Chapter 2 The Mark That Burns

Aria's POV

After my quick dip in the lake, I braided my long wet hair and then dressed in the pack kitchen uniform. I trudged toward the pack house warily.

Everyone in the pack was preparing for the Mating Run, and I needed to be at the kitchen to help with the pack dinner before the festivities began.

During the Blood Moon ceremony, wolves could supposedly find their mates. Nathan had been mistaken about my having to attend. Being wolfless, I am forbidden, so instead I work in the kitchen cooking and or cleaning for others.

Warning goosebumps started on my arm as I neared the entrance to the pack house kitchen.

“Oh my Goddess, look at what crawled out of the forest,” Chloe said as I turned around to see Ronan's fiancée standing there with her entourage of lady servants.

She is going to be such a nasty Luna,” I thought as my eyes narrowed at her.

Huffing roughly she shooed at me and growled, “I don't want your lice, go to work slave before I have you flogged on the post.”

Not the dreaded post of shame, not that it would or could be worse for me, I thought as I eyed her incredulously.

Chloe had already dismissed my presence and was heading toward the Alpha's home.

Rolling my eyes I turned around and continued toward the already bustling kitchen.

The head of the kitchen staff saw me and pointed to the sink, which was full of dirty dishes.

“You do what you always do, Aria,” she growled.

Nodding briskly, I donned the rubber gloves and grabbed a scrubber before I tackled the mound of soiled cutlery and dinnerware.

The dishes continued to pile throughout the afternoon and early evening.

“Have them all completed before you head to your hovel of a home,” the head of staff growled. She and the other servants laughed as they tossed their aprons and got ready to head to the mate run.

Glancing at the wall clock I cringed at seeing the time. An hour more and the blood moon would be at its highest apex in the night sky and the pack would begin the mating run.

I returned to the sink and the remaining dishes. I tensed and furrowed my brow over the skin above my right breast becoming irritated but I ignored it while I rinsed the remaining dishes.

At midnight I heard the announcement for the run. I winced suddenly, dropping the towel I held at the scorching of my skin. My entire body felt like lava was flowing through my veins.

Flashes from my past came flooding back to me as I began tearing the clothes from my heated flesh. Rushing from the kitchen with my job far from finished I ran through the forest searching for relief from the inferno within me.

The lake, the lake, pounded repeatedly in my mind as I turned and ran toward it.

A cringed at seeing a crescent-and-flame mark on my skin above my right breast come alight and raced toward the lake to drown the unusual burning wolf sigil.

A feminine voice in my head was telling me to calm myself as I dove into the murky water. Breaking the surface completely naked I panted.

“My name is Ashina and I'm your wolf. I'm sorry for taking so long to speak with you but know that you're very special and you won't be complete until you are reborn, such a pain in the ass but a necessity for you to realize your true worth,” she stated firmly as I pinched the bridge of my nose with my dripping fingers.

Suddenly, a big black wolf growled behind me near the water's edge. When it shifted into a human I balked. It was none other than Ronan and the bastard called me his Mate. He was also coming towards me as he stepped into the lake.

I froze, uncertain what I should do…