Marked by the enemy

Chapter Two

Lira’s POV

The moment the tension broke, everything happened at once.

Steel shifted in hands. Voices rose. Someone drew a blade behind me. And instinctively—I moved.

I didn’t think. I never did when it came to survival.

My body twisted as I ducked under a swing, kicked out hard, and disarmed the attacker in one clean motion. His weapon clattered to the ground. But before I could reset—

A force slammed into the space beside me, my spine bowed, arms pinwheeling for balance I didn't have.

Kael.

He had moved again. Too fast. Too precise.

He didn’t attack me. He intercepted the strike meant for me, catching the arm of one of my own warriors and pinning him down without breaking him.

“Stand down,” Kael said sharply. He didn't raise his voice; he dropped it low and low, and it still made me flinch. It cut through the chaos like a blade through cloth.

For a second—a pin drop could be heard.No one moved. Even my own warriors hesitated. That alone should have told me everything I needed to know about him. But I didn’t care.

I stepped back, blade still raised, chest rising too fast.“Don’t give me orders,” I said, shoulder loosed, pulse even. The sentence came out colder than the steel in my hand.

Kael’s eyes flicked to me. Just for a second.Then back to the growing tension around us.

“This isn’t the time,” he said. My shoulders gave me a small jerk as the sound broke out of me- too sharp to be real laughter, too hollow to mean anything. It scraped past my lips and died as soon as it came, leaving the air heavier than before.

“Oh, I think it is exactly the time.” My chest tightened then a steady throb answered leaving it insistent as if an unseen thread had just pulled us together. Impossible to ignore.

I hated it. Hated him more for existing inside it.

“Lira,” one of my warriors called carefully, “step back. We need to regroup.”I didn’t move. Neither did Kael. Because now it wasn’t just us.

It was packs. Weapons drawn on both sides.Waiting. My breath could not find its rhythm.

One wrong word—And blood would spill across this forest floor.

Kael finally spoke again, quieter this time.

“Call them off.” I narrowed my eyes, my gaze sharpened towards him

“You call yours off.” A pause.“I already have.” he said hurriedly

That made me hesitate. I glanced past him. And realized something that tightened my chest.

His warriors were still, not advancing, not provoking, but watching.

But mine…Mine were tense, restless, and ready to fight. That difference shouldn’t have mattered anyway. But it did.

Because something about it felt… wrong.Before I could think further, a sharp voice cut through.

“Enough.”My father said as if he had had enough. He stepped forward through the trees, his presence instantly shifting the atmosphere. He looked at Kael like he was looking at rot. In disgust.

Then at me.“Lira. Stand down.” I found that hard to adhere to but one word and final. I clenched my jaw but lowered my blade slightly. Not because I agreed.Because I had been trained to obey.

Kael didn’t move.

Didn’t bow.Didn’t flinch.

Just watched my father with an expression I couldn’t read.

My father turned slightly toward him.

“This ends here,” he said. “Shadowclaw has no right to cross our borders.”

Kael’s voice remained calm.“I didn’t cross it.”A silence that carried weight followed.

My father’s stare narrowed.

“Then why is my daughter standing here… bound to you?”

The words hit harder than I expected. My grip tightened. Kael didn’t answer immediately and in that pause—

I felt it again. That pull, so strong and clear. Like something inside me reacted every time he was near. My stomach turned.

“No,” I muttered under my breath. My father heard me.

“Lira,” he said carefully now, “step away from him.”

I looked at Kael. He wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at my father. And something in his expression had changed. No sign of anger, no sign of fear but something with immense depth was saved to our memories.

“I won’t fight her,” Kael said suddenly.

The words snapped my attention back bringing my attention to what’s happening.

“What?”

My father scoffed as air hissed through his teeth with a smirk.“You don’t get to decide that.”

Kael finally looked at me, really looked at me- eye to eye ball to ball. And for a split second—

Something almost human flickered in his blue ocean eyes.

“I won’t hurt her,” he corrected.

That made something inside me twist- something not soft nor trustworthy but in a confused state. Because everything I believed about him said he should have already attacked me.

The silence stretched again until my father spoke.

“This situation is unstable,” he said coldly. “We will take her back. This bond will be examined.”

Kael’s jaw tightened slightly. “No one is taking her anywhere.”

