The Marked Ones Book Novels & Stories

she explained, her voice tinged with irritation and cringe. "Hold on," Darren said, rushing inside and returning with a book. He frantically flipped through the pages, scanning each one until he stumbled across an image. "Here, Lucas. It looks like this," he said, showing the book to him. Lucas studied the page, his face growing more serious. "I wanna see too," Claire said, moving closer. They lowered the book to let her see. The image depicted a similar mark, accompanied by a description that sent chills down their spines.

'I got this' I assured him. "Would you like to tell me about your mate?" I asked changing the topic. "What has that got to do with this?" He asked. "Is she tall and beautiful? Dark haired? kind and sweet?" I teased him waiting for a reaction and I wasn't disappointed. He struggled to break free from the chain but it only burned him more. Something told me it was silver. "She is dead" he lied. In the book I was reading when the mate of a mated wolf dies the mate mark begins to slowly fade. But his was still burning.

She finally looked up at me, and the expression on her face was enough to tell me this was not something simple. “I think I found it,” she said quietly. I dropped my own books and stepped closer to her. “Show me.” She turned the book toward me, her finger pointing to the markings drawn on the page, and the moment I saw them, I knew. They matched perfectly. My eyes moved over the text beside it, reading quickly, absorbing every detail, history and name tied to it, and as the meaning settled in, my smile returned, slow and deliberate. “Those markings were made by a hybrid,” I said softly.

Colin comes in, a wave of surprise hits me, but before I can say anything, Shawn follows him in. “You're here already, Eva.” Colin said, acknowledging me, a wide smile on his lips. “Not too long ago.” I replied, returning the smile. I sneak a glance at Shawn. He watched me like a hawk. Like he knew what I'd been doing. My eyes slowly stray to the big book, just to be sure I had actually closed it. The golden back rested heavily on the rest of the book, “The Codex Luporum” deeply engraved on it, you could pour water in it, and it'll sit comfortably.

But clear. The fire dimmed with each brand. The stone darkened with each cut. When the last wolf cast their choice, Rhun stepped forward. The tension was a breath held by every chest. “The fire bears thirty-three marks,” he said. I didn’t move. “The stone bears thirty-one.” The silence cracked. Not with sound, but with relief. I had held the seat. By two votes. But that wasn’t what stopped my breath. It was the realization that someone had voted against me from inside my own command circle.

Lunessa's POV “No. No, no. This can't be happening…” I whispered. I shut my eyes tightly. Just a trick of the light, but when I opened them again, the mark was still there. A mating mark, but not just any mark. This one was different. It didn’t resemble the marks I’d seen on others, it shimmered faintly beneath my skin, pulsing with an unfamiliar energy. I collapsed to the floor. What kind of twisted joke was this? Who disappears after a night like that, leaving nothing but a mark that felt like it bound my soul?

When he finds what he’s looking for, he holds the letter up, putting it close to the bones, then pulling it away again. “Take a look at this,” he says. I squat down beside him. “See those marks in the rib bones.” “Yes,” I say. He takes the paper and turns it until I can see what he’s showing me. The marks are the same width apart, and there are scratches on the several ribs where Althea’s claws scraped across Derrick’s ribs when she stabbed him.

“I will… I will…” She hugged me again, even tighter. As she held me, the mark on my chest suddenly grew hot. It was so hot that I flinched.Then, without warning, a bright light burst from my chest and filled the entire court. Gasps filled the room. Everyone shielded their eyes as the light grew stronger until the whole hall glittered. The darkness outside even faded as if the sun had returned. “What is happening?” someone whispered. “She’s glowing!” another elder shouted. Then someone cried out, “She’s the Marked Luna!”

Mark waited until the door closed, then exhaled slowly and reopened the folder. The last page stared back at him—a simple line, typed clean and damning: Extraction scheduled upon confirmation of Mark Romano’s removal. Mark closed the file. “Watch him,” he repeated to the empty room. “Not killed.” Yet.

For one stupid second, my mind goes straight to Zahra. I take in the girl. She's pretty enough, in a manufactured, plastic kind of way. Fake tits. Hair extensions in platinum blonde. She leers at me, showing off her mark. I look at it. Instead of the beautiful, extravagant filigree of most marks I've seen, like the ones my friends all wear, unique to each mated couple and incorporating elements of both of them, this one is small, with little detail. It's not much more than a black circle with a few dots on it.