Chapter 3 : Moon Marked

RAVEN

Dominic walked me away from the car, away from Mom's crying, into the tree line where darkness swallowed us whole. Every instinct screamed at me to run, but my feet followed him like they knew something my brain refused to accept.

He stopped in a clearing where moonlight broke through the canopy, turning everything silver. When he faced me, his eyes reflected that light like an animal's.

"You're going to think I'm insane," he said quietly. "But I need you to listen until I'm finished."

"My mom just told me she's marrying a stranger, and now that stranger has dragged me into the woods." My voice shook despite my attempt at bravado. "I already think you're insane."

His mouth curved into something that wasn't quite a smile. "Fair enough." He took a breath, and I watched his chest expand beneath the leather. "Werewolves are real, Raven. The Iron Howlers aren't just an MC, we're a pack. I'm the Alpha."

I stared at him. Waited for the punchline. It didn't come.

"You're serious." Laughter bubbled up, hysterical and sharp. "You actually expect me to believe…."

He moved faster than should have been possible, suddenly inches away, and I felt the heat rolling off him in waves. "I expect you to believe the evidence in front of you." His voice dropped to a growl that vibrated through my bones. "Tell me you haven't felt different lately. Restless. Like your skin doesn't fit right. Tell me you don't dream of running on four legs."

My blood turned cold. "How did you…."

"Because you're one of us." His hand came up, hovering near my face but not touching. "Your father was a wolf. Your mother is human, but you... you inherited his nature. And in three days, when the blood moon rises, you're going to shift whether you're ready or not."

"This is insane." I stepped back, hitting a tree. "Werewolves aren't real. This is some kind of joke, or Mom finally picked a crazy one, or….."

"Look at me, Raven." Command threaded through his words, and against my will, my eyes locked with his. "Really look."

His eyes began to glow, that golden color intensifying until it was inhuman, impossible. Then his teeth lengthened, canines extending into fangs that should have belonged to a wolf, not a man. Claws pushed through his fingernails, and when he opened his mouth to speak again, his voice came out layered with something animal.

"Still think I'm crazy?"

I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think. The world I knew shattered like glass, and I was falling through the pieces into something dark and dangerous and utterly terrifying.

"No." The word came out broken. "No, this isn't real. This can't be"

"It's real." He shifted back to human in seconds, but I'd seen it. Couldn't unsee it. "And you need to accept it fast, because when you shift, you'll need control. Without it, without training, you could hurt someone. Yourself. Your mother."

Mom. "She knows." It wasn't a question. "That's why she's marrying you. That's what she meant about protecting me."

Something dark crossed his face. "Your mother made a deal with me months ago. I protect you through your first shift, teach you control, and she..." He trailed off, jaw tightening. "She stays close. Becomes part of the pack."

"By marrying you." Nausea rolled through me. "She's prostituting herself to keep me safe from something she never told me existed."

"It's not like that." But he didn't deny it, and that told me everything.

I slid down the tree trunk, my legs giving out. This was too much. All of it was too much. "I want to go home."

"You don't have a home anymore." He crouched in front of me, and even now, even knowing what he was, that pull between us hummed like a live wire. "After the wedding, you'll live at the compound. With the pack. With me."

"No." I shook my head. "I'll stay with a friend, or….."

"You'll stay where I can protect you." Steel entered his voice. "Where I can train you. Where I can make sure you don't expose us all when you lose control."

"You can't just decide"

"I'm the Alpha." He leaned closer, and I smelled pine and leather and something wild that made my head spin. "When it comes to the pack, I decide everything and you, Raven Carter, are pack now whether you accept it or not."

Anger sparked through the fear. "I didn't ask for this."

"None of us did." Something like sympathy flickered in his eyes. "But we play the hand we're dealt. You'll learn to shift, learn to control it, and you'll survive this. I'll make sure of it."

"Why?" I met his eyes despite the way it made my pulse race. "Why do you care what happens to me?"

His jaw clenched, and for a long moment he just stared at me like he was fighting some internal battle. "Because I made a promise to your mother. And because..." He stood abruptly, putting distance between us. "Because you're part of our pack. That's all you need to know."

But that wasn't all. I saw it in the way he looked at me, like I was something precious and dangerous, something he wanted and feared in equal measure. The same electricity that sparked when we touched hummed in the space between us now, and I didn't understand it but I felt it.

Felt him.

"Come on." He offered his hand. "I'll take you home. Your mother's probably worried sick."

I stared at that scarred, strong hand, knowing that taking it meant accepting this new reality. Meant stepping into a world of monsters and moons and a future I'd never imagined.

Behind us, something howled in the distance. Long and lonely and wild.

Dominic's eyes flashed gold. "The pack knows about you now. That howl was a challenge, other wolves scenting new blood, wanting to test you." He stepped closer, suddenly protective, and that possessive edge I'd sensed earlier sharpened into something fierce. "You're under my protection. Mine to train, mine to guard."

"I'm not anyone's." But my voice wavered.

"You are." He said it with absolute certainty. "And in three days, when you shift for the first time, you'll understand exactly what that means.”