The air stilled, no rustle no whisper like even the wind had drawn back and gone still.

My father’s eyes darkened.“You think you can challenge me?”

Kael didn’t utter a word but he stepped slightly forward. Just enough to make it clear.

That was exactly what this was. My heart thudded hard. Too hard because I realized something then. This wasn’t just a standoff anymore. It was a trigger point.

One mistake—And everything would explode. And I didn’t know which side would burn first.

We didn’t fight. Not fully.Not then.

The truce was forced, not agreed upon.

By the time it was over, both sides had withdrawn a distance, tension still thick enough to choke on.

But I didn’t leave, neither did Kael and that was the problem.

I stood near the edge of the clearing, watching his warriors regroup.

Watching him.

He was speaking to one of them, voice low, controlled.

Like nothing had happened.

Like I wasn’t standing ten steps away from him with a bond burning holes through my chest.

I hated how calm and steady he looked while I looked unstable and the problem.

“Still want to kill him?” a voice muttered beside me.

I didn’t look at the warrior who spoke.

“Yes,” I said immediately without wasting time.

He exhaled slowly. “Doesn’t look like he wants the same.”That made my fingers tighten around my blade.

“Good,” I said. “It means he’s stupid.”

But even as I said it—I wasn’t sure I believed it anymore because something kept replaying in my mind. The way he didn't retaliate or harm me.

The way he looked at me like—with his ocean blue eyes and wavy curls which covered his brows.

Like he knew something I didn’t. I turned sharply.

“I want answers,” I muttered.

And I didn’t realize I had said it out loud until I was already walking.

Straight toward him. Brave me I guess.

Kael noticed me coming before I stopped. Of course he did. He always noticed.

“You shouldn’t be alone right now,” he said.

I scoffed and let out a silent smirk.

“You don’t get to tell me what I should or shouldn’t do.”

“I’m not,” he replied. “I’m telling you what keeps you alive.”

That made me pause just barely. Then I hardened again.“I don’t need you for that.”

He studied me for a moment. Not my weapon.Not my stance. The way he looked at me was breathtaking. I could barely catch my breath when he continued.

“Then why are you still here?” he asked.

That question- pierced through my skin and irritated me more than it should have.

“I came for answers,” I said sharply. His left eyelid twitched. There and gone. The corner of his mouth pulled not a smile, not quite a snarl.

“I figured.”I took a step closer inhaling his scent of sandalwood.

“Did you kill my brother?” There it was, the question I had carried for three years. The question that defined everything I was.

Kael didn’t answer immediately and that silence did something to me because monsters like him don't hesitate.

“They told you I did,” he said finally. He didn't give me the answer I needed.

“It is,” he replied. Fingers dug into my palm until half-moon nails pierced my skin.

“Don’t play games with me.” I hammered.

“I’m not.”

Then he said something quieter.

“I didn’t kill Ronan.”

My breath stopped. My ribs hit pause, air stayed where it was- half in half out.

“Liar.”

His expression didn’t change but his eyes hardened slightly.

“I knew him,” he said.

That made me freeze.

“No,” I said immediately. “You don’t get to say that.”

Kael took a slow step forward.

“I do,” he said.

And something about the way he said it—

Made my stomach drop.

Because it didn’t sound like manipulation.

It sounded like the truth.

Before I could respond, a sudden sound cracked through the forest.

A scream followed by chaos. My head snapped toward the direction of the camp.

“What is that?” I demanded.

Kael was already moving.

“Stay behind me,” he said.

“I’m not—” But he was gone before I could finish and instinct damn it made me follow.

The moment we reached the edge of the camp, everything had changed. Warriors down, confusion set in.Blood.

And not enemy scent–Mine. My breath caught.

“What is happening?” I whispered. Then I saw them. My own pack members.

But their eyes—

They were wrong. One of them turned toward me slowly and raised a blade but in no time Keal stepped in instantly too fast and protective.

“Get back,” he ordered sharply. I stared at him and at the situation

At my own people trying to kill me and for the first time—Something cold crept into my chest.

This wasn’t an attack. It was something else something controlled and maybe planned.

And somewhere behind me, Kael’s voice dropped lower.

“This isn’t your pack,” he said quietly. And my heart saddened

“What?”

His eyes narrowed.“They’re being controlled.”

And in that moment—Another warrior lunged.

Straight at me.