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129. Birthmark

Author: Hannah Uzzy
last update Last Updated: 2025-12-20 21:49:49

Nalini

I did not know when fear learned my name, only that it began answering whenever someone whispered it.

The house felt different that day—too quiet in the way a forest went still before a predator moved. Even the floorboards seemed to listen as I scrubbed them, my fingers raw from lye and water, my back aching from hours bent low. Selene had woken us before dawn, her voice sharp and thin as a blade, and by the time the sun crept through the narrow windows, my body already felt borrowed—like it belonged to someone else who was being punished in my place.

I had felt it first in my wolf.

A tightness. A restless curl beneath my ribs. Not pain exactly, but awareness—like being watched from inside my own skin.

Julie had been unusually quiet too. She kept glancing at the door, her lips pressed together, her fingers twitching as though they wanted to tear something apart. When she finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper.

“They’re asking questions.”

I pretended not to hear her. Pret
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  • Mine to keep, mine to break    132. Mate dance

    Alpha King Thane The ballroom was alive with anticipation, glittering under the soft glow of chandeliers and moonlight streaming through the high windows. I had arranged everything meticulously—the music, the lighting, the pacing of the evening—yet my attention was entirely on her. Nalini. Every movement she made pulled my gaze like a tether I could not sever.When I finally gave the signal for the mate dance, she hesitated, shy, almost fragile in the midst of the throng of students and nobles. Myron and Timothy both froze for a moment, dazed, as if the very sight of her had robbed them of composure. She stepped forward with a tentative grace, allowing their hands to find hers. I stepped back, letting the dance unfold naturally, holding my breath for what I already suspected would happen.As they moved onto the floor, under the silver sheen of moonlight, I watched the energy between them build. It began as a subtle shimmer in the air around her, a ripple that made my heart quicken. T

  • Mine to keep, mine to break    131. The ball

    Nalini The day had felt impossibly long, though the anticipation of the royal ball gnawed at my nerves. As soon as I stepped into the ballroom, I felt the weight of dozens of eyes on me, whispering and assessing. Some glanced at me with curiosity, others with thinly veiled judgment, but most seemed utterly fascinated. I kept my hands folded over the plain white fabric of the gown provided by the academy, trying to appear composed, even as my heart hammered against my ribcage.“He’s here,” someone whispered behind me, and I caught sight of a cluster of students craning their necks toward the stage.“Alpha Thane? The one from Brownclaw? I heard he’s… massive. Like, intimidating,” another girl said in a hushed tone, her eyes flicking my way.“I heard he’s cold too. And ruthless. Don’t look at him directly, they say he notices everything,” a boy added, smirking.I shifted uncomfortably, wishing I could disappear into the marble floor. “He’s just… another Alpha,” I muttered to myself, tho

  • Mine to keep, mine to break    130. Discretion

    Alpha King Thane I had learned long ago that power did not announce itself with noise. It moved quietly, rearranging the world while others were still arguing about what they thought they saw.That night, after the ball, after the last of the Silvermist servants cleared the marble floors and the echoes of music finally died, I did not sleep.I sat by the tall window of the guest wing, the moonlight washing the room in silver, and I pressed my palm against the glass as if it could cool the fire in my chest. The image would not leave me—dark hair bent forward in a graceful bow, a shy smile offered to a prince, and there, just above the curve of her collarbone, a mark I had memorized in blood and grief.A claw-shaped crescent.Blessed.Condemned.Lost.I had ruled the Brownclaw pack for over two decades. I had buried enemies, allies, and even my own mate with the same steady hands. I had learned to distrust coincidence. When the Moon Goddess repeated herself, it was never without purpos

  • Mine to keep, mine to break    129. Birthmark

    Nalini I did not know when fear learned my name, only that it began answering whenever someone whispered it.The house felt different that day—too quiet in the way a forest went still before a predator moved. Even the floorboards seemed to listen as I scrubbed them, my fingers raw from lye and water, my back aching from hours bent low. Selene had woken us before dawn, her voice sharp and thin as a blade, and by the time the sun crept through the narrow windows, my body already felt borrowed—like it belonged to someone else who was being punished in my place.I had felt it first in my wolf.A tightness. A restless curl beneath my ribs. Not pain exactly, but awareness—like being watched from inside my own skin.Julie had been unusually quiet too. She kept glancing at the door, her lips pressed together, her fingers twitching as though they wanted to tear something apart. When she finally spoke, it was barely above a whisper.“They’re asking questions.”I pretended not to hear her. Pret

  • Mine to keep, mine to break    128. Gamma guards

    Nalini I had learned long ago how to make myself small.It was a skill carved into me by years of quiet survival—by knowing when to lower my gaze, when to soften my steps, when to become part of the background so thoroughly that even cruelty forgot I was there. That morning, I moved through Selene’s house the way I always did: silently, efficiently, carrying the weight of everything unsaid in the careful balance of my spine.The floorboards were cold beneath my bare feet as I swept the corridor. Dawn light crept through the narrow windows, pale and unsure, turning dust motes into floating stars I was too tired to wish on. My arms ached faintly from scrubbing the night before, and my wolf lay curled deep inside me, restless but quiet, like it was listening for something I couldn’t yet hear.Selene’s voice drifted from the sitting room, sharp and irritated, cutting through the soft morning hush.“…I don’t know why you’d come here. I’ve told you before, there’s nothing special about tha

  • Mine to keep, mine to break    127. Ashes of a name

    Alpha King Thane I had learned, over the years, that a king’s power was not in how loudly he commanded but in how quietly he listened. That night, long after the music had died and the palace corridors had gone still, I listened—to my instincts, to memory, to a wound I had carried so long it had grown ribs around it.Sleep did not come. It never did when the Moon Goddess chose to stir the dead.Nalini’s face kept rising in my mind like a ghost breaking water. Not her eyes—though they were unforgettable—but the mark at her neck. That small, cruelly perfect shape, half-moon, half-claw. Blessed. Cursed. Impossible to forget.I had seen it once before on skin no bigger than my palm.I rose before dawn, when even kings were supposed to rest, and dressed without ceremony. No guards. No announcements. I did not want this investigation known. Not yet. Truth, when handled poorly, became a weapon. And too many people would benefit from this one cutting the wrong way.The first place I went was

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