THE ALPHA'S BLOOD MARKED MATE

The first time I saw the wolf, I thought I was going to die. I was right. Just not in the way I expected. Rain hammered against the windshield as I drove through Blackwood Forest, my hands tightening around the steering wheel every time lightning split the sky. I shouldn't have been there. Everyone in town knew that. Blackwood Forest had been closed for years. No hiking. No camping. No trespassing. People said monsters lived deep inside it. My grandmother used to tell me never to enter the forest after dark. "Some things don't belong in the light, Aria." I had laughed the first time she said it. I wasn't laughing now. My headlights flickered. "Come on," I whispered. The engine coughed. Once. Twice. Then died, My heart stopped with it. "No." I turned the key. Nothing. I reached for my phone. No signal. Of course. I grabbed my flashlight and stepped outside. The cold hit me immediately. Rain soaked through my jacket in seconds. "Hello?" My voice disappeared into the trees. There was nothing. No birds. No insects. Not even wind. That was what scared me most. The forest was too quiet. That was when I heard it. A low, deep growl. Close. I froze. I slowly turned around. Two golden eyes stared at me from between the trees. My breath caught. The wolf stepped forward. It was enormous. Its fur was blacker than the night itself, matted, scarred, wild. A rogue. Shoulders almost level with my chest. Feral. Uncontrolled. I took one step backward. My back hit my dead car. "No... stay away from me." It growled louder, showing fangs the size of my fingers. It lowered its head, ready to pounce. I screamed and ran. I didn't care about my car anymore. Branches slapped my face. Behind me I heard massive paws hitting the wet ground. Fast. Too fast. "Help!" My foot caught on a root hidden under mud. I fell hard. Pain exploded through my knee as it hit a sharp rock. I cried out, warm blood instantly running down my leg, mixing with rain. My flashlight flew away and shattered. I tried to crawl. The footsteps stopped. I looked over my shoulder. The black wolf stood several feet away, staring at my bleeding knee. His golden eyes had gone completely insane with hunger. A deep, drooling rumble came from his chest. He lowered his head, ready to pounce, and bite me. He was about to kill me. I closed my eyes. "Please... No…..." "Don't. Touch. Her." A deep voice cut through the rain. Not loud. But absolute. The kind of voice that makes your soul obey. The wolf froze. Someone stepped out from behind the trees. A man. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Drenched in black. Rain sliding down his raven-black hair and over a jawline that looked carved from stone. His shirt was soaked, clinging to every hard muscle of his chest and stomach. But his eyes… Light blue. Ice blue. Like frozen ocean under moonlight. Glowing. He looked at the rogue like it was dirt. "Leave my forest." The rogue whimpered — a massive monster whimpering — and hit the ground. The man didn't even spare it another glance. His ice-blue eyes were locked on me. On my bleeding knee. His expression changed. From cold fury to shock. He moved so fast I didn't see it. One second he was by the trees, the next he was crouched in front of me, rain dripping from his hair onto my shaking skin. "You're hurt," he said. His voice was low, rough, like he hadn't spoken in days. "Who are you?" I breathed, trying to scoot back. He stared at my face like he was seeing a ghost. "What's your name?" he asked. "Aria. Aria Vale." His entire body went rigid. His ice-blue eyes widened. "Aria," he whispered, like a prayer and a curse. "Isabella's Aria." My blood ran cold. "How do you know my name? How do you know my mother?" He reached out, his hand hovering over my bleeding knee. "May I?" I nodded, too shocked to speak. His fingers brushed my skin and a jolt shot up my entire leg — not pain. Heat. Sharp, electric, delicious heat that went straight to my core. I gasped loudly, my back arching before I could stop it. He sucked in a breath too, his hand gripping my calf tighter, his ice-blue eyes going dark as they dropped to my lips, then to my neck. "What... what was that?" I whispered, my voice shaking for a different reason now. He didn't let go. His thumb stroked over my wet skin, possessive. "A mating pull," he said hoarsely. "It means your soul recognizes mine, even if you don't." "Mating? What are you talking about? You're insane!" "I'm a werewolf, Aria, and you're my mate." I laughed, a hysterical, terrified sound. "You're crazy. Let go of me!" "The rogue can smell that blood from miles away. If I let go, he will rip you apart. Is that what you want?" His voice was hard again, but his eyes were burning. "You have no idea what you just did, coming here bleeding." "You ordered that wolf around! What are you?" He leaned closer, his face inches from mine. I could see water droplets on his dark lashes, the scar on his bottom lip. "My name is Kane. Alpha of the Silver Moon Pack. This is my territory, and you, Aria Vale, just walked into it bleeding and triggered every unmated male in a ten-mile radius." "Alpha? Like... like a pack leader?" "Yes, and your only chance of surviving tonight," he