The Vycan's Forbidden Mate

Threat of The Mark

Lyra's pov

I didn't think. I should have, but panic didn't leave room for logic.

I turned around and sprinted straight through the nearest set of double doors. A raw, frantic energy clawed through every ragged breath that I took, draining the very life and stamina from my limbs as I tore through the crowded hallway.

Students dressed in a chaotic array of styles walked to and fro, gossiping and living their lives as if they weren't in immediate danger. As if we weren't all trapped in a building with a monster.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!" someone cursed, dodging out of my trajectory with a burst of speed that looked entirely inhumane.

But I didn't stop running, even when the morning bells began to ring through the PA system, signaling the start of the next period, I kept going.

"There's a monster!" I screamed at the passing faces, racing around a sharp curve that led deeper into the maze of the academy. "There's a.."

My breath caught in my throat, my heart hammering against my ribs so violently that it became physically impossible to draw oxygen. Kael... I had to find Kael.

My vision blurred, and I executed a desperate, sliding turn back toward the courtyard where I had last seen my brother. We had to leave. Right now. I had to get Dad to pack up our things and drive us as far away from Omen's Peak as humanly possible.

Suddenly, a cold, heavy hand clamped securely over my mouth. An earth-shattering scream surged from my throat, but it was instantly smothered into a series of muffled, useless whimpers.

And then his scent..that goddamned, intoxicating scent of rain and crushed pine..enveloped me, filling the entire hallway.

My entire body began to shake uncontrollably as the solid wall of his chest pressed flush against my trembling back, his hot breath sent a violent wave of goosebumps cascading down my neck as he leaned close, his lips brushing the shell of my ear.

"Don't waste that pretty voice of yours so soon, Butterfly," he taunted, his low growl sending a jolt of terrifying electricity down my spine. I let out a sharp, involuntary hiccup. "You'll be screaming soon enough, and I need you to be just as loud when the time comes."

Tears clouded my vision, spilling over my lashes. All around us, students stopped to stare, whispering behind their hands. They watched me as if I were a clown performing a dramatic scene for their entertainment, rather than a literal victim trying to escape a predator. Some of them even had the absolute audacity to look angry at me for causing a scene.

"Let's go."

Before I could tear my mouth away from his palm, Vane’s massive arm wrapped securely around my waist. With terrifying, effortless strength, he hoisted me completely off the linoleum floor and hauled me over his shoulder like a sack of cargo. "You owe me an apology for that slap."

"Stop!" I screamed into his shoulder blades, my fists pounding desperately into the hard muscles of his back as tears streamed down my face. "Where are you taking me? Stop! Why isn't anyone doing anything?!"

Vane’s grip on my waist tightened, his stride remaining calm, he walked as if he had all the f*****g time in the world to execute whatever twisted plan he had in mind.

I watched in paralyzed horror as the students who had just been giving me an audience casually turned around. They resumed their conversations and drifted off toward their classrooms, acting as though my screams were nothing more than a cheap high school show that had finally come to an end.

My breath hitched as Vane kicked open a heavy wooden door at the end of an isolated corridor. He stepped inside, the door slamming shut behind us with an echoing click.

Slowly, almost too carefully..as if he actually cared about not breaking my fragile human bones..Vane lowered me down until my feet touched the floor.

The monster almost could have fooled me with that single touch.

But before he could fully straighten, I pulled back and drove my knee directly toward his crotch with every ounce of momentum I had left. A sharp scream leapt from my throat the exact second his hand shot down, catching my thigh in mid-air with a bruising grip.

"Tsk. Come now, Butterfly," Vane murmured, his gold eyes flashing with dark amusement as he easily pinned my leg down. "Your father should have taught you better manners than that."

"Don't f*****g touch me! Leave me alone!" I thrashed against him, attempting to slide my back up the wall to escape the massive shadow he cast over my body. I pushed against his chest, but he didn't budge an inch. It was like trying to move a mountain.

My voice broke into a cracked, sobbing mess. Tears rolled freely down my cheeks as I stared into his eyes, which had reverted to a deceptively dark shade, but I knew better than to trust the color of his irises now. I knew what I had seen in the hallway. I knew exactly what he was, and the dark truth was sinking in..he was never going to let me go.

