The mark

The words echoed in my skull like a bell tolling in an empty church.

Kael didn’t blink. Didn’t flinch. Like what he said was normal. Like people remembered their past lives all the time.

“Are you messing with me?” I asked, trying to laugh. It came out brittle. Hollow.

“No.”

“You think I’m… reincarnated?”

“I don’t think,” he said quietly. “I know.”

I stared at him. “That’s insane.”

“So is an omega without a wolf triggering a mate bond.” His voice was calm, but his eyes weren’t. They were too sharp. Too alert. Like he was watching a bomb tick down.

I crossed my arms. “You said I was supposed to die. What did you mean?”

Kael looked away, jaw tight. “You don’t want to know.”

“Yes. I do.”

Silence.

Then, with a sigh, he stepped past me. “Come with me.”

I followed him through the packhouse, down a narrow hall, and into a room I hadn’t seen before. It looked like a library, floor to ceiling bookshelves, thick carpets, glowing lamps. He walked straight to the far wall, pulled out an old leather-bound book, and laid it on the table.

He opened it to a page marked with a blood-red ribbon.

There, sketched in charcoal, was a woman surrounded by fire.

She looked like me.

Exactly like me.

My breath caught.

“She was a rogue witch,” Kael said. “Accused of killing a High Alpha. Captured by the Council. Burned at the stake a hundred years ago.”

“Her name?”

Kael met my eyes. “Lyra.”

The room tilted.

I gripped the edge of the table. “That’s not possible.”

“She screamed your name before she died,” he said softly. “That’s how I remembered.”

I shook my head. “Why are you telling me this? What does it have to do with me?”

He stepped closer, his voice a low growl. “Because you’re not just her reincarnation, Lyra. You are her. The energy, the magic, it’s the same. And it’s waking up.”

I backed away. “No. I’m not a witch.”

“You felt the fire last night.”

That stopped me cold.

“You saw it too, didn’t you?” he pressed. “The mark?”

“I don’t know what I saw.”

“You’re remembering.”

“No,” I whispered, even though my skin still tingled where the burning sensation hit me. “No, I’m not.”

Kael stepped closer. “Let me see your back.”

“What?”

“Just trust me.”

I hesitated, but something in his voice made me turn. Slowly, I lifted the back of my shirt.

He sucked in a breath.

“What is it?” I asked, suddenly cold all over.

Kael didn’t answer right away. Then, with rough fingers, he traced the skin between my shoulder blades.

“There’s a mark. Circular. With flames curling inward.” He paused. “Just like the witch had.”

I dropped my shirt and stepped away, panic rising in my throat. “So what now? You bring me here, prove I’m some kind of cursed creature, and then what?, kill me again?”

His face went hard. “I didn’t kill you.”

I froze. “What?”

Kael’s voice dropped. “I tried to save you.”

The air crackled between us.

“You were sentenced to death by the Council. I disobeyed the order and tried to stop them. But I was too late. I watched you burn. It… haunts me.”

I stared at him. “Why?”

His jaw tightened. “Because we were mates then, too.”

The room spun.

Two lifetimes.  

Two bonds.  

One flame that wouldn’t die.

Kael stepped forward, softer now. “I don’t know how or why you came back. But I swear to you, I won’t let it happen again.”

I didn’t answer.

Couldn’t.

Because at that moment, the mark on my back began to burn again, hotter, fiercer.

And I heard the voice once more, echoing from deep inside:

“They will come for you again. And this time, you must not forgive.”