Secrets Beneath The Skin
1096 Words
The grand council hall of the Silverfang Palace echoed with unrest.
Evelyn stood at the foot of the throne dais, her body wrapped in ceremonial silks of silver and cobalt, the traditional colors of a betrothed Luna. But there was no joy in her stance—only tension. Her hands were clenched at her sides, and her throat throbbed where the bite had begun to itch beneath her collar.
“Explain your disappearance,” growled Alpha Aldric Nightshade, her father and ruler of the Silverfang Pack. He stood tall beside the throne, silver-streaked hair pulled back in a warrior’s braid, his eyes sharp as winter steel.
Evelyn lifted her chin. “I went for air. I felt suffocated.”
“Air?” his voice hardened. “You missed a council banquet. You disrespected your future mate. And you returned half-conscious, marked by gods-know-what. You call that ‘air’?”
She bit back her response. Not here. Not now.
Kael of Ironclaw stood across the hall, arms crossed, jaw clenched. His golden eyes narrowed with suspicion as they slid from Evelyn’s pale face to the bruised skin at her throat.
“Did someone attack you?” Kael asked finally, his voice carefully neutral.
She hesitated.
“She was bitten,” Mira blurted, stepping forward. “I saw the wound myself. Not by wolf.”
Gasps echoed around the chamber.
Aldric’s eyes narrowed. “By whom?”
Evelyn hesitated. “A vampire.”
Silence.
Then chaos.
Voices exploded in outrage. Council members stood, fists slamming on stone tables. The word “war” was uttered more than once.
Aldric’s voice cut through the noise. “Enough!”
The room stilled.
“Are you certain, Evelyn?” he asked, quieter now, but deadly serious.
She nodded. “He said his name was Lucien. He claimed he didn’t intend to bite me.”
Mira flinched behind her.
Aldric went pale. “Lucien?”
“You know him,” Evelyn said, catching it.
Aldric didn’t answer. Instead, he turned to one of the guards. “Summon the Blood Historians. I want everything we have on that name. Now.”
As the guard rushed out, Evelyn stepped forward. “Why do you know him, Father?”
Aldric finally looked at her—really looked at her—and his eyes softened, just for a moment.
“Because I saw him once. Forty years ago, during the Red Solstice War. He was the Vampire King who refused to kill. He vanished after the treaty was signed. No one’s seen him since.”
“He bit me,” Evelyn said quietly, “but he didn’t kill me either.”
Kael scoffed. “And that’s supposed to comfort us?”
Evelyn turned on him. “He could have drained me. He didn’t. He said something… strange.”
“What did he say?” Aldric pressed.
“He said my blood wasn’t just werewolf. That there’s something else in me.”
Kael snorted. “He was probably trying to manipulate you.”
Evelyn’s eyes flashed. “Then how do you explain this?”
She pulled aside her collar, revealing the faint silver glow pulsing from the veins near her neck. Gasps filled the room again.
Aldric’s face turned to stone. “That shouldn’t be possible.”
“But it is,” she said. “And I need to know why.”
A heavy silence fell.
Kael stepped forward, his voice low. “We were supposed to be mated tomorrow. Now… you’re carrying a vampire’s mark. That changes everything.”
Evelyn looked at him with a steady gaze. “If you can’t handle that, Alpha Kael, perhaps you should withdraw your proposal.”
Gasps again.
But Kael said nothing. He only turned on his heel and left the chamber, his guards trailing behind him.
Aldric looked torn between fury and pride.
“Dismissed,” he barked to the rest of the council. “We’ll reconvene at moonrise.”
---
Later that night, Evelyn sat in the palace library, the flicker of candlelight dancing across old tomes and scrolls. Mira sat nearby, silent, watching her with concern.
“I’m not going to sit back and let people decide who I am,” Evelyn murmured, flipping through a worn book on bloodline anomalies. “If there’s something buried in me… I want the truth.”
“What if it’s something dangerous?” Mira asked. “What if Lucien wasn’t lying?”
Evelyn didn’t look up. “Then I’d rather face it than live a lie.”
A breeze swept through the chamber.
She stilled.
Then she felt it—that same cold hum in the air. Familiar. Unmistakable.
“I know you’re here,” she said aloud.
Lucien stepped from the shadows between shelves, his cloak trailing behind him like smoke. His violet eyes glittered in the candlelight.
“You’re glowing brighter,” he said softly.
“I should scream,” she said, but made no move.
“You won’t.”
Silence.
Lucien took a step closer. “They’ll come after me.”
“Then why did you come?”
“Because you’re changing. And no one here will tell you the truth.”
Evelyn stood slowly, heart pounding. “Then tell me.”
Lucien hesitated. “Long ago, before the Great Culling, some wolves mated with Ancients—beings of raw elemental magic. It was outlawed. Their descendants were hunted, erased from history.”
“And you think I’m one of them?”
He nodded. “Your blood confirmed it. You're the last of a hidden line.”
Evelyn’s breath caught.
“Then why mark me?” she whispered.
“Because I couldn't stop myself. Your blood sang to mine. It’s more than hunger… it’s a bond.”
She blinked. “You mean a blood bond?”
“Yes. And it goes both ways.”
Her knees weakened slightly. “What does that mean for me?”
Lucien’s expression darkened. “It means you’re bound to me… and I to you. If I die, the bond might break. Or… it might destroy you.”
A beat of silence passed.
“Convenient,” she said bitterly. “Now I can’t kill you even if I want to.”
He chuckled—soft and sad. “You will. Eventually.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Don’t underestimate me.”
“I never have.”
Then he vanished, like fog melting under sunlight.
Evelyn stood alone again—heart racing, blood burning, mind full of questions.
She touched her neck, feeling the heat beneath her skin.
There was no going back now.
- Writer