"I told you what would happen if I caught you," Vane whispered. Ignoring my frantic protests, he grabbed both of my wrists in a swift motion, locking them together and caging them securely above my head with just one of his massive hands.

My lips trembled as I shook my head, my entire body feeling like it was on fire from his touch. His eyes narrowed, his free hand moving up slowly to trace the line of my jaw. I violently jerked my face away from him in defiance, but that proved to be my first mistake.

The movement forced my chin up, exposing the long, pale line of my neck. I felt a visceral shiver run through my flesh as a wave of intense heat and terrifying desire lit up in his gaze.

"I told you I would mark you," he murmured. His words came slowly, his tone deep and heavily weighted, as if he were entirely intoxicated by my proximity.

"You can't mark a person!" my voice shook, cracking on the words. "I am a human being! You can't just.."

"When I mark you, Lyra, you will be my human being," he countered, emphasizing the word with a possessive, territorial growl that made it clear he viewed me as something to be claimed and owned.

"I am not... I am not an object. You can't do this to me..."

"f**k, Lyra..." His lips parted in a sharp exhale, his elongated fangs glittering brightly under the flickering fluorescent light of the room. "You are intoxicating. So dangerously intoxicating. Do you have any idea how many years I've spent searching for you?"

My heart dropped into my stomach as his gaze drifted downward, tracking all the way to my ankle. The awe on his face vanished in an instant, replaced by a terrifying, dark fury.

"She really tried to keep you hidden from me with that pathetic birthmark, didn't she?" Vane hissed, his jaw clenching tightly as his fingers dug into the wall beside my head. "Smart, f*****g Emory."

My breath stopped entirely. The blood in my veins turned to ice.

Emory. My mother’s name.

How could he possibly know her name?

"You know... you knew my mother?" I could barely recognize the hollow, trembling sound of my own voice.

A dark, dangerous smirk curved the edges of his lips. His eyes snapped back to the pulse point fluttering wildly in my neck. I tried to push him away, frantically trying to wrench my wrists free from his iron hold, but he didn't move. He didn't budge an inch.

"Stop! What are you.."

I screamed as he lurched forward, an aura so heavy and oppressive pulsing from his body that it physically pinned me against the wall. I felt the cold, sharp tips of his fangs break through the surface of my skin, biting directly into the side of my neck.

BOOM.

The loud, splintering crash of the door breaking off its hinges echoed through the small space. Before my brain could even process the sound, Vane was violently ripped off my body. Barely.

Two guys stood in the wreckage of the doorway, their chests heaving as their breaths came in quick, panicked gasps. It looked like they had just used every single ounce of supernatural strength they possessed just to pull Vane away from me.

"What the f**k do you both think you're doing?" Vane growled.

His eyes blasted a terrifying, blinding gold as an oppressive waves of anger radiated from his body, filling every square inch of the small, empty storage room.

My chest rose and fell in a state of panic. My wrists were raw and bright red from where his fingers had caged them, and my entire reality was spiraling out of control.

What had he been about to do to me? How did he know Mom? And what did he mean by searching for me?

I should have run right past them. I should have grabbed Kael and never looked back, but my legs were completely paralyzed. I couldn't move.

The two guys standing between me and Vane were visibly shivering with fear. Looking at them, a terrifying truth crystallized in my mind, if Vane wanted them dead, they would already be corpses and by the look on their pale faces, they knew it too.

"Vane, you have to control your instincts!" the blond-haired guy on the right pleaded, his hands held up in a placating gesture. "She is human! She doesn't have our strength! She can't survive a forced transition!"

"You're going to kill her at this pace!" the second guy added, a visible note of panic cracking his voice.

My legs finally gave out entirely. I slid down the wall until I collapsed onto the floor, my whole body vibrating with a terror that completely took over my nervous system. It felt exactly like that night. The night I could do absolutely nothing but watch as my mother took her last, agonizing breaths in a pool of blood.

"Move. Both of you," Vane warned, his voice dropping into a low tone.

The two guys shook their heads in defiance, though their muscles were trembling. The lightbulb hanging above us began to flicker violently, buzzing as Vane's eyes blazed a brilliant, predatory gold.

"She's my f*****g mate, and that hag hid her from me for years!" Vane roared, his fangs bared as his aura turned deadly. "If you two don't get out of my way right now, I swear to everything I am made of, I will tear you both to pieces."