five

“That mark shouldn’t exist.”

Aria stared at Kael in silence. The strange glow from her wrist filled the room with a faint light. Kael stood near the doorway, his eyes fixed on the symbol as if he had seen something he never wanted to see again.

Aria pulled her wrist closer to herself.

“What does that mean?”

she asked again but he said nothing.

“Kael.”

His jaw tightened.

“I need you to tell me what this is.”

“I can't.”

Aria's frustration rose immediately.

“You brought me here after rejecting me. You told me I was in danger. You said you needed to find out why those wolves were hunting me. And now you're standing in my room looking at this mark like you know exactly what it is.”

“I don't know exactly what it is.”

“But you have seen it before.”

Kael's eyes flickered toward hers.

“You have,” Aria said.

He remained silent.

“You've seen a mark like this before, haven't you?”

After several seconds, Kael finally nodded.

“Yes.”

Aria's stomach tightened.

“Where?”

He looked away.

“Kael, where?”

“I can't tell you.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“You can't tell me?”

“Not yet.”

“You keep saying that.”

Kael stepped farther into the room.

“Aria, you need to understand that there are things you don't know about me.”

“And apparently things you don't want me to know.”

His expression hardened.

“I am trying to keep you alive.”

“And I'm trying to understand why my life suddenly turned upside down!”

Her voice echoed through the room and his eyes narrowed.

“You think I wanted this?”

“You rejected me!”

The words came out before she could stop them.

Kael went still.

“You rejected me in front of everyone,” Aria continued. “Then you showed up when I was attacked and told me the bond was still there. You took me away from my home, brought me here, and now I wake up with the mark on my wrist glowing that you apparently recognize.”

She held up her glowing wrist.

“Yet every time I ask you a question, you give me half an answer.”

Kael's face showed something she couldn't understand. Perhaps Regret or fear, maybe both.

“I didn't drag you here,” he said quietly. “You chose to come.”

“Because you told me I was being hunted!”

“You were.”

“And you still haven't told me why!”

“I don't know everything yet.”

“Then tell me what you do know.”

Kael looked at her and the silence between them became heavy.

Aria folded her arms.

“Where have you seen this mark before?”

Kael's expression changed.

“Aria...”

“Where?”

He looked away.

“I can't answer that.”

She let out a frustrated laugh.

“Of course you can't.”

Kael's eyes returned to hers.

“You think I'm hiding this because I want to control you.”

“Aren't you?”

“No.”

“Then what?”

He took a slow breath.

“If you knew everything, you might hate me more than you already do.”

Aria froze.

“What?”

Kael said nothing else.

She stared at him in confusion, his statement made no sense. She already had enough reasons to be angry with him. He had rejected her, frightened her, and brought her into a situation she barely understood.

But hate him more?

“What have you done?” she asked.

Kael's expression became unreadable.

“Get some sleep.”

“Don't walk away from me.”

“I said get some sleep.”

“And I said...”

Kael turned toward the door and Aria watched him leave. The door closed behind him and she remained standing beside the bed, staring at it.

His words wouldn't leave her mind.

' You might hate me more than you already do.'

What could he possibly be hiding?

And why did he look so afraid of her mark?

___________

The next morning, Aria woke earlier than she expected because of how late she had slept. She had barely slept. The strange mark had stopped glowing sometime during the night, but it was still visible against her skin.

She rubbed it carefully but nothing happened. She left her room and found Kael outside the house. He was sitting near the edge of the clearing, sharpening a knife.

He looked up when she approached.

“Did you sleep?”

“Not really.”

He nodded and neither of them spoke for a while, it felt like last night hadn't even happen.

Aria sat a few feet away and she noticed the way Kael moved. He was wearing a loose black shirt, but when he reached forward, the collar shifted slightly.

Aria caught sight of something on his chest...a scar.

It wasn't small. It stretched from near his shoulder across part of his chest, old and uneven. There were smaller scars around it, as if whatever had caused the wound had happened more than once.

Aria stared and Kael noticed what she was staring at.

His hand immediately pulled the shirt back into place.

“What?”

“What happened to your chest?”

“Nothing.”

“That doesn't look like nothing.”

His expression hardened.

“It happened a long time ago.”

“How?”

“It's not important.”

A deep frown immediately settled on her face.

“Everything seems to be not important with you.”

Kael stood up and let out a dep sigh.

“Drop it.”

His voice was sharper than before.

Aria looked at him.

“I was only asking.”

“I said drop it.”

She studied his face. It wasn't just that he didn't want to talk about it, he was afraid of the question.

“Is it connected to the mark on my wrist?” she asked.

Kael's eyes immediately met hers nd Aria was certain she had guessed correctly but his expression closed again.

“You ask too many questions.”

“And you give too few answers.”

He walked away and she watched him go. She couldn't explain why, but she felt certain that the scar and the mark were connected somehow.

Maybe even connected to the reason Kael had rejected her. she sighed deeply when she saw a few of the pack people passing, but they still had that same look in their eyes when they first saw her. Aria decided it was best she avoided them.

___________

That night, Aria finally fell asleep.

She found herself standing in a forest. It was unlike any forest she had ever seen. The trees were tall and twisted, their branches reaching across the sky and a pale mist covered the ground.

Aria looked around the unfamiliar place.

“Where am I?" She muttered and took a step forward, the ground beneath her feet felt real.

Then she saw it, a symbol carved into the trunk of an enormous tree.

Her wrist began to burn and she looked down to see the mark was glowing again. The symbol on the tree looked almost exactly like hers.

She stepped closer and the forest suddenly became colder. A voice whispered somewhere behind her.

“Don't let him remember.”

Aria turned around but there was one was there.

“Who are you?”

She yelled out but got no answer. Then she heard something else.

A growl, it was deep, angry and familiar. Aria turned toward the sound and a shadow moved between the trees, Golden eyes appeared in the darkness.

“Kael?”

She called out but the eyes disappeared. The symbol on the tree suddenly began to glow brighter and she reached toward it.

The moment her fingers touched the symbol, pain shot through her wrist and a scream escaped her throat.

___________

Aria woke suddenly, her breathing uneven. She grabbed her wrist. The mark was burning and not glowing gently this time. She stumbled out of bed and nearly fell.

“What is happening?”

Across the territory, Kael woke at the exact same moment. He sat upright, breathing heavily.

His room was dark and he was there there froze for a short while. He knew that forest and the symbol.

It was not a dream....it was a memory. A memory he had buried years ago.

Kael touched his chest where the old scar lay beneath his shirt and his blood ran cold...She had been in that memory...

His wolf started to move violently inside him.

[She's there.]

Kael stood up immediately

“No.”

He breathed out, the realization hitting him harder than anything else. Aria hadn't simply dreamed about his past, she had entered...through the mark, she had entered a memory connected to his curse.

Kael stared toward Aria's room and his voice dropped to a whisper.

“How?”

How could he protect her from his curse...