I woke up before the sun was even fully over the trees. My neck was stiff, and when I touched the place where Kael had bitten me, I winced. It was a dark purple bruise now, shaped like his teeth. It was a mark of possession, a brand that told the world I belonged to the Alpha, even if he didn't want me.
*He marked us,* Aria whispered in my head. She sounded happy about it, which made me feel annoyed. *He claimed us in the dark.*
"He didn't claim us out of love, Aria," I said out loud, my voice echoing in the empty attic. "He did it to show me he could. He did it to hurt me."
But even as I said it, I remembered the way his heart had been racing against mine. I remembered the way his breath had hitched when he smelled my skin. He was fighting a war inside himself, and I was the battlefiel
