Whispers of the Bloodmark

The forest had fallen silent.

Even the wind seemed to hold its breath as Kade guided me back toward the keep. My legs still trembled from the trial, my chest burned with exhaustion, and every nerve in my body hummed with the raw, electric pulse of the bond he had awakened.

I wanted to collapse, to let the earth swallow me whole, but Kade’s hand at the small of my back was firm, unwavering. He didn’t speak. He didn’t need to. Every step he took said one thing: You belong to me now, and I will not let you fall.

The moonlight spilled over his shoulders, highlighting the hard lines of his body, wet from the sweat and blood of the fight. My throat constricted. I had survived, but barely, and somehow, every glance he cast at me reminded me that my life wasn’t entirely my own anymore.

Whispers followed us.

I could feel them brushing past me, curling around my spine. Wolves who had watched me fight with jaws slackened and claws retracted now muttered under their breath, the words like poison against my skin.

“She’s… different.”

“Bloodmarked. I’ve never seen a human—”

“She’s not fully human anymore.”

I froze mid-step.

Not fully human?

My heart slammed against my ribs. I swallowed hard, forcing my panic down. I refused to turn, refused to let them see me falter. I didn’t want to see the judgment in their eyes. Not now.

Kade’s voice rumbled in the silence behind me, low, possessive. “Don’t listen.”

I wanted to argue. To ask how much of me was still human. How much the bite had changed. But my voice failed. He didn’t need to know my fears. Not yet.

The keep loomed ahead, a fortress carved from stone and shadow. Its walls radiated power, ancient as the forest, the kind that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Inside, the air was thick with heat, the lingering scent of smoke and fur, and the unspoken tension of a pack that had just witnessed something extraordinary.

I didn’t know if it was extraordinary—or a death sentence.

They gathered in the great hall when we entered. Wolves, men and women standing tall, muscles coiled, eyes flashing gold, silver, amber. They looked at me like I had crossed a line they could never forgive.

A low murmur ran through the crowd, whispers sharp and slicing. Bloodmarked. Human no more. Dangerous.

I could feel the bond tugging at me, pulling my gaze toward Kade. His golden eyes were steady, unyielding, anchored to mine like chains I didn’t want but couldn’t break.

“Why am I… different?” I whispered when we were alone in the hallway.

He didn’t answer immediately. His lips pressed into a hard line as he studied me. The moonlight caught the scar on his shoulder, still darkened with the dried blood of the fight. His chest rose and fell with calm precision, a predator’s patience radiating from every movement.

“You’re marked,” he finally said, his voice rough as gravel, soft as silk. “The bite—my claim—it changes you.”

I stared at him, words caught in my throat. “Changes me how?”

Kade’s golden eyes flared, dangerous and alive. “You’ve felt it tonight. Power. Awareness. Hunger.”

I wanted to shake my head, deny it, but I couldn’t. My body remembered the fight, the rush of blood, the fire that had surged through me when Maris had lunged. My fists had moved without thought. My instincts had snapped, sharper than any human reflex.

“You’re part wolf now,” he said quietly. “Whether you like it or not.”

The words burned deeper than the bite itself. I staggered, letting the weight of his claim settle around me like iron chains.

Kade’s hand touched my arm, grounding me. “It doesn’t make you less human. It makes you mine—and stronger. But it also makes you prey if you don’t learn.”

I hated that truth. Hated that it was beautiful and terrifying all at once.

The whispers grew louder behind us. I could hear the pack debating, judging, choosing sides even without seeing their faces. Some wanted me gone. Some wanted me trained. Some were already plotting my death, I was sure.

“Do they know?” I asked, voice trembling.

“They suspect,” Kade said, his gaze drifting toward the crowd, golden eyes narrowing. “But no one knows the full measure of the bond. Not yet.”

I swallowed hard, trying to calm the wild, fiery pulse in my veins. The fight had left me raw, exposed, aching in places I didn’t know could hurt. Yet beneath the pain was something else. Something deeper. A pull that made me want him, fear him, and obey him all at once.

I hated him for it.

“And if they find out?” I asked, barely above a whisper.

Kade’s expression softened for the briefest moment, almost human, almost tender. Then it vanished. The Alpha returned, predatory and flawless. “Then you’ll either survive or you’ll die. But remember this—nobody protects you but me.”

