4. The Mark Beneath the Skin

Rhea 

I didn’t remember agreeing to follow him. But I did. Maybe it was the way he said my name, or the weight of the forest behind me, like it had swallowed something and wanted more. Either way, I was trailing after Kael Draven, the silver-eyed stranger who had just turned from a wolf into a man before my eyes.

We didn’t speak as we moved through the trees. The silence pressed in like fog, and my breath kept catching, like I hadn’t stopped running after all. Eventually, we reached a clearing.

There, hidden beneath the tangled arms of ancient pines, stood a stone cabin. It looked like it had been carved out of the forest itself—old, dark, and alive somehow. Like the forest didn’t want to let it go.

Kael pushed open the heavy wooden door without a word. I hesitated for half a heartbeat before stepping inside. “Are you going to kill me?” I saw an unexpected frown appear on his face, “What? No!” there was a brief moment of silence, his eyes somehow had this sincerity in them and it gave me the impression that he could be trusted. However, I could be wrong. 

Warmth hit me first—a low fire in a stone hearth, the scent of smoke and herbs thick in the air. Then came the rest. Books. Shelves of them, some ancient and bound in leather. Symbols etched into the spines. Potions. Maps. Weapons.

It wasn’t a home. It was a fortress.

Kael didn’t look at me. Just tossed a bloodied cloth aside and pulled on a black shirt from a chest near the fireplace. I stood in the middle of the room, my hands shaking.

“I saw you shift,” I finally said. “That wasn’t a trick. It wasn’t human.”

“No,” he said simply. I waited for more until I could no longer wait. He wasn’t speaking further. “You saved me. Back there.” Kael nodded once. “I saw the other one. The wolf that tried to kill me.” His jaw tensed. “Rogue.” I frowned. “What does that mean?”

He paused, then gave a clipped answer. “Wolves that have broken the old laws. They’re dangerous. Unpredictable.” with a mocking tone, I stammered, “And you? You follow the laws?”

Kael met my eyes then, something unreadable flickering there. “I protect what matters.” The way he said it made me colder than the wind outside. I rubbed my shoulder absently. Something burned beneath the fabric of my shirt—sharp and strange.

“Where’s your phone?” I asked. “I need to call someone.”

“You don’t.” I stared at him. “Excuse me?” his eyes met mine as he began, “No one will understand. Not about the rogue. Not about Elara.” The sound of her name stopped me cold.

“What do you know about my sister?” I was getting frustrated now. The whole town knew about her and no one was telling me the exact reason to know her. Was my sister a famous one?  Kael looked toward the fire, not me.

“She came here. She asked questions. Got too close to things buried for a reason.” my breath hitched as I realised that I was doing the same. I was asking too much questions. But I had a reason - a valid one. My sister was murdered here, in this very town and I had every right to know about the murderer. 

“You knew her?” I asked, hoping that this man wouldn’t lie to me. “I tried to warn her.” things got more confusing as I thought about it. Warn about what, exactly? 

“And now you’re what—doing the same to me?” I exclaimed out of frustration. “No.” His voice dropped lower. “You’re not her, Rhea.” I frowned. That hit me like an insult. Was Elara involved with this man - wolf? 

“Then why do I feel like everything that killed her is coming for me, too?” Kael didn’t respond. But he reached into a drawer and pulled out a folded cloth. Tossed it to me. I caught it and unfolded it slowly. It was a mirror.

No—a polished shard of something silvery. And in the reflection, just beneath the edge of my collarbone, I saw it. A mark. Faint, but burned red into my skin. A circle. Spiraled, clawed at the edges. The same one from the oak tree.

The same one Elara had drawn in her journal. I dropped the mirror like it bit me. “What is that?” I furrowed my eyebrows in frustration. Kael’s voice was quiet now. “The beginning.” Then my expressions went cold. I felt the color was slowly draining off my face, my lips turning purple. I wanted to scream. I wanted to run away. Was I getting into trouble? Am I going to end up like my sister? 

Kael didn’t speak, and I didn’t ask again. The room spun, heavy with silence and too many unspoken things. My fingers trembled at my sides, aching to peel off this cursed skin and find myself beneath it again. My heart beat was so loud that the sounds around me started to spun around me. 

Suddenly, the cabin door creaked open. I flinched with a gasp. My head snapped toward the sound—and there she was.

Violet? My breath hitched.

She stepped in with a calm grace like she belonged here more than I did. When her gaze landed on me, something flickered across her face—concern, recognition, or maybe just curiosity.

“Rhea?” she said, crossing the space in seconds. “Are you okay?” I blinked. “You… what are you doing here?”

“She’s with me,” Kael cut in. His voice was firm but not unkind. “Violet helps monitor rogue activity around the forest.” Violet shot him a sideways look, then turned her attention back to me. “You look pale.”

“I—” I couldn’t finish. My mouth was dry. “She was attacked,” Kael said. “One of the rogues got too close. I stopped him before he could do any real damage.” Violet frowned. “We’re not supposed to let them near the boundary. That was the agreement.” I was just listening to them, wondering what they were talking about. “She wandered past the threshold,” Kael said. “She didn’t know.”

“I wasn’t wandering,” I muttered, stepping back. “I was trying to breathe.” Violet’s expression softened slightly, but there was a sadness behind her eyes. Something she wasn’t saying.

“I should’ve warned you,” she said. “But it’s not just the woods, Rhea. It’s… everything. This place is waking up.” Those words hit me harder than I expected. “Waking up?” Violet nodded slowly. “You’ve felt it. In your skin. Your dreams.”

The burn on my shoulder pulsed again, like it heard her. Kael’s eyes narrowed, watching me closely. I tried to speak but couldn’t. My throat had turned to glass. All I could do was listen—to the fire crackling, to the mark humming beneath my skin, to the way their words curled into something colder than the wind outside.

Then Violet stepped closer, her voice barely above a whisper. “Rhea… have you looked at yourself? Truly? You don’t understand yet, but you will.” The way she said it… I looked between them. “What the hell is happening to me?” Violet hesitated.

Then she said it. “Be afraid. Be very afraid of yourself, Rhea. You have no idea the amount of destruction you alone can bring upon this earth.” Her words struck something raw inside me. I shook my head. That doesn’t make sense. Normally, people are afraid of others. Not themselves. “Should I be scared of myself now?”

Violet didn’t blink. “You should be. Fear isn’t always born from what’s outside.” I backed up. My voice cracked as I demanded, “What do you mean by that? Be clear!” She looked at Kael, then back at me.

“You will know,” she said, voice calm as still water. “Soon you will know everything. The end is near. Very near. And it’s just the beginning.” A chill ran down my spine, deeper than any winter wind. Because in that moment… I believed her.

And I realized something far more terrifying than any monster in the woods. I might be the monster. Their words haunted me, but it was the silence after that, it terrified me most—like the world was holding its breath for something awful to begin.