Marked By The Novels & Stories

I sat up abruptly, breath catching as I scanned the room. White walls. Dark wood. A single window set too high to reach. Not a cell. Not freedom either. My hand flew to my left shoulder. The bandage was gone. Bare skin greeted my fingers—and beneath it, the Mark. I didn’t need a mirror to know it was there. My body remembered. The symbol lived under my skin like a second pulse, faint but undeniable. A slow throb answered my touch. I pulled my hand away sharply. “No,” I whispered, more plea than command.

Then he turned. The movement was slow. Deliberate. As if he had all the time in the world and knew exactly what he was doing. And that's when I saw it. On his forehead—no, branded into his fur, burned into his flesh like a scar that had healed silver—was a mark. Or maybe it was just a birthmark, I couldn't tell from the distance. But it was unmistakable. Three crescents. Interlocked. Their tips pointing inward towards a center point that seemed to pulse with its own light, though that might have been a trick of the shadows.

“Are yours the same?” “Yes,” they reply simultaneously. “And you should stand up and look at your feet,” Axel says. I do as he says and gasp softly when I look at the ground. The symbol on our wrists is also edged into the ground. I gently rub my foot over the markings, but it does not disappear. “Everything is so obvious, and yet, I have a million questions,” I mutter. “I feel it too,” Kane says, taking my hand. “But I think we should keep this quiet. At least until we can comprehend this ourselves.”

He marked her. The whole p‌ack ha‍d felt‌ it. A faint r‍i⁠pple in the dark, like‍ a bell‍ ringin‍g in another cou​ntry. A mating mark. The o‍ldest bridge there is. Two bodies‍ bound by blood and t​e​eth and a love deep enough to open every door‌. A‌ mark s‍trong enou‌gh to carry‌ a curse.

What was that? The red eyes were still haunting my memory and to make everything worse, the mark on my wrist was burning from the inside like something was trying to crawl from inside my skin. I kept hiding the mark under my fingers, the skin was burning but I kept my focus on the street lights that welcomed us as we finally reached near home. I glanced at my mark for the first time after it had started burning, the mark had changed, it was no longer almost invisible shade of faint brown.

We barely got visitors in the house. “I’ll go get the door.” Dad said, practically jumping out of his seat before I could even think of moving a muscle. “Welcome Elders. Come in.” I heard him say from the door. Elders? I casually turned my neck to see, my blood freezing when my eyes landed on a mark I knew all too well. The steak suddenly soured in my mouth, and my stomach churned with acid. I tightened my jaw, trying to control the puke that threatened to escape.

Right now, I needed to know what I was. More than anything. "Okay," I breathed. I wasn't even sure how long I had been gone by now, and I didn't care. I rocked on my heels, antsy to hear more. The woman who reminded me of a living piece of flora continued. "The Mark of Sina has been given to you. It resides in the flesh right behind your ear. From afar it appears as a beauty mark, but if you appear closely, it is undoubtedly a crescent moon."

I swear that no matter what happens, my father will protect the pack until the last moment. More unanswered questions flooded my mind. If Mom was still around, she could find him. They were the mates, destined by the moon goddess, they can find each other by mindlink. But now, I can no longer get her help. I let myself bask in the memories until Jeff got out of the car and opened the door for me. "Nat!" Aunt Braelyn ran up to me and gave me a big hug, "Sweetie, how are you, I'm so happy to see you, I miss you so much!"

"No, that's too clean. She has a mark on her forehead; we think they are witches." "A mark?" "Yes, a cross and a ring." "The Guardians. They're back. Anything but them."

He had claimed her and for the rest of her life she would wear his mark just above her collar bone. She'd hardly noticed that her fingertips had trailed upward and were lightly touching the barely healed scars that fell a bit below the circular scar that wound about her neck. At least it had healed as it should, she thought with a sigh once she realized what she was doing, tilting her head back against the seat and allowing her eyes to close, her hand still pressed against the mark while Luca was apparently lost in his own thoughts.