Chapter 10 – The Bite
887 Words
POV: Rory Hale
The first thing I felt was teeth.
Sharp, scorching, tearing into the soft skin of my neck.
I gasped, my scream smothered by the shadows that enveloped us. My hands pressed against his chest, desperate to shove him away, but Lucien’s grip was iron. His lips pressed to my throat, and the heat of his mouth against my flesh made me quiver with something I didn’t understand: fear, rage, something worse.
“Stop!” My voice cracked. “Get off me!”
But he didn’t stop. He drank like a man famished, and I could feel my power flowing out with every pull of his tongue. My knees buckled, vision blurry.
And then Kael’s roar pierced the night.
“Let her go!”
Lucien tore himself away just as Kael rushed at him. They hit the ground hard, growls and snarls filling the courtyard. I lurched back, gripping my injured neck, my body quivering.
Kael’s voice was harsh. “You touch her again, I’ll tear you apart!”
Lucien just laughed, wiping blood from his lips. “Her blood called me. You wouldn’t understand, wolf. It belongs to me.”
“Liar!” Kael’s claws pressed against his throat. “She belongs to no one!”
My heart wrenched cruelly. I didn’t want to belong to anyone. Not to Lucien. Not even to Kael.
But the way Lucien’s eyes burned when they flashed to me, hungry, definite, claiming made my mark ache under my skin.
“Rory,” Kael murmured, his voice piercing through the haze, “step back. He’s not safe.”
I shook my head faintly. “Neither of you are safe.”
Lucien’s lips curved, nasty and lovely. “Don’t you see? I woke up to what's inside her. She’s stronger already.”
“What did you do to me?” I whispered. My hands shook against my throat. “What are you turning me into?”
Lucien stood slowly, disregarding Kael’s snarl. “I didn’t turn you into anything. I merely opened the door that was always there. Your blood… It’s not human, not wolf, not dragon. It’s more. And now…” He smirked. “Now it’s awake.”
The world swirled. My body was burning from the inside, veins shining dimly under my skin. My palms ignited with lightwhite, fierce, scorching.
I stumbled back, staring at them in terror. “No… no, this isn’t happening.”
Kael’s eyes widened. “Rory, breathe. Don’t let it take over.”
But it was too late. The power roared out of me in a blinding wave, knocking them both off their feet. The courtyard stones crumbled beneath me.
I yelled, unable to contain it. “Make it stop!”
Lucien’s laughter resonated. “Magnificent.”
Kael surged for me, wanting to reach me. “Rory, listen to me! You’re not a monster! Fight it!”
But my voice was stifled with fear. “I can’t! It’s too much, I can’t control it!”
Lucien stood, his face ablaze with astonishment. “You see now? You were never meant to control it. You were intended to become it.”
“Shut up!” I threw the words at him, but the power rushed with them. A blast of light slammed him in the chest, sending him falling into the wall.
For a second, I believed I’d murdered him.
And a dreadful part of me didn’t care.
Kael gripped my face in his palms, forcing me to gaze at him. His touch was soft, desperate. “Don’t let him win. Don’t let him make you into what he wants. You’re still you. You’re Rory.”
Tears burnt my eyes. “What if I can’t go back?”
His gaze held me, unshakeable. “Then I’ll drag you back myself.”
Something inside me snapped at his words, but before I could hang on to them, Lucien’s voice rose again hoarse, mocking.
“She’s mine, wolf. Even your touch can’t break it.”
I turned, frightened, as Lucien struggled to his feet. Blood dripped down his chest, but his smile was ferocious. “The bond is sealed now. You tasted me, I tasted you. The mark isn't a prophecy anymore, it's a chain.”
My stomach sank. “No.”
“Oh, yes,” he purred. “Your body already knows it. Your power replied to me. Every time it surges, it will call to me. You can’t escape it.”
I shook my head violently. “I’ll never be yours.”
His eyes sparkled like midnight fire. “You already are.”
I felt it then, the mark on my arm blazing hotter, altering, morphing. I shouted as pain blazed through me, as if molten fire sliced into my skin.
When it stopped, I looked down.
A fresh rune had burned into place, twisting around the first like chains.
Kael froze. “No…” His voice was broken. “What did he do to you?”
Lucien’s expression was victorious. “I gave her the truth.”
I stared at the bright rune, terror creeping deep into my bones.
The first mark had made me hunt.
The second made me claim.
And I couldn’t decide which was worse.
My voice cracked as I whispered the last question remaining.
“What am I becoming?”
- Writer
