chapter 1 The Mark
The first time Aria felt the burn, it was in the middle of math class.
She gasped, nearly knocking her textbook off the desk. A searing pain shot across her left shoulder like fire under her skin. Her fingers flew to the spot, wincing as she pressed against it beneath her uniform shirt.
No one else seemed to notice. The teacher droned on about equations, the ceiling fan hummed faintly overhead, and her classmates continued scribbling in their notebooks. But Aria couldn't hear any of it. Her heart pounded. Something was wrong—terribly wrong.
The pain faded after a minute, leaving her disoriented and clammy. She stared at her hand, half-expecting blood, but it was clean. Just a memory of the heat. What the hell was that?
She barely made it through the rest of the day. The mark burned again during gym class and once more in the shower at night, until she finally snapped.
Pulling off her T-shirt, she turned toward the mirror in her tiny bedroom, her eyes wide.
There it was.
A strange, glowing mark curled on her shoulder like a silver flame. Elegant. Ancient. Almost… alive. It pulsed faintly under her skin, flickering with an eerie shimmer in the dim light.
Aria's breath caught. This wasn't normal. This wasn't human.
And deep in her chest, something stirred—a wild, unspoken pull like the whisper of a voice she couldn't understand.
By morning, the dreams had begun.
She ran through dark forests under a silver moon, her bare feet thudding against the earth. Trees blurred past her. Wind tangled in her hair. And behind her… glowing eyes. Golden. Fierce. Watching her. Following her.
She always woke up just before they caught her.
At school, Aria became a ghost. She moved through her classes distracted, her attention distant. Her best friend Lily noticed right away.
"You okay?" Lily asked one afternoon, her green eyes narrowed. "You look like you saw a ghost—or worse."
Aria hesitated. "Have you ever felt like… like something is coming for you, but you don't know what it is?"
Lily laughed nervously. "That's… oddly specific. You're not watching creepy TikToks again, are you?"
Aria didn't answer.
Because it wasn't just a feeling anymore. The pain was coming more often, the mark glowing brighter, and the dreams more vivid. And she was starting to recognize the forest. It was the woods just outside Blackridge, the abandoned stretch near the old town border—where people whispered not to go after dark.
Where people said wolves lived.
On Friday night, she gave in to the pull.
She didn't mean to. One minute, she was tossing in bed, restless and anxious. The next, she was on her bike, pedaling fast and breathless under the moonlight, her jacket flapping behind her. She didn't stop until she reached the edge of the woods.
The wind stopped.
The forest loomed ahead, dark and ancient, as if it had been waiting for her. Aria gripped her handlebars. Every cell in her body screamed to turn back, but her feet were already moving, stepping over the tree line like she'd done it before in another life.
The further she walked, the stronger the pull became.
It wasn't long before she heard it—a growl. Low. Deep. Not human.
Her body froze.
Then came the voice.
"You shouldn't be here."
It was behind her. Smooth and cold, with a sharp edge of command.
Aria turned slowly—and saw him.
He stood under the moonlight like a living shadow, tall and broad, with jet-black hair falling across his brow. His golden eyes glowed faintly in the dark, intense and unreadable. There was something feral about him. Not just dangerous. Predatory.
He was beautiful in a way that made her heart stutter.
"I—I was just walking," she lied, stumbling back.
He stepped forward once. "You were called."
Her eyes widened. "What?"
"That mark." He nodded toward her shoulder. "It belongs to me."
Aria's breath caught in her throat. "Who… who are you?"
His lips curved faintly—not a smile. Something darker.
"Kael," he said. "Alpha of Blackthorn."
The next few minutes were a blur.
Kael stared at her like he was trying to read her soul. Every time she tried to speak, the words died in her throat. Her instincts told her to run—but her body refused to obey. The air around him shimmered with energy, thick and electric. She could feel it crawling over her skin.
"You're not like the others," he murmured. "You're… unmarked. Until now."
She backed away. "What do you mean? I don't even know you."
Kael's jaw clenched. "You will. The bond has chosen. Whether you understand it or not."
"I didn't ask for this!" she snapped, finding her voice at last. "I'm not your mate. I'm not part of this… this pack!"
Kael didn't flinch. "And yet, the mark found you. Fate doesn't ask permission, little flame."
Her heart raced. "I'm going home."
But when she turned to leave, the trees shifted—and she was suddenly surrounded. Shapes moved in the shadows. Large. Fast. Eyes glinting. Wolves.
Kael raised one hand, and they stopped instantly, circling but not attacking. Watching.
"You're not safe anymore," he said, voice low. "Not out there. Not with that mark."
She turned to him slowly. "Then what do you want from me?"
He looked at her with something unreadable—longing, perhaps, or warning.
"Everything," he said simply. "Or nothing at all."
Aria didn't remember how she got home.
She woke up the next morning in her bed, unsure if it had all been real—until she looked at her shoulder.
The mark was still there.
Brighter than ever.
Alive.