The next morning didn't feel real.
It wasn't just the stiffness in my limbs or the ache in my bones — though that was bad enough. It was the way the sun looked brighter, almost too bright, and how I could hear things I shouldn't — the flap of a bird's wings two streets away, the subtle hum of electricity in the walls, the soft heartbeat of my neighbor's dog behind the fence.
I shouldn't have been able to hear that.
But I could. I could hear everything.
My mother hadn't come home. That wasn't unusual. Sometimes she picked up extra shifts and crashed in the breakroom. But after what happened in the woods, her absence carved a hollow space in my chest. I wasn't ready to face the world, let alone explain why I had a half-healed bite mark on my shoulder.
I stood in front of the bathroom mirror, holding up my shirt. The wound should have needed stitches, bandages, something. But instead, it was almost closed — faint silvery lines etching across my skin, forming a crescent-shaped scar that shimmered under the light.
No one would believe the truth.
Hell, I barely believed it myself.
Kael had marked me.
And now, I wasn't just changing — I was unraveling.
I barely remembered walking to school. One moment, I was gripping the bathroom counter, trying not to fall apart. The next, I was sitting in the back of homeroom, my pen gripped too tightly in my fingers, the tick of the clock on the wall loud enough to drive me insane.
People talked around me. Laughed. Whispered. But I didn't hear any of it. Not really. Their voices blurred together, just noise under the heavy fog in my head.
"You okay?" a voice said beside me.
I blinked.
Ava. My best friend since fourth grade. Short, sharp-tongued, and too observant for her own good.
"You look like hell," she said, not unkindly.
I forced a laugh. "Didn't sleep."
She squinted at me. "Since when do you wear hoodies in June?"
I pulled the sleeve down further. "I'm cold."
It wasn't a lie. I was cold — but not from the weather.
It was something under my skin. Like my blood didn't know what temperature it wanted to be. One second I was freezing, the next I was burning. My body couldn't decide what it was anymore.
By lunch, it got worse.
The cafeteria was packed. Loud. The smells — once normal — now assaulted me. Grease. Sweat. Plastic. Every scent was magnified, swirling and crashing into each other. My stomach churned.
I couldn't breathe.
I rushed outside, gasping for air, gripping the edge of the stair rail so hard my knuckles turned white.
"You're pushing too hard," a voice said behind me.
I didn't need to turn around to know who it was.
Kael.
He leaned against the far wall, casual and quiet, like he hadn't just shattered my life the night before. He wore a black T-shirt this time, but it did nothing to hide the strength in his frame or the sharpness in his gaze.
"What are you doing here?" I hissed.
"Watching," he said simply. "You're changing faster than I expected."
"Gee, thanks. Glad you're impressed."
He stepped closer. "You're fighting it. That's why it hurts."
I turned on him. "Of course I'm fighting it! I'm not going to roll over and accept that I'm becoming—what? A monster?"
"You're not a monster," he said firmly. "You're more."
I didn't want to hear it.
I didn't want to see the way his eyes glowed faintly in the sunlight. Or the way my pulse responded to his voice — like my body already belonged to him, even if my mind rebelled.
"I'm not like you," I whispered.
"You weren't," he said. "Now you are. And the more you deny it, the harder this will be."
My head throbbed. My skin itched. My bones ached. The world tilted again, and for a second I thought I might collapse.
Kael caught me before I hit the ground.
His arms were solid. Warm. His scent — wild and woodsy — calmed something primal inside me. He didn't say anything. He just held me.
And for one terrifying moment… I didn't want him to let go.
"I hate you," I said, my voice muffled against his chest.
"I know," he replied softly. "You're allowed to."
I pulled back, wiping my eyes before tears could fall. "So what now?"
"You need to leave," he said. "Tonight."
"What?"
"You can't stay here. The change will get worse before it gets better. If you stay, people will notice. And when they do, you won't be able to explain."
I stared at him. "You want me to run away?"
"I want you to survive."
There was something raw in his voice. Something heavy with meaning.
"You'll come with me?" I asked.
His jaw clenched. "I have to. You're marked now. The bond won't let me stay far."
I wanted to scream. To punch him. To rewind time and stay home on my stupid birthday.
Instead, I just nodded.
"Fine. Tonight."
Kael looked at me for a long time, as if he wanted to say more.
But all he said was, "Get ready. You don't have long."
And then he disappeared again — into shadow and silence.
I stood there, shaking, a storm building under my skin.
I was no longer who I had been.
And tonight… I would leave everything behind.