All Chapters of Marked by Fire & Fang: Chapter 31 - Chapter 40

LilyThe morning after the encounter with the shadow-born, I didn’t sleep. I didn’t eat. I moved through Westvale with my senses expanded, alert to every sound, every shimmer of movement beyond the windows. The house buzzed with old energy now, like the walls themselves were preparing for battle.Marcy texted me again, but I let it sit unread. She wouldn’t understand this part—not yet.I needed silence to listen. To the magic. To the whispers of those who once ruled with fire in their blood. The ancestors weren’t just watching anymore.They were stirring.Books in the hidden wing began opening themselves, their ancient pages curling with heat. One bore the sigil I’d seen in my dream: a wolf entwined in flame, surrounded by runes.“Flameborn cannot be claimed by mark or bond,” I read aloud, the words glowing faintly as I spoke. “They choose their path. They are the end and the beginning. The alpha of alphas.”A chill rippled over my skin.Me. The prophecy wasn’t about protecting a chil

LilyThe ash still swirled in the air when Link pulled me into his arms.My hands trembled as I wrapped them around his neck, grounding myself in the scent of pine, sweat, and something unmistakably him. His lips hovered at my temple, not quite kissing, just being. Breathing me in like he wasn’t sure I was real.I buried my face in his neck. “You shouldn’t be here.”He tightened his hold. “There’s no place else I could be.”We stayed like that until the runes cooled. Until the fires that had once licked at the walls faded to amber coals. His fingers stroked lazy circles on my back, steadying the rapid thud of my heart. Every breath I drew felt less like panic and more like coming home.Then I stepped back and looked at him fully.He was scraped, dirt-smeared, bare-chested and wild-eyed. And beautiful. My Alpha. But more than that—mine.“I don’t know what I am,” I whispered.“You’re everything.”I opened my mouth, ready to protest, but he stopped me with a thumb to my lips. “No. You do

LilyThe sky cracked open at dawn.Thunder rolled across the valley like the drumbeat of war. I stood at the window, watching storm clouds churn in unnatural spirals. Lightning forked in reverse—rising from the ground instead of striking down. The forest trembled, as if every living thing had paused to hold its breath.“They’re here,” I whispered.Link was beside me in an instant. He didn’t ask how I knew. He felt it too.“Nightborn,” he said grimly. “I thought they were a myth.”I shook my head. “They’re real. And they’re hunting me.”His hand brushed down my arm. “Then we don’t wait for them to strike first.”LinkThe moment the wind shifted, I knew it wouldn’t be a clean fight. I’d laid every trap, every rune, every boundary. But this enemy wasn’t physical—it was born of magic and rot, a force twisted by time and hate.Lily stood in the center of the living room barefoot, eyes glowing faintly. Her magic was awake. Not wild, not panicked—focused. Sharp. As if her blood had remembere

LilyThree days passed.Three days of silence and strategy.We had stayed at the mountain estate long enough to recover, but the time had come—we had to go back.The Greyhowl Estate wasn’t just a home. It was a seat of power, of legacy. And it held secrets we hadn’t yet unearthed.“Are you sure you’re ready for this?” Link asked, standing beside the SUV as I packed the last of our things.I nodded. “It’s time.”We traveled under cover of night. The road home twisted through fog-drenched hills and past memory-laden meadows. When the estate finally appeared, its dark silhouette rising against a stormy sky, I felt the shift deep in my bones.The Greyhowl Estate was waiting.We holed up in the east wing of the Greyhowl Estate—quiet, forgotten, undisturbed. Dax secured the perimeter, the rest of Link’s trusted circle dispatched across the territories to spread word of what had returned—who had returned.My mother’s face haunted me.And so did the truth she’d spoken.The Flameborn weren’t m

LilyThe world didn’t quiet after the bond.If anything, it roared.The morning after the wedding, I woke in his arms, tangled in silk sheets, his scent clinging to my skin like it belonged there. Because it did. And yet, even wrapped in warmth and safety, something darker pressed against the edges of my senses.Prophecy didn’t sleep.By the time we dressed, the Greyhowl Estate was already buzzing. Messages from allied packs had arrived overnight. Some pledged loyalty. Others offered wary congratulations. But one message stood out.The Council had summoned us.“They’ll want to test the bond,” Dax said, arms crossed as he leaned against the doorway.Link’s jaw tightened. “They’ll want to undermine it.”I rose from the chair in the war room, my fingers closing around the message scroll. “Let them try.”LinkThe council chamber was an ancient ruin rebuilt into a sanctum of old power—hollow stone walls humming with magic, etched with the symbols of every known pack.The Elders sat above u