I wanted to argue, to scream, to tear free from the gravity of his words. But I couldn’t. The bond sang through me, louder than my thoughts, louder than my heartbeat.

I was his.

And he was mine.

The great hall smelled of smoke, fur, and tension.

Torches cast long shadows on the stone walls, flickering like restless spirits as the council gathered. Wolves shifted from human form to half-beast, fangs glinting, eyes glowing. They murmured, whispering under their breath, the words carrying a weight that made my stomach twist. Bloodmarked. Dangerous. Human no more.

I tried to keep my shoulders straight, tried to move like I belonged, but every step echoed my fear. Every glance from the council made me feel exposed, as if their judgment could shred me to nothing.

Kade’s hand brushed against my back, steadying me. His presence was a tether I clung to, but even that didn’t silence the whispers.

“You survived the hunt,” one council member said, voice dripping with venom. “The Trial by Blood is meant to break the unworthy. How can she—”

“She’s Bloodmarked,” another interrupted, eyes narrowing. “The bite… she isn’t fully human anymore. This is unnatural.”

I froze at the word. Bloodmarked.

Kade’s golden gaze swept over the council like fire. His voice dropped low, commanding. “She is mine. Any challenge against her is a challenge against me. And you will not survive that.”

The hall fell silent. Even the whispers died under the weight of his words. Yet beneath that silence, the tension was a living thing, coiling, ready to strike.

“You claim her,” the first wolf said, voice trembling but defiant. “But she is not ready. She is—”

“She is Bloodmarked,” Kade repeated, voice like steel. “And that is enough. You will either accept it, or you will answer to me.”

A murmur ran through the council. Some bent their heads, some glared, fury and fear warring in their expressions.

I wanted to speak. To demand answers. To ask why the bond was pulling me like fire through ice. But Kade’s hand on my arm stopped me before the words could leave my lips.

“Not now,” he murmured.

I clenched my fists, feeling the heat beneath my skin, the pulse of power coursing through my veins. The bite, the mark—it wasn’t just a claim. It was a warning, a tether, and something more. Something that made me different. Something that made me dangerous.

The council argued for hours. Voices rose and fell, threats whispered, plans made. But Kade’s presence was absolute. Every wolf knew the balance had shifted. The human at his side was no longer prey. She was part of the bond. Part of the Alpha.

When the council finally dispersed, leaving only Kade and me, the room seemed impossibly quiet. The torches burned lower, casting long shadows across the stone floor.

“Are they always like that?” I asked, voice barely above a whisper.

Kade’s eyes softened—not completely, but enough that the warmth brushed against me like a memory. “The pack tests. It is their nature.”

“And me?” I asked, turning to face him. “Do I pass?”

His gaze dropped to the mark at my neck. My blood tingled, a reminder of the bite, the bond, the claim. “You survived the hunt. You survived the fight. And now, you survive the council. That is enough… for now.”

“But I feel… different,” I admitted, voice trembling. “Something’s changing in me. I’m not the same.”

Kade stepped closer, his hand brushing my cheek. The heat of him radiated through me, suffocating and intoxicating. “You’re not the same,” he murmured. “You’ve been marked. That is the nature of the bond. And soon, you’ll understand what it means to be mine.”

My stomach twisted. Part of me wanted to deny it. Part of me wanted to surrender. The fire inside me pulled in both directions—fear and desire, terror and craving, all tangled in the mark he had left.

I hated him for it. I hated how his claim made me ache for more, even as it frightened me.

“I don’t want to be… changed,” I whispered.

“You already are,” he said, voice low, a growl threading the words. “But that doesn’t mean you’re lost. Not yet. You’ll survive. You’ll learn. And I’ll be here… whether you want me or not.”

The words settled over me like chains, binding, suffocating, protective. I realized then that his bite didn’t just claim me—it tethered me to him, tethered my fate to his, tethered my power to the bond that pulsed like wildfire through my veins.

That night, alone in my chamber, I traced the mark on my neck with trembling fingers. The scar pulsed beneath my touch, warm and alive. I was no longer fully human. I could feel the primal instincts lurking beneath, the strength that surged when I was pushed to the edge, the fire that had burned when I had faced Maris.

And I understood, with a shiver of terror and thrill, that I would never be the same.

I was Bloodmarked.

And the pull of the Alpha’s bite was only just beginning.