Chapter 6: The Weight of His Mark

Alara’s POV

For days after that night with Xavier, my entire body felt… different.

Not broken.

Not wounded.

Just — changed.

The mark on my wrist, faint at first, had begun to deepen each day. What started as a thin bite imprint was now darkening into a crescent, the shape clean, sharp, unmistakable. It pulsed beneath my skin sometimes, a low hum echoing through my bones, syncing with my heartbeat. Every time it throbbed, Astrid, my wolf, stirred restlessly.

‘He did something to us,’ she whispered to me on the second day, her voice hoarse and distant.

I didn’t want to think about it. I didn’t want to think about him. I had barely processed the intimacy of that night, the raw intensity of it, before the consequences etched themselves into my skin and blood.

And all the while, Vivian made it her personal mission to ruin me.

She made sure I was stationed closest to her during daily preparations for the upcoming ceremonies, forcing me to serve trays or carry linens whenever she knew Kael would walk through. She wore smugness like perfume. She clutched her stomach dramatically every time she saw me, as if I were a contagion.

Her favorite line?

“Stay away from me. I won’t have you harming the future Alpha heir.”

No one questioned her behavior. She was the new Luna-to-be. The “miracle mate.” The pregnant fated match.

I was the rejected ex-fiancée, the woman Kael cast aside right after finding his fated mate.

I tried to avoid attention, to keep my head low, to not provoke anything Astrid and I couldn’t handle. But recovery was slow. Every time the mark pulsed, a wave of dizziness washed over me. Sometimes I caught flashes — not of memories, but of sensations — like the feel of someone else’s breath brushing my neck, the echo of a growl, the phantom warmth of strong hands on my hips.

Xavier’s presence brushed my senses like a shadow.

He wasn’t here. He hadn’t returned since that eventful night, but I could feel him.

Sometimes the mark tugged, almost like a thread pulling my chest forward. Sometimes I sensed a whisper of his mood — calm, sharp, cold, burning.

The feelings terrified me at times, yet I found them fascinating just the same.

‘You let him in,’ Astrid whispered once to me. ‘And now he knows us, remembers us, finds us… easily.’

I didn’t know whether she meant physically or emotionally. But whatever it was, I was sure it was the start of something more troublesome in my life.

********

On the fourth evening, Emily burst into my room, cheeks flushed, eyes frantic.

“Alara,” she hissed, “Vivian is looking for you.”

I groaned, rubbing my temples. “Of course she is.”

“No, you don’t understand,” Emily leaned closer, lowering her voice. “She’s… she’s angry.”

“She’s always angry,” I muttered.

Emily grabbed my wrist. “This is different.”

I didn’t get the chance to question further. A guard arrived at my door.

“Luna Vivian requests your presence. Immediately.”

Emily shot me a helpless glance, warning me silently.

But I followed the guards.

They brought me to a storage room behind the banquet hall. It was a quiet place normally filled with linens and extra decor. Only tonight, it was empty except for Vivian standing in the center of the room, hands folded across her chest, lips curved in a cold smile.

Her guards flanked the doorway, preventing escape.

I stiffened. “Luna Vivian.”

“Oh, now you remember my title,” she said sweetly. “How cute.”

I remained silent.

“Close the door,” she instructed her guards.

The heavy thud made my breath catch. My wolf stirred anxiously.

Vivian approached me, slow and theatrical, one hand resting on her stomach.

“You’ve been a little too… visible lately,” she said, feigning concern. “Kael may not notice it, but I do.”

I frowned. “Visible?”

“Yes,” she hissed. “Hovering. Lurking. Watching him with those pitiful eyes.”

“I’m not lurking,” I snapped. “I’m working. You gave me those tasks.”

Vivian’s smile sharpened. “So you admit you’ve been watching him.”

I inhaled sharply, forcing myself to remain calm. “What do you want, Vivian?”

Her eyes gleamed with triumph.

“For you to disappear.”

The mark on my wrist pulsed. Hard. Almost in warning.

Vivian stepped closer, lowering her voice to a poisonous whisper. “You think I don’t know what you are? What you did? Kael told me everything. How you tricked him. How you made him mark you.”

My blood chilled. “I didn’t trick anyone.”

“You seduced him,” she spat. “You forced him to claim you because you knew he would choose me.”

“That’s not what happened, and you know it.”

She ignored me, raising her voice dramatically. “You’re a jealous, desperate she-wolf who wants to steal what’s mine. And now? You’re threatening me… and my child!”

“What?” I gasped, horrified. “I would never—”

She suddenly stumbled backward and let out a scream.

The guards rushed inside.

“She tried to push me!” Vivian sobbed, collapsing dramatically against one of them. “She tried to hurt my baby! She wants to kill the future Alpha!”

My jaw dropped open.

“I didn’t touch you!” I cried. “She’s lying!”

But it didn’t matter what I said. Vivian continued, clutching her stomach with practiced terror.

“She lunged at me,” she whimpered. “I barely escaped her. Please… please protect my child.”

My heart thundered, fury and disbelief choking me. “You trapped me here!”

The guards grabbed my arms. I struggled, but my body was still weak.

“Take her to the Alpha,” Vivian commanded, her voice suddenly turning sharp as glass.

I was dragged across the courtyard to Kael’s office under the inquisitive and curious glances of pack members.

Kael stood behind his desk, looking exhausted, irritated, and already convinced.

“What happened?” he demanded.

Vivian rushed in behind us, tears brimming in her eyes. “Kael, she tried to attack me. She grabbed me — she threatened our child.”

“That’s a lie!” I shouted.

Kael lifted a hand, silencing me. That gesture, the same one he used on warriors who disobeyed, hit me harder than any slap.

“Kael,” I whispered, stepping forward. “I didn’t touch her. I would never harm an unborn child—”

“You were found alone with her,” he said sharply. “She is pregnant. You are not stable. The elders warned me.”

Not stable. 

“You believe her over me?” I asked quietly.

Vivian sniffled pathetically behind me. “Kael… she hates me. And she’s strong. I couldn’t do anything to defend myself.”

Kael’s eyes hardened.

That was all he needed: her trembling lip, her hand on her stomach.

Not the truth, not evidence, just her word.

“Alara,” he said in a voice that held power — and distance. “As Alpha, I have to ensure the safety of my Luna and heir.”

My stomach dropped.

“Effective immediately,” Kael continued, “you are stripped of your warrior rank.”

I felt the world tilt.

“You can’t—” 

“You will be reassigned to omega duties,” he cut in coldly. “Until further notice.”

My breath left me in a sharp gasp. “Kael, please—”

“Escort her out,” he ordered the guards without hesitation.

Vivian hid a victorious smile behind her hand.

Kael didn’t meet my eyes as they grabbed me again.

Not once.

Not while they dragged me from the office. Not while his Luna clung to him. Not while my world and the life I’d fought for shattered like brittle glass around me.

Astrid whimpered inside me, weak and pained, the mark on my wrist pulsing with a deep ache that rattled my bones.

As they forced me down the stairs, the crescent burned hotter like someone far away had felt my fear. Like someone was answering it.

The last thing I heard as the door shut behind me was Vivian’s delighted sigh.

“Thank you, Kael. I finally feel safe.”

And with that, everything I had ever known was taken from me.