Chapter 4: He Knows What I Am
953 Words
The stranger didn’t come inside.
He stood just beyond the cabin’s porch, unmoving, calm, like he was waiting for her to understand something he couldn’t say aloud.
His silver eyes watched her—not with fear, not with judgment, but with something far rarer.
Recognition.
Aria tightened her grip on the lantern, its glow flickering between them. Her voice, when it finally came, was steady.
“What do you mean, protect the mark?”
The stranger’s hood shifted slightly as he glanced around the trees. “There are others who will come for it. For you.”
“Why?”
“Because you are Moonborn,” he said plainly. “And your awakening means the prophecy has begun.”
Aria’s heart pounded. The word echoed inside her—Moonborn.
“What prophecy?”
He hesitated. “You’re not ready for the full truth. But you need to know this—your mark is more than a symbol. It’s a key. And there are those who would kill to control what it unlocks.”
“I don’t even know what it unlocks,” she snapped.
“Not yet. But the wrong hands won’t care.”
His voice was calm, almost emotionless, but it carried weight. Every word felt like a stone pressed into her chest.
Aria stepped forward. “Who are you?”
“My name is Rael. I was sworn to protect your bloodline before you were born.”
“Why me?”
“Because you’re the last.”
The wind stirred between them. Rael’s cloak shifted with it, revealing the faint outline of his own mark—similar to hers, but inverted.
She wanted to ask more, but a sharp howl cut through the night. Distant. Angry. Familiar.
Kade.
Rael’s head snapped toward the sound. “He shouldn’t be here.”
“He followed me?”
“No. But he’s looking for something.” He met her eyes again. “And right now, that something is you.”
⸻
Minutes later, Aria stood alone at the edge of her cabin, watching Rael vanish silently into the woods. He’d given her no answers—only warnings.
You are not safe here.
You were never meant to stay.
His words echoed louder than the howl had.
She pressed a hand to her chest, feeling the warmth of the mark through the fabric of her shirt. Still glowing, still steady.
What was awakening inside her?
And why did it feel like everyone else already knew?
⸻
The next morning came with frost on the grass and tension in the air.
The moment Aria stepped into the pack commons, the world seemed to shift. Conversations paused. Heads turned. Eyes followed.
But it wasn’t just whispers this time. It was something worse.
Distance.
They didn’t look at her like a threat anymore. They looked at her like she was already gone. A ghost. A name to be whispered when the Elders weren’t listening.
She headed for the old training ring behind the pack hall. Not because she needed to fight—but because she needed to breathe. To think.
To feel like she still had a place here.
She wasn’t alone.
The air shifted behind her, and she didn’t need to look to know who it was.
Kade.
“I thought you’d left,” he said.
“I should have.”
He stepped closer, but not too close. He was learning.
“I saw someone outside your cabin last night,” he said. “Who was he?”
“You were watching me?”
“I was protecting the border.”
“Sure you were.”
His jaw flexed, but he didn’t argue. Instead, his eyes flicked down to her chest.
“You’re still marked.”
“Obviously.”
“I thought the power would fade.”
“You thought wrong.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t. Not yet.
“I had a dream,” she said suddenly. “A vision. A woman with silver eyes. She called me Moonborn.”
Kade’s expression shifted slightly—just for a second—but she caught it.
“You know what that means, don’t you?”
“I’ve heard the stories,” he said carefully. “Old ones. About a bloodline the Moon Goddess touched before the first Alphas were ever chosen. A line meant to guide—not rule.”
Aria took a step forward.
“And?”
“And that bloodline was supposed to be extinct.”
She tilted her head. “Maybe you were wrong about that too.”
A muscle jumped in his jaw. He wasn’t used to being wrong. Definitely not twice in the same week.
“You should have told me,” she said.
“I didn’t know. Not for sure.”
“But you suspected. You saw the mark. Felt the bond. And you still threw me away in front of the whole pack.”
He didn’t answer.
“I want to know something,” she said, voice quieter now. “If I hadn’t been marked—if none of this had happened—would you have come back?”
His silence answered for him.
Aria nodded once, then turned to walk away.
“I didn’t come to apologize,” he called after her. “But I came because the Elders are meeting tonight. They’re going to vote on what to do with you.”
Her spine stiffened. “Let me guess. Exile? Detention? Death?”
“I won’t let them hurt you.”
“You already did.”
She didn’t turn around.
⸻
That night, Rael returned.
But this time, he didn’t come to the cabin.
He came to the window.
And he wasn’t alone
- Writer
