Chapter 5 The Fading Mark

(Kaleb)

Madilyn shifts on my lap, her fingers tracing the curve of my jaw.

"You're distracted again, Kaleb."

Her voice is a pouty whine, designed to pull me back, but it grates on my nerves like sand.

I try to focus on her. On her sweet, intoxicating scent, the electric blue of her eyes. 

This is what I wanted. This is the woman I almost lost, the one I chose.

So why, in the Goddess's name, can’t I stop thinking about Charlie?

It's been six months. Six. Fucking. Months.

The rejection should have ended it. It should have been a clean cut. 

A severed bond. Peace with my true love.

But there is no peace.

I see Charlie’s face every time I close my eyes. Not the quiet, mousy woman who served my pack for three years. I see the woman from that night. The terror in her eyes when she saw my tattoo. The smack of her palm against my face, a sound so sharp it broke the world.

And the pain...

The rejection wasn't clean. When I spoke the words, something tore inside me, too. A jagged, hollow wound that still hasn't healed. 

It makes no sense. 

I chose my true love. I cut ties with the woman who trapped me. I should be free.

But I'm not. I'm haunted.

"Kaleb," Madilyn whispers, her voice losing its pouty edge, replaced by something sharp. It sounds almost like fear.

Her fingers aren't on my jaw anymore. They're on my ribs, tracing the mark that binds us.

"It's fading," she says, her voice barely audible.

I look down. The coiling, green-black lines that once pulsed with power are dull. The edges are blurred and indistinct. The green has turned murky, like water in a stagnant pond.

She's right. A cold jolt, one that has nothing to do with her, shoots through me.

Madilyn sees the look on my face and tries to cover her panic. She leans in, her lips crushing against mine. Her kiss is desperate, frantic, trying to reignite a fire. 

But all I feel is... annoyance.

I remember that last night with Charlie. The rage. The fight. The hunger. I'd lost control. Completely. I'd wanted to... devour her. 

It wasn't just lust. It was something darker, something predatory. It scares me more than the fading tattoo.

I gently push Madilyn off my lap just as a sharp knock echoes through the study.

"Enter."

My Gamma, Valerius, steps inside. He's a man of few words, built like a mountain, and loyal to the pack above all else. Which, I'm finding, no longer means loyal to me.

His eyes flick to Madilyn, then to me, and his expression remains perfectly, insultingly neutral.

"Alpha," he says, his voice stiff. "A word if I may."

"Speak," I say, leaning back in my chair, projecting an authority I haven't felt for months.

"There’s still no sign of Beta Ezra."

My gut clenches at the mention of Ezra. My Beta. My closest friend. He vanished not long before Madilyn came back. 

I used to tell Charlie that I was out searching for him, but the truth is, I've barely thought of him.

"And?" I snap.

Valerius doesn't flinch.

"The Full Moon Conclave is tomorrow and there are whispers, Alpha. Rogues are massing near the human territories. Something dangerous is stirring them. It might be wise to probe the other Alphas. See if Ezra’s disappearance is connected."

"Fine. I'll ask."

"Good." Valerius nods, but he doesn't move. He's not done.

"Alpha Marcus will be in attendance."

My former father-in-law. The man whose daughter I rejected and shamed. My hand instinctively goes to my cheek, where her palm print once burned.

"He's bringing his heir," Valerius finishes. His tone is a blade. Icy with reproach. 

He doesn't say 'Charlie.' He doesn't say 'The Luna you chased away.' He says 'his heir,' a title that is both a fact and an accusation. A reminder of everything she was, everything I took from her, and everything she has now reclaimed.

It hits me, then. 

She's really not mine anymore.

She's not just the ghost haunting my study. She's not the broken woman I condemned to be a servant, who chose to run instead. She's the heir of the Silverwood Pack. She has her father. Her title. Her life back.

A life that doesn't include me.

A savage, unexpected jolt of... something... rips through me. It's not desire. It's not regret. It's... possessiveness. It's rage.

How dare she leave me?

"Is that all, Gamma?" I growl.

"Yes, Alpha." He gives a stiff bow and retreats, the click of the door latch sounding like a judgment.

The room is silent. Madilyn is pale, her hands clasped in her lap. Fear is rolling off her in waves. It has something to do with my fading tattoo and Charlie's reappearance in my life.

I hadn't realized how completely she'd slipped away from me. I hadn't realized how much her absence lingers in this pack. Valerius's tone is not that of a lone dissenter. It's not just him. It's everyone. The quiet disapproval. The way they look at Madilyn. The way they don't look at me.

I have everything I thought I wanted. I have the woman I love.

So why does it feel like I've burned my entire world to the ground?