Marked by the Beast King

The Interest

Chapter 5

The Interest

The walk back to the territory should have felt like freedom.

Instead, it felt like being escorted toward an execution.

I followed several steps behind Kael Draven through the moonlit forest while his guards maintained a silent perimeter around us. Nobody spoke. Nobody even dared to.

The night air carried the scent of wet mud, and pine needles crushed beneath boots. Somewhere in the distance, an owl called once before falling silent again. The forest itself seemed uneasy. Or perhaps that was just me.

Every few moments, I caught one of the guards glancing in my direction. Not openly, though, not long enough to be rude, just enough to confirm they were watching, judging, or perhaps waiting for what I wasn't sure of. Who knows, maybe they expected claws to burst through my skin, or maybe they expected me to attack. Or perhaps they were wondering why their king had suddenly become interested in a rejected Omega. This very same question haunted me.

Ahead, Kael walked without looking back. His pace was steady and unhurried. Yet, somehow, everyone adjusted themselves around it naturally.

The guards moved when he moved. They stopped when he stopped as though his presence altered the rhythm of the world itself.

Kael never bothered. He walked without looking back. I could see how the moonlight caught briefly against the dark strands of his hair whenever the trees opened above us. But he never once checked to see if I was following.

Somehow, that irritated me. He made it seem as if he already knew I would follow him. As if refusing had never crossed his mind.

The thought should have angered me. Instead, it made me strangely aware of him.

I hated how aware I was of him. Everything about him seemed so clear and open to me, as if they were books placed open in front of me. The broad line of his shoulders, the confidence in his movements, the unsettling calm surrounding him.

I sincerely can't explain what i feel. Hatred would have been easier to say. Or could it be fear? No fear would have been easier, too, as neither fully explained the discomfort twisting inside my chest. And all of these was because Kael wasn't treating me like a curse, and that itself frightened me more than if he had.

By dawn, the rumours had spread across the territory. I knew it even before anyone said a word.

People stared at me differently. They stared fearfully and curiously the way wolves stared at distant lightning or something dangerous enough to admire from afar.

I sat alone in a small receiving chamber inside the territory's administrative hall while priests, nobles, and council members gathered beyond the carved wooden doors.

Their voices drifted through the cracks, though clearly but...just enough.

"...never happened before..."

"...Moon Goddess would never allow..."

"...bond rejection..."

"...abomination..."

"...Draven interference..."

I leaned back in the chair and closed my heavily exhausted eyes. I have seen and heard almost too much about this ceremony that it now felt weeks ago already, not hours.

The door suddenly opened, and a servant entered baring tea. She approached me carefully. Almost too careful that when she reached the table beside me, she placed the tray down quickly before stepping away.

As the distance between us immediately widened, I almost laughed. Almost. But I didn't. Instead, I looked down at the steaming cup.

"You know it doesn't spread." I said

The servant froze.

"What?"

"Whatever they think I am."

Her face immediately looked pale.

"I didn't mean..."

"I know."

That was the problem. Nobody ever meant to reveal their fear. Their instincts simply betrayed them.

The servant fled shortly afterwards, leaving the tea untouched and me alone again.

The council meeting began shortly after noon.

I wasn't invited, even though most of the discussion was about me.

But my no invitation didn't stop me from hearing pieces of it.

The hall had high ceilings and poor acoustics, so voices travelled. Especially angry ones.

"The girl is a threat." A priest said

"The ceremony itself proves it." Another voice answered.

Then, a voice that sounder older and noble asked. "And what exactly does it prove?

"It proves the bond rejected her."

"No," someone countered sharply. "The Alpha rejected her."

"The bond broke first."

Arguments erupted immediately afterwards, voices began overlapping, frustration started building among them, and even fear started spreading. The very same fear that had infected the ceremony grounds.

The biggest problem here was that nobody knew what had happened, and we all know that wolves hated mysteries.

Mysteries could not be controlled. Not in a wolf pack.

A few minutes later, another voice cut through the chaos. And quietness and calmness instantly obeyed.

It was none other but Kael.

The room fell silent. Even through the door, I could feel the shift.

This was what I noticed throughout the meeting. Even through the heavy doors, voices rose and fell. Priests argued. Nobles interrupted. Someone even accused me of corruption.

Yet every time Kael spoke, the room returned to silence.

