The Alpha's Death Mark

chapter 4

The temple doors slammed shut behind us like a tomb sealing.

Rain still pounded outside as I leaned against a vine-covered pillar, breathing hard. The old Moon Temple had been abandoned for decades, its stone walls cracked and overgrown with thick green ropes that hung like curtains. Moonlight filtered through holes in the roof, casting silver patches on the dusty floor. Kael barred the entrance with a heavy fallen beam, his movements sharp and angry.

"We buy ourselves an hour at most," he said, voice low and rough. "Those hunters will circle back with reinforcements."

I slid down the wall, wincing as pain flared in my arm where the bullet had grazed me earlier. "An hour feels like forever when I can feel every beat of your heart in my head. This bond is getting worse."

Kael turned and stalked closer, his massive frame casting a long shadow. Water dripped from his hair and bare chest. "You think I like this? Being stuck with you after you sucked power straight out of me? I can still feel the echo of it."

I looked up at him, jaw tight. "And I can feel your guilt mixing with your rage. What is that about? You came to kill me, remember?"

He crouched in front of me, amber eyes intense. "The bond leaked more memories while we ran. I saw your childhood. The way the pack ignored you. The nights you spent alone wondering if you even mattered. Why did you hide all that quiet suffering?"

I swallowed hard. The shared flashes hit me too. "Because it was mine to carry. Not yours. But I saw yours as well. Your father beating you in the training yard when you were just a boy. Telling you pain makes an Alpha. That was brutal."

Kael's face darkened. He reached out and gripped my chin, not gentle but not crushing either. "You saw that? Good. Then you know I was raised to end threats like you. But those other visions. The silver-haired girl dying by my hand since I was a kid. That was always you, Nyra. The prophecy haunted me long before tonight."

I jerked my face away but the bond pulled us closer. My wound reopened suddenly, blood seeping through the makeshift bandage. I hissed in pain. "Damn it. It split again."

Kael cursed and moved without asking. He tore a strip from his own torn pants and pressed it against my arm. His hands were rough, calloused from years of fighting, but the way he held pressure showed reluctant care. Our skin touched and electricity crackled again, stronger than in the clearing.

"Stay still," he muttered. "If you bleed out, I feel it too. This truce is useless if you die on me."

I watched his face as he worked, tension thick between us. "Why does your touch make the mark burn hotter? One second I want to claw your eyes out. The next..."

He tied the bandage tight, his fingers lingering near the Deathmark on my chest. "The next you feel this pull. I know. I feel it too. Resentment turning into something I should not want. Your power calls to me even as it scares the hell out of me."

I grabbed his wrist, stopping him. Our eyes locked. "Then tell me what else you saw in my memories. The ancient hunger. The ravenous thing I kept secret even from myself. Did it disgust you?"

Kael leaned in closer, breath warm against my cheek. The temple felt smaller, the vines pressing in like witnesses. "Disgust? No. It excited me. That Void power inside you matches the darkness they beat into me as a boy. We are both monsters wearing wolf skins."

My heart raced. I could smell the rain and earth on him, mixed with blood. "Do not say that. I am not like you. I never asked for any of this."

"Neither did I," he shot back, voice dropping. "But here we are. Forced together. Sharing pain and now these memories. Tell me about the loneliness again. Why did you never fight back against the pack before?"

I pushed at his chest but did not really want him to move. "Because fighting meant death. I kept my head down. Worked the outer territories. Waited for a mate who would see me. Instead I got you and this cursed mark."

He chuckled darkly, the sound vibrating through the bond. "And I got a woman who drains my strength and makes me want more. This bond is twisting us. Making the hate feel like foreplay."

The words hung heavy. Tension skyrocketed as his hand brushed the Deathmark again. Heat flared, turning the ever-present pain into a dark, unwilling pull that made my stomach tighten. For a moment, the violence in the air shifted. His eyes dropped to my lips. I felt the same raw attraction surging in him through the connection.

"Stop," I whispered, but my fingers curled into his arm. "This is dangerous."

"Everything with us is dangerous," he replied, voice husky. "But I saw your strength in those memories too. The way you survived alone. It matches mine."

We stayed like that, locked in the charged silence, until I pulled back first. "We need to focus