The mark and the moon
1001 Words
I shouldn’t have followed him.
Not into the frozen woods. Not under a moon so full it looked like it was watching me. Not when my body still hummed from the shift, raw and aching in places I hadn’t even known existed.
But I did.
Because when Kael reached for my hand and whispered, “You need to see something,” I didn’t hesitate.
I couldn’t.
He led me deeper into the northern forest, where no one dared walk after nightfall. Past the clearing where wolves trained. Past the river that smelled of ash and salt.
His hand never let go of mine.
And I hated how right it felt.
The cold bit at my skin, but he was warm beside me. Always warm. Always steady. Even when I was crumbling.
“Where are we going?” I asked, breath clouding in the air.
He didn’t look back. “To the truth.”
A few more steps, and the trees gave way to stone.
It was buried in the earth—half-collapsed, overgrown with moss—but it pulsed with energy. Like it was alive.
A circular platform, ringed with ancient symbols.
Moon runes. Blood language. The kind wolves weren’t supposed to speak aloud.
“What is this?” I whispered.
Kael stepped onto the stone. “The Temple of the Flameborn.”
My heart stuttered.
“I thought the temple was destroyed during the Purge.”
“It was. This is all that’s left. But the power still lives here.” His gaze flicked to mine. “Like it lives in you.”
I took a shaky breath. “Why bring me here?”
“Because I need you to understand who you are.”
“I already know what they called me—”
“I don’t care what they called you,” he growled. “I care what the moon says. What the bond says. What I know.”
He stepped close. So close I could feel the heat rolling off his skin.
“You’re more than an omega. More than wolf. You’re power the world tried to erase. And every time you deny it, you let them win.”
“Kael…”
He cupped my jaw.
“I’m not trying to make you mine, Aria. I already know you are.”
My breath caught.
“I feel you in my blood. In my soul. Even when I try to fight it.”
I closed my eyes, trying to hold myself together. “This bond… it’s messing with my head. I don’t know what’s real anymore.”
“This is real,” he whispered. His thumb brushed my cheek. “I can wait for your body. But not your truth.”
His words hit harder than a kiss.
But then—he did kiss me.
Soft at first. Just a brush of lips. Barely there.
But I shattered.
I grabbed his shoulders, pulling him closer, needing something to hold onto—because everything else was slipping out from under me. His lips claimed mine, possessive and warm, a quiet storm I didn’t know I’d been walking into until I was drowning in it.
The kiss deepened. His tongue slid against mine, coaxing, tasting, owning. I moaned against his mouth, and he growled—low and deep from his chest like the wolf inside him had woken.
His hands slid down my back, gripping my hips. Pulling me flush against his hard, solid body. I gasped when I felt him—hot, thick, restrained.
“Kael…” I whispered.
He pulled back just enough to speak, his forehead pressed to mine.
“Tell me to stop.”
I couldn’t.
He kissed me again, slower, but rougher. His hand moved under my shirt, tracing the lines of my waist like he was memorizing me.
And when his lips grazed my throat, right over where a mate mark would go, I arched into him.
But then,
The temple pulsed.
A low hum, like an ancient heart beating beneath the stone.
Kael stiffened.
So did I.
The air changed. The moon above flared brighter. And beneath our feet, a mark appeared, burning white-hot into the stone between us.
A wolf. With eyes of flame. And beneath it, a word neither of us wanted to say out loud:
“Queen.”
I stumbled back. “What is this?”
Kael’s face was pale.
“The bond isn’t just tying us together,” he said. “It’s waking something. Something buried in your bloodline.”
“What kind of something?”
He didn’t answer.
Because he didn’t know.
⸻
We didn’t speak much on the way back.
The forest was quiet. My heart wasn’t.
Back in his room, I stood in front of the mirror, staring at my reflection.
At the faint line glowing at the base of my throat.
A pre-mark.
It wasn’t fully formed. Not yet. But it shimmered faintly, waiting.
Waiting for him.
He entered the room quietly, closing the door behind him.
“You saw it too,” I said.
He nodded. “The temple only reveals prophecy to bloodline heirs.”
“So what does that make me?”
He stepped behind me. Our eyes met in the mirror.
“It makes you the beginning.”
I turned slowly, facing him.
His fingers brushed the glowing mark.
“I want to mark you,” he said, voice low. “But I won’t until you ask me to.”
“Why wait?”
“Because your power is yours first. Your body is yours first. I want you to choose me, not just because the moon tells you to.”
I swallowed hard. “And if I don’t?”
“I’ll burn the world before I ever force you.”
The bond pulsed again.
And for the first time, I didn’t fight it.
I leaned into him. “What if I’m already yours?”
His eyes flared gold.
Then he kissed me again and this time, there was no hesitation.
- Writer