Not because he was the loudest. But... I think it's because everyone listened... Including me.

"Describe the event again."

Kael said, and a priest cleared his throat nervously.

"The bond activated before violently collapsing."

"Violently?"

"Yes."

"And this has happened before?"

"No."

A pause.

Then Kael spoke again.

"What injuries resulted?"

The question seemed to surprise them.

"The... injuries?"

"Yes."

Silence.

The priest hesitated.

"None."

Another pause. Longer this time.

"The bond shattered," Kael said. "No injuries. No deaths. No corruption. No transformation."

Nobody answered, but his voice remained steady.

"Then your conclusions appear emotional rather than factual."

The silence that followed felt almost painful. I found myself staring at the closed door. Listening... Waiting...

Kael wasn't defending me. No, ant leadt, not directly.

But one thing was certain, he was dismantling every accusation one piece at a time. And that somehow felt even more dangerous.

Later that evening, the meeting finally ended.

Nobles emerged first, then priests, before advisors who came last.

Their conversations immediately resumed in hushed whispers at the sight of me.

Several even looked directly at me. While others quickly avoided eye contact.

One elderly council member crossed himself with the sign of the Moon Goddess.

A younger priest physically moved to the opposite side of the corridor.

I watched them all, but none approached me. They only spoke.

The rumours had already become larger than reality.

I wondered how many versions of me existed inside their heads.

Monster.

Curse.

Demon.

Abomination.

Perhaps all of them.

In novtime. The hallway gradually became empty until only one figure remained.

Lucien. Lucien Ashford.

For a moment, neither of us moved. The rejection still sat awkwardly between us.

Fresh and bleeding.

His gaze settled on me. Not hostile, and also, not apologetic, but confused. The same confusion I felt.

"You look tired," he said.

Of all the things he could have mentioned, that wasn't what I expected.

His gaze lingered on my face longer than it should have. Almost as though he were searching for the thing that had terrified him beneath the Blood Moon.

Or perhaps he was trying to understand why Kael Draven couldn't seem to look away

I looked away first.

"So do you."

And a humourless smile briefly touched his mouth. Then, it vanished again, giving room for silence to settle heavily.

"I didn't lie."

His voice was quieter now.

"My wolf reacted."

I believed him, and that was the worst part. I believed every ounce of fear I'd seen on his face.

"I know."

His expression tightened.

"You don't understand."

"No," I admitted.

"I don't."

Because how could I? I didn't even understand myself.

Lucien looked like he wanted to say more. Something... maybe important, or even something dangerous.

But before he could, footsteps echoed down the corridor. And there he was, Kael appeared. And the atmosphere changed almost instantly.

I wasn't the only one who noticed it, Lucien noticed it too.

I saw in his stiffened shoulders. And that was the death of the conversation.

Stepping out, Kael's eyes moved between us. His eyes were observing and alculating.

Lucien noticed him before I did. And the change in his countenance was immediate.

His jaw tightened, and his shoulders locked.

I could see something dark flickered briefly across his expression. It wasn't fear this time.

It was irritation, possessiveness, and confusion

As though he disliked seeing Kael's attention fixed on me despite being the one who had rejected me.

Finally, Kael spoke.

"Everyone leave."

The command wasn't loud. It was just like the ladt time at the ceremony.

Lucien hesitated but still left.

The remaining servants disappeared immediately afterwards.

Even the guards withdrew down the corridor, and within moments, the hallway stood empty and silent.

Only Kael and I remained.

The distance between us suddenly felt much smaller than before.

My pulse quickened, not from attraction, and definitely not from fear, but from uncertainty.

Kael stepped forward slowly. His gaze never left mine.

"What are you?" he asked.

The question hit harder than any accusation. Maybe because he wasn't asking cruelly.

He genuinely wanted an answer, and I didn't have one.

"I don't know."

For the first time all day, something flickered behind his eyes.

Disappointment. Or perhaps confirmation. I couldn't tell.

I turned to leave.

"Stay."

My feet stopped before my mind could.

The corridor was empty now. Empty and silent.

Somehow, the single word sounded less like an order and more like a decision already made.

When I looked back, Kael was still watching me patiently. Almost as if he knew I would stay.

And for reasons I didn't want to examine too closely...

I did.

The single word settled between us. And suddenly, I realized this conversation wasn't over.

It was only beginning.