All Chapters of Marked by Fire & Fang: Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

LilyThree days after the rogues retreated, the palace gates opened to royalty.The visiting monarchs from the Northern Crescent Pack arrived in sleek black cars that glimmered like oil under the morning sun. They wore couture suits and predator smiles. Their wolves were silent but calculating, their eyes constantly shifting between me and Link.Politics smelled worse than blood.Despite the titles and attention, I hadn’t changed who I was. I still woke at dawn, helped with breakfast prep, checked on the linens, and kept my hands busy when the rest of the palace expected me to be sipping tea like a porcelain doll. I chose to keep working—not because I had to—but because it grounded me. It reminded me I was still Lily. I hadn’t asked for the crown. I didn’t need a pedestal.I tied my apron over a worn tank top, humming softly as I helped fold sheets fresh from the laundry. Some of the housemaids gave me curious looks, others offered soft smiles. No one treated me differently—and I didn

LilyI buried myself in maid work the next day.Laundry. Polishing. Scrubbing. Anything that made me feel normal—human. Not some mythical last-of-her-line ticking time bomb. I kept my head down. I greeted others with a soft smile and didn’t correct the newer servants when they addressed me like I was still just staff. Because in so many ways, I was.But I could feel the stares now. Some reverent. Some fearful. Some downright hostile.My hands trembled when I changed the linens in the East Wing. Power skittered beneath my skin like a live wire, itching to break free. I clenched my fists, grounding myself.I needed space. And routine. And quiet.Not Link.But of course, he found me.“Lily,” his voice said from behind me.I didn’t turn. “I’m working.”“You shouldn’t have to,” he said. “You’re—”“I’m still me.” I whirled around, eyes sharp. “I’m not going to sit around waiting for the prophecy to unfold like a fairytale. I clean. I fold. I take orders. That’s how I survived before you, an

LilyThe council chamber was a battlefield of whispers.I walked in with my head high, but every step sent sparks of unease crawling across my skin. They were all watching me—some with curiosity, others with suspicion, and a few with outright hatred.A scroll lay open in the center of the room, covered in crimson ink and stamped with the Alpha’s seal.The message was simple: a spy had been discovered. A traitor from within.But the name hadn’t been released.“State your claim,” one of the elders demanded.I stepped forward, pulse thudding.“I’ve done nothing to betray this pack.”“Then prove it,” another voice snapped. “Invoke your ancestral memory. Show us the truth.”A silence fell so thick it buzzed in my ears.Invoke ancestral memory? That was blood magic. Forbidden unless summoned by council decree.I let out a cold laugh. “You forget yourselves.”Murmurs rose. The elders stiffened.A strange heat moved through me then—not rage, but something deeper, older. My wolf.She rose like

LinkShe was the storm—and my calm.I couldn’t risk her safety, not now. Not with the bounty still live and the rogues circling like vultures.“I’m sending you away,” I said as I stood at her door.Lily’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”“To the Westvale house. Guarded. Warded. You’ll be protected there.”She crossed her arms. “I’m not a damsel, Link.”“I know. But you’re mine. And I won’t lose you before we’ve even had the chance to start our forever.”Her expression softened. She knew better than to argue when my voice dropped like that. But it didn’t stop the sting of distance.She left the next morning, escorted by West and two elite guards.LilyWestvale was hauntingly beautiful.The manor sat like a crown in a clearing surrounded by wild forest, its stone walls covered in tangled ivy, its halls echoing with silence. The windows faced the west, catching sunsets that turned the skies blood orange and the shadows long.I tried to settle in—really, I did.But I hated the emptiness.I spe

LilyWestvale had gone quiet. Not peaceful—tense. The kind of silence that makes your skin prickle, like something’s breathing beneath the surface.I barely slept. Not after what happened the night before. The heat was still simmering in my blood, even as I paced the halls. My body was sore in that deeply satisfied way, but there was something else now too—something humming beneath my skin that had nothing to do with sex.Something old. Restless.The house reacted to me. I swear it did.I brushed my hand against the wall near the east library and felt it—warmth pulsing through the stone like a heartbeat. Symbols appeared, glowing faint gold before vanishing again.I yanked my hand back.I wasn’t imagining it.Whatever lived in these walls recognized me. And it wanted to speak.I tried to ignore it. I brewed tea. I scrolled through social media. I even FaceTimed Marcy again. She joked about how pale I looked, said I needed something stronger than peppermint tea to deal with whatever “w