The scratching stopped just before dawn. Eden hadn't slept. She sat huddled on the worn armchair in Kade's shadowed living room, the cross Mara gave her clutched in one hand, her eyes fixed on the door like it might unhinge itself again. Outside, the mist didn't lift, it only thickened, curling against the windows like breath on glass. Silverthorn didn't seem to wake like normal towns. There were no birds. No cars. Just the low, steady hum of something ancient waiting beneath the trees. Kade had disappeared sometime during the night, after closing her aunt's book and muttering something about "binding salt" and "circle wards." Eden hadn't dared follow him. Now, he returned wet, bare-chested and blood on his collarbone. "Not mine," he said before she could ask. He tossed a cracked jar of white powder onto the table and began circling the room, pouring the contents around the perimeter. "It was testing the wards. They're not supposed to this early." This early for what? Eden asked. Kade didn't answer. Instead, he knelt before the fireplace, tossing dried herbs onto smoldering coals. They ignited in bursts of green and violet, and the scents were sharp and wild filling her lungs like needles. "You need to see it," he said. "What you've been marked with." Eden blinked. "I don't have any marks." "Yes, you do." He reached into the firelight, grabbed a silver bowl, and set it on the table between them. Inside, the surface shimmered like mercury. Put your hand in it. She hesitated. Nothing will hurt you, he added. Not in here. Eden took a breath and plunged her fingers into the liquid. Cold pierced her skin instantly, but it wasn't wet, it was like dipping into moonlight. Then the pain hit, very sharp, burning and alive. She screamed but Kade caught her wrist, holding her in place. Look, he said. The liquid reflected her arm like a mirror except it wasn't her plain skin staring back. Her wrist glowed with a curling and intricate sigil. Three clawed crescents encircling a flame. It's a blood-mark, he said and not just any. That's the Thorne sigil. "Your family," she whispered. "My curse," he corrected. "And now, yours." Eden pulled her hand back, gasping as the mark faded from view. I don't understand. I didn't ask for this. I didn't do anything. "You came back, he said." I didn't even know this place existed!. Kade's expression didn't soften. If anything, it grew harder. "Silverthorn remembers you, even if you forgot it. You were born here, Eden. Your aunt raised you here until the Thorne Hunt."
"The what? His jaw tightened. "When the moon turned red and the cursed ran wild. When your aunt fled. And when my father tried to end everything by sacrificing the last pureblood girl." Eden's blood turned to ice. "You mean... me? Kade nodded. My aunt took you before they could finish it. Bound your memories. Hid you in the human world. But the curse doesn't forget. And now that you've come back. "I'm a target", she interrupted. "You're the target. Eden stood too fast, dizziness crashing over her. "Why me? I'm not special. I don't have powers or some destined legacy. I was just trying to get away. My life was already" Her voice cracked. "I didn't ask for this." Kade didn't say anything. He let her cry, just a few tears, bitter and hot, before she wiped them away with shaking fingers. I don't even know who to trust, she said. "Then trust no one," he replied. "Not until the full moon. That's when the veil thins and truths bleed out whether we want them to or not." A long silence followed. Then he added, more quietly, "But if you must trust someone... trust the pain. It doesn't lie."
The next day passed in a haze. Eden refused to stay locked in the cabin like prey. So Kade reluctantly escorted her back into Silverthorn, shadowing her like a wolf that couldn't decide whether to protect her or keep her from running too far. The town was half-alive. Shops stood open, but no one entered. People glanced at Eden with eyes too dark and too quiet. Whispers followed her like smoke. She paused in front of an old church. Its doors were chained shut. The stained-glass windows were cracked. A symbol-her symbol-had been scratched into the stone in what looked like dried blood. "What is this place?" she asked. Kade didn't look at it. "The Chapel of the Howl. It hasn't been safe since the last culling. "Culling? she asked" He kept walking. At the general store, Mara was gone. A different woman stood behind the counter, her skin ashen, her hair thin and brittle. She didn't speak as Eden bought bandages and aspirin. Just stared. Only as they left did she whisper, "He's watching." Kade stopped. His voice went cold. "Who?" The woman didn't answer. But Eden saw the fear in her eyes.
That night, Eden dreamed. She stood in the forest again but it wasn't empty. Fires burned in iron bowls, arranged in a circle. A girl stood in the center, looking pale, shaking, bound in vines. Around her were dozens of wolves. Eyes glowing silver. They didn't snarl. They didn't move. They waited. A voice rose from the dark:
"By fang and flame, let blood remember. Let the marked be chosen."
Then one of the wolves stepped forward. Taller than the rest. Its fur black as shadow. Its eyes burning gold. It was Kade. He approached her and bowed his head. Then, he bit her. Eden woke screaming. Kade was already at her side, gripping her shoulders. "It's the mark," he said. "It's waking you." "I saw them, she screamed, the wolves. You. You bit me" His jaw clenched. "It's part of the binding. It means the blood bond is close to surfacing. If it completes, there's no going back." "Back from what? Being human." Eden shoved away from him. "You think I want any part of this? You think I want to become something like you?" Kade stood, emotion shuttering his face. "You don't have a choice anymore. None of us do. The mark chose you. The curse chose you. The town remembers and when the full moon rises, so will everything that's been waiting beneath its light."
A low howl echoed through the hills and this time, Eden didn't flinch. She looked toward the window, toward the woods. Toward her fear and whispered, "Then I want to remember, too."