All Chapters of I Stole His Mark: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

"Follow me," Caelan said.His voice wasn’t raised. It didn’t need to be. It threaded through the courtyard like smoke—undeniable. He didn’t wait to see if I obeyed. He simply turned and walked.I hesitated only a breath. Then I followed.The guards at the archway stood aside without a word. Servants lowered their gazes. I kept mine on his back as I trailed him past the stables, past the outer gates, and down a narrow trail that led into the woods. The sun had begun to lower, casting the forest in that golden, dangerous hour.We didn’t speak. The silence was sharp, but not uncomfortable. Not yet.Only when the shadows deepened and we were well out of earshot did he stop. The trees around us whispered, pine needles shifting underfoot.He turned."You didn’t run this time."I blinked, startled. "Should I have?"His mouth curled, not quite a smile. "You tell me."I crossed my arms, though my voice came out lower than intended. "If you brought me here to scare me—"His eyes sharpened, but

Caelan stalked through the castle corridors like a man possessed, Ilia’s voice still echoing in his ears. Her defiance. Her fire. The way her eyes had met his without an ounce of fear.He should have been angry.Instead, he was aroused. Achingly so.What was it about her? The lowborn slip of a girl with no title, no power, no claim to anything but a servant’s apron—yet she had walked away from him like a queen, leaving him in the dust of his own desire.By the time he shoved open the doors to his chambers, he was barely holding himself together.He didn’t notice the scent at first.Didn’t register the shift in the air until a soft voice purred, “You look tense, Alpha.”Helena.She was lounging on his bed, a silk sheet pooled around her hips, her breasts bare and nipples peaked from the cool air. Her skin glowed in the low firelight, smooth and flushed, her thighs pressed together to hide the glistening wetness already pooling between them. The scent of her arousal clung to the air lik

Ilia didn’t stop running until her lungs screamed and her legs trembled beneath her, her bare feet pounding the earth with a desperation she couldn’t name. Every heartbeat thundered with fear, shame, confusion. Her breath came in shallow gasps, and her eyes stung with tears she refused to let fall.How had it come to this? How had her world twisted in such a short span of time? One moment, she was nothing—no one—a shadow moving through kitchens and corridors. The next, she was humming men into submission, being seen by an alpha she had no right to even look at, and surviving an attack that should have broken her. She was unraveling and yet… she wasn’t. Something deeper inside her was rising. Watching.Somehow, through the blur of panic and the haze of too many questions, her feet had guided her to the forest’s edge. The towering trees loomed like silent sentinels, swallowing the moonlight as their branches whispered secrets only she could hear. And yet, in their darkness, she found a

The air in the dream clearing felt thick with heat, though no fire burned and no sun shone. Ilia stood before Caelan, barefoot and wary, her breath trembling in her chest. The memory of the prophecy whispered through her mind like a shadow she couldn’t shake.He was watching her—that same intense, hungry look she had come to expect only in dreams. But this time, she knew too much. Knew that this place, this connection, wasn’t just fantasy. It was something deeper, something dangerous.She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, fighting the urge to let herself sink into him. “What do you want from me?” she asked.Caelan stepped forward. One step. Two. She didn’t retreat. He stopped just before her, his hand brushing her hip, fingers resting there like a question half-asked. “I don’t know,” he said truthfully, his voice a low confession. “But I feel drawn to you. Like you’ve woven yourself into the bones of me.”Ilia shook her head. Her throat tightened. “It’s not real,” she whispered

The castle was alive with purpose. Servants hurried through the halls, their arms laden with bolts of ceremonial fabric, trays of food, and fresh flowers plucked at first light. The scent of polished wood, burning torches, and crushed herbs filled the air, thick with anticipation. Today was the day Helena would be marked by Caelan—the ritual that would bind her to him before the eyes of the court and the gods.Ilia kept her head down, hands busy as she scrubbed the kitchen counters until they gleamed, chopped roots for the stew with a practiced rhythm, and swept ash from the hearth as if she could erase the gnawing ache in her chest. Anything to keep her thoughts from drifting toward him. Anything to stop the vivid images of Caelan’s hands cradling Helena’s face, his mouth pressed to hers, the bite that would bind them together forever. Her heart twisted at the thought, an almost physical pain that she tried to scrub away with every harsh swipe of her cloth. But no matter how fiercely