CHAPTER FIVE: THE MARK’S SECRET
866 Words
Kael POV
The night was too quiet. Too damn quiet. I sat in my study, fire burning low, the mansion filled with her scent wildflowers, rain… her. Even when she wasn’t near, I could feel her heartbeat inside me. The bond did that. Every damn breath she took echoed in my chest.
I pressed my hand to my temple. She’ll never understand.
I’d told myself I was doing the right thing keeping her safe. Hiding her from the hunters. From the danger that follows me. But the longer she stayed, the harder it got to keep control. Every time she looked at me with those wide, angry eyes… something in me softened. Then burned.
Clara knocked softly.
“Master Kael, dinner is ready.”
I didn’t look up. “She isn’t in her room, is she?”
Silence. Then her voice, nervous. “No, sir. Her door was open.”
Heart stopped. Clock ticked too loud. I sprang from my chair, scraping it back, every instinct screaming.
“When?”
“Just now, sir. We thought she was with you.”
But she wasn’t. The bond was trembling. Something was wrong. I didn’t wait another second.
Luna POV
I ran like my ass was on fire down the narrow road outside the mansion gates. Moon high, cold air cutting my skin. My feet hurt, but I didn’t stop. Didn’t care where I went.
He can’t own me. He can’t.
I waited till the house went quiet, slipped out the side door I’d seen Clara use. Felt free for a few damn minutes. Then the trees got thicker. Night darker. Road empty.
Footsteps. Behind me.
I spun around. “Who the f**k’s there?!”
No answer. Only wind whispering through leaves.
I bolted. One of them grabbed my arm, yanking me back. Another pinned me. “Stay the f**k away from me!” I screamed, kicking, hitting, cursing every word.
“Quiet,” one hissed. “We’ve been looking for you.”
“What the hell do you mean?”
“She’s marked,” another said. “He’ll come for her.”
Before I could ask who, a howl split the night. Low. Fierce. Right there.
My heart leapt.
Then Kael came.
Lightning. Pure rage. Eyes silver, teeth bared. First guy gone. Others tried, didn’t stand a chance. Animal-like, fast, every move fury. Within seconds… gone.
He turned to me. Chest heaving. Hair damp.
“You hurt?” he asked, rough.
I shook my head, trembling. “How… how did you find me?”
He brushed my cheek. “Didn’t have to find you. The mark told me.”
“What the f**k are you talking about?”
He sighed, eyes softening. “You wouldn’t believe me before. But now… you need to know.”
Moonlight silvered his face. “The night I saved you in the forest… your blood touched mine. Something ancient woke up. My kind alphas carry a curse. When we mark someone, our souls link. Your pain becomes mine. Your heartbeat calls me. That’s how I knew you were in danger.”
I shook my head, voice shaking. “So I’m… stuck with you forever?”
“No,” he said quietly. “My mate.”
The word made me shiver. “Mate?”
“Yes. Bound by blood and fate. I didn’t choose it. Neither did you. Once it happens… there’s no undoing it.”
“No. No way. That can’t be true.”
“I wish it wasn’t. Means if you die… I die too.”
The world tilted. Arms wrapped around myself. “You’re full of shit.”
He stepped forward. “Look at your wrist.”
The mark glowed, pulsing like his heartbeat.
Tears burned my eyes. “What the f**k did you do to me?”
He softened. “Saved you. But tied you to me in the process.”
I stared, trying to think, trying to breathe. “So I can’t leave you?”
“You can try. But the mark always pulls us back. The farther you go, the worse it hurts.”
“That’s not love, Kael. That’s a damn cage.”
“Maybe. But it’s my cage too.”
We stood there. Two people trapped by something neither of us asked for. Wind through the trees, smell of rain.
“You can hate me,” he said quietly. “Doesn’t matter. I’ll protect you. Even from the world you think you want back.”
I cried. “I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
He stepped close. Warmth brushing me. “Believe this. As long as you wear that mark, no one will ever hurt you again.”
He lifted my hand. Thumb tracing the glow. For a moment, the light dimmed, pain eased.
I looked up, scared, confused… and something else I didn’t want to name.
“Why me?” I whispered.
“The curse chose you that night. I’ve been fighting it ever since.”
I looked down at my wrist. “What happens now?
”
He exhaled. “Now he said with anger blaring from his eyes… you learn what it truly means to be bound to an alpha.”
- Writer