said. Behind us, the rogue growled again, fighting his Alpha's command, driven mad by my blood. Kane sighed, annoyed. Without looking, he said: "I said kneel." The black rogue slammed back to the mud. I stared, mouth open. Kane's eyes returned to me, and his voice softened again, almost tender, which was more terrifying. "Your mother... Isabella... did she ever tell you what she really was?" "Nn… no, she disappeared twelve years ago. They said she got lost in these woods." "She didn't get lost, Aria." His jaw clenched, pain flashing in those ice-blue eyes. "She was our Seer. The most powerful spiritual protector this pack has ever had. She kept a barrier around our lands for twenty years. Kept the enemy packs out. Kept us safe. Without her, we bled." "My mom... protected werewolves?" "She protected us from the Crimson Claws. The rival pack that wanted our land. They couldn't break her barrier, so they broke her." His voice cracked. "They killed her. I was sixteen. I couldn't save her." Tears filled my eyes. "You're lying." "Am I? Then why do you dream about chanting you don't understand? Why does static happen around you when you're angry? Why does your blood smell like moonflowers to every wolf out here?" I froze. How did he know about my dreams? "That power... it didn't die with her. It passed to you. That's why you feel that pull between us. You're not human, Aria. Not fully." Before I could answer, the forest erupted with howls. One, then five, then a dozen. Golden eyes lighting up the tree line. Kane cursed. "Damn it. The rogues called them. The Crimson Claws." He grabbed my hand to pull me up. The moment our skin touched, pain exploded through my entire body. I screamed. Light burst between our palms. A mark seared itself onto my wrist — a silver crescent moon surrounded by thin, black, thorn-like lines that glowed ice-blue. Kane's face went pale with awe and terror. "No... not now. You're not ready for the bond to manifest." "What did you do to me?!" I cried, staring at the burning mark. "I didn't do anything," he breathed, cupping my face with his free hand, his thumb wiping my tears, his ice-blue eyes locked on my mouth. "You did. You're my fated mate, Aria. My soul has been looking for you since Isabella died. And now that I've found you..." He leaned down, his lips brushing just beside my ear, his voice a dangerous whisper that made my whole body shiver despite the cold. "...I am never letting you go. Do you understand me? Even if I have to burn this whole forest down to keep you." The rogues started circling. The black rogue shifted — bones cracking, fur receding — into a scarred, naked man with golden eyes, smiling at me with fangs. "Well, well. Isabella's little witch finally came home," he sneered. "And unmarked. That means you're still fair game, Ice-Alpha." Kane stepped in front of me, his shoulders tensing, his ice-blue eyes starting to glow so bright they lit up the rain. His body began to shake. "Stay behind me, Aria. And whatever you do, don't run away." "What is he talking about? Unmarked?" "He means," Kane growled, his voice already changing, deepening into something monstrous, "if I don't claim you tonight, they will try to steal your power by force." His shirt ripped as his spine arched. Silver fur sprouted across his skin. He was shifting. Into a giant silver wolf. Right in front of me. The rogue laughed. "She's not just your mate, Kane. She's the Seer's heir. Kill her, and the Silver Moon barrier falls forever. The Crimson Claws will slaughter you all by sunrise." Kane — half-man, half-beast now — turned his massive silver head to look at me, and behind me, in the pouring rain, a cold hand — human, but dead cold — brushed against the back of my neck, and a woman's voice whispered exactly like my mother's used to: "Aria... run.” So I ran. I turned and ran deeper into the forest, limping, my knee screaming, rain blinding me, mud sucking at my shoes. I was drenched, my curly fringe stuck to my forehead, my hotel shirt torn at the shoulder, my thighs burning from running. “Aria! No!” Kane roared. It wasn’t a human roar anymore. It was a wolf’s. I heard chaos behind me — snarls, claws, a massive silver shape launching itself at the black rogue. He was fighting them off. I didn’t stop. I couldn’t. If I stayed, I would see him turn into a monster. If I stayed, I would be marked. And something in my gut told me that mark would change my life forever. The rain was so heavy I couldn’t see. Branches whipped my face. My shoes filled with water. My knee gave out again and I fell, face-first into mud. I sobbed, mud in my mouth, lip split open. “Get up, Aria, get up!” I told myself. I pushed myself up and kept limping. My hazel eyes were full of tears. I was freezing. I ran until I couldn’t hear the fighting anymore. Until I couldn’t hear anything but rain and my own broken breathing. Then my legs finally gave up. I collapsed against a huge oak tree, my back sliding down the bark. My vision blurred. The cold was inside my bones now. The last thing I saw before everything went black was a pair of ice-blue eyes in my mind, and the last thing I felt was that burning silver crescent on my wrist, pulsing like a heartbeat. Then darkness.