Chapter Five

What I Shouldn’t Have Left Behind

Mark's POV

I can't explain why I feel the way I do, I never get to feel this way about anyone. Just can't explain why I feel this way about leaving Rissa.

She was just a stranger as far as I could remember even though it was as far back as last night.

I wasn’t just proud of what I did.

I never meant to leave her like that. That was nothing close to a Lycan King that I am.

But here was me running.

After that night—after tasting the pain behind her kisses, the fire laced with sorrow—I panicked. I saw it all in her eyes. She didn’t want to feel anything… not love, not warmth. Just numbness. And I let her use me to reach it.

She didn’t ask for a forever. Just for one night.

And I gave it to her. I was glad I did, because part of me enjoyed all the moments I had with her.

Then I just left before dawn cracked the sky open, uncertain of what I might become if I stayed. Threatened by what I already was.

The wind was bitter as I walked down the gravel path outside the motel. It reminded me of her shivers beneath my touch, the way her breathing hitched when I held her, like she wanted to believe someone could want her for more than the rejection. And now all I was doing was leaving like a coward.

But halfway down the road, the Knowing gripped me.

Not mine—hers.

Looking at the markings on Rissa, it showed she has the ancient gift which I have heard and read about. Rissa’s gift had always been overwhelming even from the time of old, though she tried to hide it. But the markings never hide themselves… but now something has changed. The air pulsed with it, like the pack bond had been rewired by something older, more ancient than the Moon Goddess herself. For the first time, her kind gets rejected.

I stopped walking. My fingers curled into fists.

She had been rejected. Torn from her fated mate like a useless piece of flesh. It should’ve destroyed her… but it didn’t.

Because it couldn’t.

She was more than that. But it seemed hers was really more than what had been witnessed in time past.

The Knowing isn’t just a curse—it’s a bloodline. One born before the packs, before the Goddess, before wolves even knew how to shift.

Rissa had barely scratched the surface of what she could do. What she is, not even after this deep rejection.

She’d been surviving off fragments—tiny glimpses and emotional flashes. But her power? It wasn’t passive. It was sentient. Ancient. And if she ever learned to control even half of it… the entire supernatural world would have to kneel. She really didn't know who she was. She needed help and only I could help her.

My gut twisted.

I had to go back.

Not because I wanted another night. But because if she slipped too far into pain, if she let the rejection become the only thing that defined her, she might never return. The Knowing could drown her. Or worse—consume everyone around her.

I turned back, walking faster now, the motel coming into view.

I immediately knocked on the door, she was quite reluctant to open it. I waited till she finally did.

I found her where I left her—curled up on the bed, her back to the door, body still and quiet. She looked small in the dim morning light, but the air around her shimmered like heat waves. Her aura wasn’t broken.

It was quite awakening.

I knocked softly once before stepping in. Obviously I didn't get the reaction I should have gotten. She was probably furious.

“I shouldn’t have left,” I said.

No response as she went sitting on the bed.

I came closer, cautiously. “You didn’t deserve that. What happened between us… you were hurting. And I let you think that night meant nothing. I’m sorry.”

Still nothing.

So I told her the truth.

“I know about your gift,” I said. “I know what it is. What it can be.”

That made her shift slightly.

“You’re underutilizing your power and what it holds, Rissa. I guess many things should’ve killed you. But it didn’t because the Knowing won’t let you die. It’s not just a part of you—it chose you.”

She slowly sat up, the blanket falling from her shoulders, her eyes tired but glowing faintly silver.

“I didn’t ask for it,” she whispered. “I never wanted any of this.”

“I know,” I said. “But you’re the only one who can carry it.”

She looked at me then—really looked. And in that moment, I saw it: the war between wanting to believe me… and fearing she might.

“I want to help,” I said quietly. “Not because of what happened between us. Not because I pity you. But because the world is going to come for you soon. And you can’t fight them with broken pieces.”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t even know where to begin.”

“Then let me help you find out,” I said. “Let’s start with that.”

Silence fell again, but it was softer this time. Not heavy. Not cold.

She didn’t say yes.

But she didn’t say no.

But I knew she needed me more than ever.