THE MOONMARK: Bound to the alpha he feared

The snow bit into her skin like teeth.

Aria Elwood ran through the edge of the Hollow Pines, her breath fogging in the frozen night. Her cloak was torn, her feet bare, but she didn't stop, she didn't want to give up. Not when the howls were growing closer. Not when the ground trembled beneath heavy paws.

They had found her again.

Her heart slammed against her ribs as she leapt over a root, barely missing a rock jutting from the icy path. Branches clawed at her arms, slicing her skin. She welcomed the sting. Pain reminded her she was alive.

She hadn't come this far to die now.

...

"Moonmarked!" a voice snarled from behind, laced with hatred. "You can't run from fate!"

Aria's pulse spiked. Fate. They all used that word like a blade to the throat.

But they didn't know what it was like-to be hunted for something she never asked for. Born with a mark that glowed silver under moonlight, shaped like a crescent dagger just below her shoulder blade. They believed it cursed.

They believed it killed.

She had watched her mother's body burn because of it. Watched her father disappear into the woods and never return, she became an orphan.

Now, she was alone. Again.

Until the shadows ahead shifted-and everything went still.

A single figure stepped into her path, tall and unmoving.

Aria skidded to a halt, eyes wide. Her breath hitched.

An Alpha.

She didn't need to see his aura to know. It radiated from him like heat off fire. Power. Authority. The type that made lesser wolves drop to their knees. He was dressed in black, his cloak lined with wolf fur, silver armor strapped to his shoulders.

But it wasn't his presence that made her stumble back, trembling.

It was his eyes.

Frost-blue. Piercing. And locked onto her like she was prey.

"You're her," he said, voice low and emotionless. "The Moonmarked girl."

Her blood turned to ice.

"Please," she rasped. "I didn't hurt anyone. I never-"

Before she could finish, the Alpha moved. Fast as lightning, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her forward. She gasped, bracing for pain, for death-anything.

But nothing happened.

No burst of power. No curse. No blood.

His hand stayed wrapped around hers. Skin to skin.

And he was still breathing.

Still alive.

...

The Alpha looked down at their hands, frowning.

That wasn't supposed to happen.

"She touched me," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "And I didn't die."

Aria stared, just as confused. No one had touched her skin in five years. Every Alpha who tried-

They either fell sick or went mad.

Except him.

"Who are you?" she whispered.

...

The Alpha stepped closer, tilting her chin up with a rough finger. His gaze pierced her soul.

"I'm Kael Dreven. Alpha of the Nightfang Pack. You've just become my problem."

...