Chapter 6: A Mark Beneath the Moon
1309 Words
The wind had changed again.
Aelira felt it the moment she stepped beyond the small boundary of safe ground she'd made her own in the forest. The air smelled different, colder and sharper. The silver leaves above rustled like whispers, telling secrets only the brave dared to hear.
She had made a habit of walking early. It helped her think. Helped her stay sharp. Helped her survive. But this morning felt strange.
She crouched beside a mossy rock, tracing her fingers over a faint marking, a swirl carved into the stone that hadn’t been there yesterday.
“It’s happening again,” she whispered, her breath turning white even though the morning wasn’t cold. “Just like the last time…”
Behind her, the quiet snap of a twig froze her muscles. She turned swiftly, her body tense, but it was only Thalia, holding a pouch of dried berries and her bow.
“You’ve been up for hours again,” Thalia said, frowning gently as she handed Aelira a handful. “You should eat.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“You always say that. But the magic is draining you. You know it.”
Aelira didn’t answer. She looked back at the marking, the way it glowed slightly in the shade, and felt her skin prickle.
“I think… it’s another sign,” she murmured.
Thalia knelt beside her. “Of what?”
“I don’t know. But I think the forest is watching us.”
---
Meanwhile, back in the Nightfang Packhouse, Kaelen stared at the wall in his office. He’d barely slept since the full moon.
He kept hearing her voice in his dreams. Seeing her eyes wide and full of pain when he rejected her.
Why did he do it?
Why did it hurt now, like claws scraping his ribs from the inside?
His Beta, Malric, stepped in. “Still nothing?” he asked.
Kaelen didn’t move. “No sign of her.”
“Maybe that’s good. You made your decision. An Omega like her… she doesn’t belong in our pack.”
“She wasn’t weak,” Kaelen said softly.
Malric tilted his head. “What?”
Kaelen looked up. “She wasn’t weak. There’s something about her.”
Malric shifted, unsure how to respond. “You’re not… regretting, are you?”
Kaelen didn’t answer. Instead, he turned toward the window, his golden eyes catching the light.
“Have the scouts search the southern forest,” he said. “But be quiet about it. No one else needs to know.”
Malric nodded, though his expression showed doubt.
And Kaelen, for the first time in years, felt afraid.
---
Back in the forest, Aelira and Thalia reached the edge of a hidden waterfall. The pool below shimmered like glass.
Aelira stepped closer to the water, then stopped.
There, on her wrist, was a faint silver mark.
A crescent.
It hadn't been there before.
“What… is that?” Thalia breathed.
Aelira shook her head. Her heartbeat echoed in her ears. “I don’t know. But I think… I’m being marked. Chosen. Or maybe… hunted.”
A rush of wind burst through the trees, sending ripples across the water.
And somewhere beyond, in the deeper part of the woods, a howl rose.
It wasn’t like the other howls. It was deeper. Older.
Calling her name.
Thalia was still staring at the mark on Aelira’s wrist, her eyes wide.
“Are you sure it wasn’t there before?” she asked.
Aelira nodded slowly. “I would’ve noticed. I check my body every morning for anything… strange.”
Thalia looked worried. “You think it’s magic?”
“I think it’s a warning,” Aelira whispered.
But deep inside, she wasn’t sure if it was a warning or something more, a call, maybe. A bond. A truth that hadn’t yet fully shown itself.
They moved away from the water. The light was growing softer, the sun already hidden by clouds. It felt like dusk even though it was barely past dawn. The trees stretched taller, their roots twisting like sleeping snakes, their shadows deep and heavy.
Aelira stopped walking. She felt it again, the cold.
But it wasn’t just in the air. It was crawling beneath her skin, like something ancient had woken up.
Suddenly, her knees gave out.
“Aelira!” Thalia cried, catching her just in time.
Aelira gasped as a sharp flash of pain struck her chest. Her mark pulsed, silver and glowing. And then, she saw it.
Not with her eyes, but in her mind.
A burning throne.
A woman with wings made of light.
A voice calling her name, not in words, but in feeling.
Then everything went dark.
---
She woke up in their shelter, tucked into the small cave they'd claimed as home.
Thalia was beside her, frowning, holding a cool cloth to her forehead.
“You were out cold for almost two hours,” Thalia said gently. “I almost ran to the village for help.”
“No,” Aelira said, her voice hoarse. “Don’t go. We can’t trust anyone.”
“I know,” Thalia replied. “But still. That… whatever that was, it wasn’t normal.”
Aelira sat up slowly, wincing as a throb shot through her head.
“There was… something in my mind. A throne. A woman. And the voice. . .”
Thalia leaned closer. “What did she say?”
“She didn’t speak. But I understood. She wants me to remember. She wants me to return.”
“To what?”
“I don’t know. But I think… I’ve lived this before.”
The cave was quiet for a long moment.
Then Thalia said, “Reincarnation?”
“Maybe. Or something like it.” Aelira ran her fingers over the mark. “This is old. Older than me. Older than any of us.”
She glanced at Thalia, her eyes sharp despite her weariness.
“Whatever’s happening… it’s bigger than us. I think the pack knew something. Maybe even Kaelen.”
Thalia frowned. “Then why would he reject you?”
Aelira stared at the cave wall, her heart twisting.
“I don’t know. But I’m going to find out.”
---
Elsewhere, Kaelen stood in a clearing at the edge of the southern forest.
His wolf senses were sharp, alert.
Something wasn’t right. He could feel it.
The wind carried her scent.
Faint. Almost gone. But still there.
A rush of longing hit him in the chest. He hated it. Fought it.
But it was still there.
He crouched low, placing his hand over a patch of disturbed earth.
A footprint. Small. Familiar.
“She’s alive,” he whispered.
Malric stepped beside him. “Kaelen, if you want to find her, we’ll need to push deeper into the woods.”
Kaelen stood, jaw tight. “No. Not yet. The forest is changing.”
Malric raised a brow. “Since when do you fear trees?”
“I don’t,” Kaelen growled. “I fear what’s waking inside them.”
---
That night, Aelira sat by the fire inside the cave, her fingers curled around a small pendant she’d found near the glowing stone earlier.
It wasn’t hers. It had a symbol on it, a moon split in half, with a flame inside.
She’d seen it before. In her dreams.
As she traced the edges, her mark began to glow again, and this time, she heard a voice.
Not in her head.
In the cave.
A low whisper that wrapped around the fire like smoke.
“The moon remembers. The flame endures. The blood returns.”
Aelira froze.
Thalia looked up, her eyes wide.
“You heard that too?”
Aelira nodded slowly. Her heart was pounding. Her body felt warm, but not from the fire.
From something inside her.
Something waking.
- Writer
