The Red Mark

The morning brings no light but it brings a different kind of noise. Boots crunch on the gravel outside my cell. The heavy iron bar slides back with a screech that sets my teeth on edge. I do not get up from the straw. I stay curled in a ball. My ribs ache where the guard kicked me in the woods. Every breath is a reminder that I am still trapped.

"Get up. Rogue."

It is the same guard from the night before. He has a tray in his hands. He kicks my foot to make me move. I sit up slowly. My joints feel like they are filled with glass. I look at the tray. It holds a heel of stale bread and a bowl of gray mash. It looks like paste. It smells like nothing.

"Where is Kael?" I ask.

The guard snorts. He sets the tray on the floor. "The Alpha has better things to do than watch a stray eat. He is at the border. There are sightings of Shadow Claw scouts."

"Shadow Claw?" I whisper.

I know that name. They are the pack to the north. They are scavengers. They wait for a pack to show weakness before they strike. If they are at the border. it means they smell blood. They smell the instability of the Red Fang.

"Eat your slop and stay quiet." The guard says. He turns to leave but stops. He looks at my neck. He looks at the bare skin where a mark should be. "He still hasn't claimed you. has he?"

"He never will." I say.

"Then you are just a waste of space." He slams the door.

I stare at the food. I am starving but the thought of eating makes my stomach turn. I force myself to swallow a piece of the bread. It is hard as a rock. I wash it down with the leftover water from Kael’s skin. I need to keep my strength. If the Shadow Claw are coming. the fortress will be a cage within a cage.

I spend the hours pacing. Three steps forward. Three steps back. The chain clinks with every movement. It is a steady rhythm. It keeps me from losing my mind. I try to reach out to my wolf. She is quiet now. She is exhausted from the rejection. The bond is a dull throb in my chest. It is like a bruised muscle. It hurts to move. but I cannot ignore it.

The door opens again in the afternoon. This time it is Vane. The Beta.

He is not like Kael. He is composed. His clothes are clean. His hair is trimmed. He carries himself with a quiet authority that doesn't need a growl to back it up. He stands in the doorway and looks at me for a long time.

"You look like your mother." Vane says.

I freeze. I stop pacing and stare at him. "You knew her?"

"I saw her during the raid." Vane says. His voice has no emotion. It is just a statement of fact. "She was a fighter. She took down three of our men before the Alpha finished her."

"Your Alpha is a murderer." I snap.

"My Alpha is a King." Vane corrects. He steps into the cell. He doesn't look disgusted by the smell or the dark. "He is also a man who is currently losing his grip because of you."

"I didn't ask for this." I gesture to the chains. "I didn't ask to be his mate."

"The moon doesn't ask for permission." Vane says. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out a small jar. He sets it on the straw. "For your wrists. The silver in the iron is starting to burn."

I look at the jar. Then back at him. "Why are you helping me?"

"Because if you die in this cell. Kael will go feral." Vane says. He moves back to the door. "An Alpha without a mate is a danger. An Alpha whose mate died in his own dungeon is a catastrophe. I care about this pack. even if I don't care about you."

He leaves before I can say anything else. I pick up the jar. It is a cool salve. I rub it into the raw skin around my wrists. The relief is instant. The stinging stops. I lean my head against the wall and close my eyes.

Vane’s words haunt me. If I die. Kael goes feral. It is a biological fact of our kind. The bond is a tether. If it snaps through death. the surviving mate often loses their mind to the grief of the wolf. Kael would burn the world down. He would turn the Red Fang into a graveyard.

I must have drifted off because a sharp pain in my shoulder wakes me.

I bolt upright. The cell isn't empty. Sila is back. She is standing over me. She has a small. silver dagger in her hand. The blade is glowing faintly in the dark. Silver. It is the only thing that can truly hurt us. It stops our healing. It poisons the blood.

"You are a persistent little thing." Sila whispers.

She lunges. I roll to the side. The dagger slices through the straw. I scramble to my feet. but the chains trip me. I fall back against the stone. Sila is on me in a second. She pins my shoulders down. She is a high-ranking wolf. She is stronger than me.

"Kael told me to stay away from you." Sila says. Her eyes are glowing yellow. Her wolf is at the surface. "He thinks he can control me. But I know what is best for the pack. You are a distraction. You are a weakness."

