His Mark, My Curse

Chapter Four

Aria's POV

The elders arrived within the hour.

I heard their voices before I saw them. Deep. Commanding. The kind that had shaped Mooncrest for generations.

Caleb left without saying anything to me. He just stood up, and I felt it immediately. The bond pulling taut the second he moved toward the door.

I didn't follow. I sat on his bed, because where else was I supposed to go and listened.

The voices grew louder.

I couldn't make out the words, but the tone was clear. Angry. Demanding.

An hour passed. Maybe two.

Then footsteps in the hallway.

A woman's voice I didn't recognize cut through the noise.

"Is she still here?"

"Yes," Caleb said. And his voice was different now. Cold. The Alpha voice. Not the one that said "because now I can't."

"Then she needs to leave," the woman said. "Tonight. Before the pack gets wind of what happened."

"The bond is"

"The bond is a complication," the woman interrupted. "One we will handle. But not like this. Not with her."

I stood up.

The voices stopped.

I waited.

Then Caleb appeared in the doorway. Alone.

"Your things are being packed," he said. His face was blank again. That mask.

"What?"

"You're leaving."

I stared at him.

"The elders"

"I don't care what you heard."

"Caleb"

"That's Alpha to you," he said. And it landed like a blade.

I felt something c***k inside my chest. But I kept my voice steady.

"Fine. Alpha. Where am I going?"

"Away from here. There's a place in the human territory. Safe. Far from Mooncrest."

"No."

He looked at me.

"No?" he repeated, like he wasn't used to hearing that word.

"No," I said again. "I'm not running. Not again."

"You don't have a choice."

"I always have a choice. That's the whole point, remember? You stole my choice when you marked me. You don't get to steal it twice."

His jaw clenched.

"This is for your own safety"

"This is for your image," I said. "This is for the pack politics and the chosen Luna and whatever deal you made with the elders. It has nothing to do with keeping me safe."

He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

"You want to know what's happening?" he asked quietly. "You want the truth?"

"Yes."

"The chosen Luna is arriving tomorrow. Official presentation to the pack. The ceremony is in three weeks. If the elders know about you, about the bond, it destabilizes everything."

He ran a hand through his hair.

"I made a political alliance years ago. The chosen Luna's family is one of the strongest in the region. Without that alliance, Mooncrest is vulnerable. The rival packs will move in. People will die."

"So I have to leave."

"You have to disappear. For now. Until I can figure out how to handle this without tearing the pack apart."

I laughed. It came out bitter.

"You know what's funny? For years I told myself that the boy I knew was still in there somewhere. That maybe you just needed time to remember who you were before all of this." I gestured around the room. "But you're not that person anymore. You're just the Alpha. And the Alpha always chooses the pack over everything else."

He moved closer.

"That's not true."

"Isn't it? You rejected me in front of everyone. You brought me to your room where nobody could see. And now you're sending me away to some safe house while you get married to someone else. That's choosing the pack. That's choosing duty."

The bond pulled tight. I felt it like a physical ache in my chest.

He felt it too. I saw his hands clench.

"If you stay," he said, "it gets worse. The chosen Luna will make your life hell. The pack will turn on you. And I won't be able to protect you because I have to maintain the appearance of distance."

"Then let me leave on my own terms. Not because you're ordering me away. Not because the elders are demanding it. Let me choose."

He was quiet for a long moment.

"If you leave," he said slowly, "the bond will cause pain. The farther you go, the worse it gets. Eventually it could kill you."

I hadn't known that.

But I didn't show it.

"Then I guess I'd better stay close to Mooncrest," I said.

He shook his head.

"I can't"

"Can't what? Can't handle having me here? Can't stand being near me? Caleb, you felt that when you touched my wrist. You felt what the bond is doing. You can pretend all you want in front of the pack, but you and I both know the truth."

There was a knock on the door.

Caleb stepped back.

"Enter," he said.

A guard appeared, looking uncomfortable.

"Alpha, the chosen Luna has arrived early. She's asking for you."

I felt the bond shudder.

Caleb's expression didn't change.

"I'll be right there," he said.

The guard left.

I looked at him.

"Go," I said. "Go meet your future Luna."

"Aria"

"I mean it. Go. And don't come back here tonight."

He didn't move.

The bond was pulling between us, tight and painful. I could feel his hesitation. His conflict.

But he left anyway.

I stood alone in his room and waited for the pain to get worse.

It did.

I didn't sleep.

I sat by the window and watched the moon rise over Mooncrest. The packhouse was massive. I could see the gardens where Caleb and I used to sit. The training grounds where he'd taught me to fight. The border of the forest where we'd promised we'd never let anything come between us.

We'd been so stupid. So young. So convinced that our bond meant something.

Around midnight, I heard voices again.

A woman's laugh. Elegant. Practiced.

I didn't move from the window.

But a few minutes later, I heard Caleb's voice, lower, responding to something she'd said.

The bond pulled tighter in my chest.

I pressed my hand against the glass and waited for the sensation to pass.

It didn't.

Around three in the morning, there was a knock on the door.

I didn't answer.

But Caleb came in anyway.

He looked like he'd been running or fighting or both. His shirt was torn at the collar. There was a mark on his neck, not from me.

I didn't need to ask.

"Get out," I said.

"Aria"

"Get out!"

He took a step toward me, and the bond surged. It was like electricity running through my veins. My body moved toward him before I could stop it.

He caught me when I stumbled.

The second he touched me, everything else faded. The chosen Luna. The elders. The politics.

There was just the bond and the pull and the fact that he was holding me like he couldn't let go.

"I can't do this," I whispered.

"I know."

"I can't watch you with her."

"I know."

"Then why are you asking me to stay?"

He didn't answer.

He just held me tighter, and I felt the bond twist and strengthen and bind us closer together.

This was going to destroy us both.

But neither of us was strong enough to walk away.

Not yet.

Not while the bond was still pulling.