CHAPTER 2
952 Words
SELENE
I wake up with my skin covered by rough sheets and a warm weight pressed against my back.
I smell alcohol on my body—and something else.
My head aches badly, and I struggle to open my eyes.
I frown as I look around and don’t recognize where I am.
It looks like a cabin, but where?
I sit up, and then my eyes go wide when I see the naked man lying on the bed.
I blink, and then I recognize him from the tavern last night.
God.
The memories start to come back.
“Marry me.”
No. No.
I sit up abruptly, pulling the sheet against my body.
The room spins for a second. My heart races. “What did I do?”
I get up, staggering, and walk to the small bathroom next door. The sink is made of raw stone, and the stained mirror shows a version of me I don’t recognize—eyes red from crying, messy hair, lips bruised from kisses.
But it’s what I see on my shoulder that makes me freeze.
A bite. Deep.
Right above the collarbone. The edges are marked with a dark hue, as if his wolf had left its essence there.
It’s not just a bite.
It’s a mating mark.
“No…” I whisper, bringing my trembling hand to the spot. “It can’t be…”
The door behind me opens and I nearly scream.
“You should be celebrating,” Kael says, his voice hoarse, and I turn slowly, my heart pounding.
He’s naked. Completely. He walks into the bathroom like it’s his. And maybe, now, it is.
“What are you…” my voice fails, and my eyes drop on their own.
On Kael’s back is a large tattoo of a moon that stretches to his chest.
He stares at me, the corner of his mouth lifting in a mocking smile.
“Oh. Are you starting to remember everything we did last night?”
“I don’t remember anything!” I say, covering my body with the sheet as I try not to look where I shouldn’t.
“Alcohol? Or just the effect of our intense night?” he asks, laughing quietly, stepping into the shower like he didn’t just throw me into an abyss.
Water runs down his body, and I turn my face away, my cheeks burning with shame.
But my eyes accidentally fall on the mark on his shoulder—just like mine. Only it was made by me.
“You’re marked too…”
“Of course I am. It was mutual. You thought it was just some symbolic little ritual?”
“This was a mistake,” I whisper, trying to find my clothes scattered on the floor.
“It was the best mistake of your life,” he replies.
I get dressed in a rush, my fingers trembling as I put on the wet dress from the night before.
As I’m about to leave the cabin, Kael steps out too, still wet, and pulls me by the waist.
“You’re marked, Selene. There’s no turning back. You’re mine now.”
“I was drunk.”
“You were betrayed. Are you regretting it now?”
“I don’t even know you!” I scream, trying to push him away.
He pins me against the wall firmly but without hurting me. His eyes burn into mine.
“You want to really know me? Fine. Get dressed and come with me.”
He puts on simple clothes before leaving the cabin, and I follow him in silence, not knowing what to expect.
When we reach the clearing, I stop.
Ruins.
I know this place.
I’ve heard the stories since I was a child—an ancient territory of a pack that was wiped out long ago.
The marks of the m******e never faded. The place is dead… but also alive.
“This is the old Blackwood territory,” Kael says, turning to me.
My blood runs cold.
“Why are we here?”
“Well, you wanted to know who I really am.”
My eyes widen. I look at the necklace around his neck, and then everything starts to make sense in my head.
“You’re… a Blackwood?” I whisper.
He doesn’t deny it. He just watches the ruins like they’re truly his home.
“I’m the last one. The exiled heir. The werewolf everyone thought was dead.”
The Blackwood’s were accused of witchcraft, of murders, of forbidden rituals.
The Alpha Council massacred them… led by the Silverclaw family.
My ex-fiancé’s family.
“This is impossible.”
“It’s not. I have just as many reasons to destroy that pack as you do.”
“You… you’re getting revenge?” I ask, stepping back.
“Not yet,” he says, coming closer.
“But now I have a mate with their blood. I have you. You think this bond was just a moment of impulse?”
My throat goes dry.
“You used me.”
“You used me too. You wanted revenge, didn’t you? I just made your vengeance more effective.”
He’s calm. But his eyes glow with something fierce. Wild. He’s not just a lone wolf.
He’s the Supreme Alpha.
A kind of legend.
“Now we’re bound, Selene. And if you want to survive this game, you’ll have to accept what you’ve become.”
“What have I become?”
“My wife. The Blackwood Luna.”
My body trembles. Part of me wants to run. But another… wants to stay.
“There’s no more perfect revenge than marrying your ex’s greatest enemy, Selene.”
And his revenge story… now belongs to me too.
- Writer