She presses the tip of the dagger against my collarbone. Right over the old scar. The silver burns. I can feel my skin sizzling. I bite my tongue to keep from screaming. I won't give her the satisfaction.

"Stop." I gasp.

"Why?" Sila smiles. It is a jagged. horrible look. "If I kill you now. he will be sad for a week. Then he will find a real Luna. He will find me."

"He will kill you." I say. "Vane said it. If I die. he goes feral."

Sila pauses. The dagger wavers. "Vane is a coward. Kael is stronger than a bond."

"Try it." I challenge. I look her straight in the eyes. "Kill me and see how long you survive his rage."

Sila snarls. She raises the knife to strike.

The door to the cell is ripped off its hinges.

It flies across the room and hits the opposite wall with a deafening crack. Kael is there. He isn't a man anymore. He is something between human and beast. His muscles are twice their normal size. His teeth are elongated. His claws are out. The air in the cell turns thick with the scent of an enraged Alpha.

"Sila."

His voice is not human. It is a vibration that shakes the floor.

Sila drops the knife. She scrambles back. hitting the wall. "Kael. I was just... she was trying to escape!"

Kael doesn't speak. He moves faster than I can track. He grabs Sila by the throat and lifts her off the ground. Her feet dangle. She claws at his arm. but his skin is like granite. He slams her against the ceiling. then drops her. She hits the floor with a wet thud.

"Get out." Kael growls.

"Kael. please—"

"Get out before I tear your heart out and feed it to the crows."

Sila doesn't wait. She crawls out of the cell. her face pale. her breath coming in ragged sobs. She vanishes into the hallway.

Kael stands in the center of the room. His chest is heaving. He is covered in mud and blood from the border. He looks at me. He sees the blood on my shoulder where the silver touched me. His eyes turn completely black.

He drops to his knees in front of me.

"Did she touch you anywhere else?" He asks. His voice is still rough. but the killing edge is gone.

"I am fine." I say. I try to pull away. but I am trapped against the wall.

Kael reaches out. He doesn't grab me this time. He touches the silver burn on my shoulder with his index finger. I flinch. but he doesn't let go. He closes his eyes. I feel a strange sensation. The heat from his body is flowing into the wound. The pain begins to dull.

"You are healing me." I whisper.

"I am stopping the poison." Kael says. He opens his eyes. The black is fading. leaving the silver behind. "I told her to stay away."

"She wants to be your Luna. Kael. She thinks I am a mistake."

Kael looks at me. His gaze is intense. He looks at my lips. then back to my eyes. The bond is screaming. It is a physical pressure in the room. He leans in. His scent surrounds me. It is heavy and intoxicating.

"You are a mistake." He whispers. His hand moves from my shoulder to my neck. His thumb brushes my jaw. "You are the daughter of my enemy. You are a rogue. You are everything I hate."

"Then let me go." I say. My heart is racing. I can't breathe.

Kael leans in closer. His lips are inches from mine. "I can't let you go. Lyra. Every time I try to leave this fortress. the bond pulls me back. It is like a hook in my gut. I hate you for it."

"I hate you too." I say.

"Good."

He leans in and presses his nose against the side of my neck. He inhales deeply. A low. rumbling purr starts in his chest. It is the sound of a satisfied predator. He nips at the skin of my shoulder. right next to the mark. I gasp. My back arches. My wolf is howling. she is begging for him to bite. To claim. To end the agony of the rejection.

Kael pulls back abruptly. He stands up.

"The Shadow Claw are at the river." He says. His voice is cold and professional again. "The border is failing. I cannot spend my time protecting you from my own pack."

"Then give me a weapon." I say. I stand up. clutching the blanket around me. "If they break through. I am a sitting duck in this cage."

Kael looks at my chains. He looks at the door he just destroyed.

"Vane will bring you to the upper levels." Kael says. "You will stay in my quarters. There are no silver bars there. but there are guards at the door. If you try to run. they have orders to break your legs."

"Why your quarters?" I ask.

Kael looks at me one last time before he walks out.

"Because it is the only place Sila won't dare to enter." He says. "And because I need to know where you are every second of the day."

He leaves.

I am left standing in the ruins of my cell. The silver burn on my shoulder is gone. replaced by a faint red mark. It isn't a claim. but it is a start.

I am moving up. I am leaving the dark. but I am moving closer to the fire.