll bring war to our doorstep.”
Ronan stood a few feet behind him. His arms were crossed, mouth pressed into a hard line.
He didn’t move.
Didn’t speak.
Just stared at me like I was a stranger.
Like I meant nothing.
That broke something deeper than the rejection.
Lyra grabbed my wrist. “Go. Go now!”
Two warriors lunged.
I didn’t think. I shifted in a blink, snapping into wolf form as claws swiped the space I’d just been in.
And I ran.
---
The forest swallowed me whole.
The pain in my wrist still throbbed, but I didn’t stop.
Howls chased me—pack warriors fanning out behind, fast and brutal.
I leapt over a fallen tree and pushed harder. My limbs ached. Blood soaked into the earth from a gash in my side. But I kept going.
The Moonveil Forest rose ahead like a promise.
No one went there. Not by choice.
Wolves said it was haunted.
Which made it perfect.
I dove into the trees, deeper and deeper, until the howls behind me faded into nothing.
---
I collapsed in a narrow clearing, grass brushing against my side. My body trembled, my wolf struggling to stay grounded. My breathing stuttered.
And finally—finally—I shifted back.
Naked. Bleeding. Shaking.
I pulled my knees to my chest and wrapped my arms around them, trying to make myself smaller. Trying to hold it all in.
The mark on my wrist was still glowing—dim, but steady. Like it was waiting.
I stared at it, dazed.
The design was intricate—sharp lines and curved symbols I didn’t recognize. It shimmered like it had been carved from moonlight and fury.
“What are you?” I whispered.
I expected silence.
But the air... moved.
Not wind.
Not breath.
Something deeper.
A presence I couldn’t name pressed at the edge of my awareness, old and endless and watching.
I blinked hard, my heart slamming.
“You’re not supposed to exist,” Ronan had said.
But I did.
And now they wanted me gone because of it.
Not because I’d broken a law.
Not because I’d harmed anyone.
Because I might be something they couldn’t control.
---
The next few hours blurred.
I dragged myself into a hollow near a stream and stayed there. My wrist still glowed faintly in the dark, like a warning or a curse. Maybe both.
Every twig c***k made me flinch.
Every time the wind shifted, I expected teeth.
But no one came.
Not pack. Not the rogue.
Just me and the silence.
And the mark.
---
It was Lyra’s voice that haunted me the most.
Run.
She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t question. She knew.
That meant she’d heard whispers. Maybe they even saw it coming.
And Ronan?
He’d just stood there.
Not a single word to stop his father.
Not even when I screamed.
He’d watched me like I was something beneath his boots.
Fated mate? Please.
I spit into the dirt and rolled onto my back.
The stars stared back at me.
I was supposed to meet the wolf chosen for me tonight.
Supposed to feel whole. Seen. Loved.
Instead, I was bleeding in the forest, hunted like a threat, abandoned by the one who was meant to protect me.
Happy birthday, Selene.
---
Sleep never came. And honestly, I wasn’t sure it ever would again—not with the way my body refused to relax, like danger was still breathing down my neck.
By the time dawn crept over the treetops, I was still sitting there, shivering.
Everything hurt.
But I was still alive.
And I wasn’t going back.
I couldn’t.
Even if the Elders changed their minds, even if Ronan fell to his knees and begged—
They had shown me who they were.
I believed them.
Now, I just needed answers.
Because if I was cursed—if this mark made me a monster—
I wanted to know why.
---
The forest shifted with the sun.
It smelled different. It is less like blood and more like something waking up.
I stood on shaky legs, braced one hand on a tree, and took a breath.
And that’s when I heard it.
A voice. Low. Male.
“Running won’t save you.”
I spun, shifting again in a blink, my wolf snarling.
The rogue stepped out of the shadows, hands raised, amused.
“Easy, firecracker.”
He looked different in daylight. Same confidence, same danger—but his smile was sharper now. Hungrier.
“You followed me,” I growled.
“Couldn’t resist. You lit up the whole damn pack like a flare.” He motioned to my wrist.
I bared my teeth.
“You gonna kill me this time, or just monologue until I fall asleep?”
He laughed.
Actually laughed.
“You’ve got a bite. I like that.”
I didn’t lower my stance.
He leaned against a tree. “Name’s Cassian. And I’m guessing you’ve got no idea what’s happening to you.”
I stared at him. “You know?”
“I know the Elders have been hunting for that mark for decades. I know every wolf they thought had it disappeared. And I know that the last time it showed up…” He paused, expression cooling. “Things got bloody.”
I swallowed hard. “Why?”
Cassian tilted his head. “Because that mark doesn’t mean you’re cursed, sweetheart. It means you’re powerful.”
I didn’t speak.
He took a step closer.
“You think they were scared of your power? Wait till you learn what you’re actually capable of.”
I stepped back a little.
“Why are you telling me this?”
Cassian’s gaze locked on mine. No smirk now. Just sharp edges and old secrets.
“Because you just became the most dangerous wolf in the country. And you’ve got no idea what kind of game you’ve been dragged into.”
His tone dropped.
“But I do.”
- Writer
