Chapter 10 The Luminous Mating Mark is Visible to Everyone

As I staggered backward, the sting of burning pain still reverberating from my shoulder, the world whirled in slow motion. For a moment, the roar of blood in my ears drowned out everything else as my breath caught in my throat. Then came the sharp, loud, and clearly shocked gasps.

"She has a mark."

"The mating symbol is that!"

"But she's an Omega-"

Like a storm, the murmurs swept through the assembled crowd. I blinked as I tried to concentrate despite the pain and adrenaline fog. Something hot pulsed beneath my skin as my shaking hand rose to my shoulder.

The silver, glowing brand was etched into me like living fire, and I could see it when I tugged at the fabric. It curled in an ancient, flowing script that I was unable to decipher as it shimmered in the moonlight. It was simultaneously terrifying and beautiful.

My knees gave way.

Everyone was watching me.

No one wanted to recognize me as the invisible Omega. The girl who lived in a half-burned cabin on the outskirts, cleaned up messes, and fetched water. And yet here I was, glowing like some selected godly artifact in the center of the gathering square under the full Blood Moon.

I felt like screaming. to sprint. To return to my shadows. However, I was immobile.

A voice yelled, "Alpha Harold." "What does this mean?"

Just now, the elder council had convened for the Blood Moon vigil. Their eyes were hard and unforgiving, and their robes fluttered in the wind. With bewilderment etched on each aged face, they glanced between me and my mark.

Alpha Harold, the leader of the Nightshade, stumbled, his eyes as wide as mine, "I-I don't know." "This... this was not anticipated."

It wasn't, of course. because I was never seen.

I muttered out loud to no one in particular, "I don't understand." Like dry leaves underfoot, my voice cracked.

Dimly, like a whisper in a storm, Aira stirred inside me.

Not just yet. But shortly.

My heart tightened. It had been years since she had spoken. I wasn't even sure whether the feelings I was experiencing were genuine or just illusions brought on by my panic. However, the message was there, woven through my nerves and blood: This is only the beginning.

Zara's grin cut through the confusion from the edge of the circle. She tilted her head in mocking interest, her arms folded across her chest, golden curls bouncing. That look was familiar to me. That glint of calculation. She wasn't the only one who thought that I had turned into a threat.

Slowly, the whispers sliced at me like a hundred tiny knives as I turned.

"The moon was enchanted by her."

"It is a ruse."

She might not be a wolf after all. She might be something else.

"Should we expel her?"

"Or keep her in check."

Keep me in check? As if I were sick? A ticking time bomb?

Alpha Harold took a step forward, his voice rigid. "Lyra Jackson, please leave the circle. We must assess this.

I stumbled backward. I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. How could I respond? I had no idea why the mark had appeared. That even I didn't get it? That I didn't choose to have this power and pain whirling inside of me?

The crowd abruptly broke up like reeds in the wind.

Heavy and magnetic, a new presence stepped into the room.

Caden.

Moonblade Pack Alpha Caden Kael.

His cloak trailed behind him like shadows as he walked with predatory grace, his piercing silver eyes fixed on me. I'm on my mark.

My chest constricted. I had never seen him up close before.

Dangerous, tall, and commanding.

The senses of my wolf pricked up. The air grew heavier. The world became silent.

Then he declared, "She is mine."

The impact of the words was greater than that of the mark.

There were gasps. My eyes went wide with shock. Each syllable of Caden's declaration pierced the confusion of the crowd with deadly certainty as it reverberated throughout the square.

Alpha Harold stepped forward, clearly shaken, and said, "Alpha Caden." "You can't just-"

"I can," Caden cut in, his voice unyielding. "Someone has claimed her. It is demonstrated by the mark.

"But she's-"

"-My friend."

With my knees trembling and my mouth parched, I gazed at him. His proximity caused the mark on my shoulder to flare. My skin knew who he was. I felt a deep longing for him. However, he wasn't giving me a loving glance. His voice lacked warmth. Only strategic, icy resolve.

A pawn. I was just that.

Zara stepped forward and hissed, "You can't mean to take her." She is nothing. She is unworthy.

Like a sword, Caden's eyes fell upon her. "But the moon doesn't agree."

The square became eerily quiet.

I wanted to be completely engulfed by the earth.

He moved slowly and deliberately, coming to a stop just a few inches away. I smelled him-power and war, cedar and ash. The mark grew brighter, and my skin shuddered.

My eyes met Caden's. Join me. Right now.

My voice got stuck in my throat. I wanted to talk, to debate, to inquire as to why. Why me? Why now? Why this?

I could only nod, though.

Suddenly, I was no longer invisible.

The Alpha claimed me as their mate.

However, I had never felt more alone in my life than I did in that moment, surrounded by wolves who now looked at me as though I were an alien, a prophecy, or a threat.

---

There was almost no sound during the trip to Moonblade territory.

Caden did not explain.

No solace.

Just a chilly order to obey.

I sensed it as soon as I stepped over the line into his territory-the scrutiny and condemnation in every look. Nightshade was nothing like Moonblade Pack. It was more severe. colder. Its wolves were dangerous and disciplined, trained like soldiers. And it was fate that pulled me in as the outsider.

I was shown to a guest chamber inside the Alpha's manor, a sprawling stone fortress on a hill.

Not a guard.

Nothing to say.

Without another look, Caden vanished into the night, leaving me by myself once more.

I sat on the bed's edge and gazed out the frost-covered window at the moon. Though less painful, the mark's pulse was still insistently alive. In the hopes that it would disappear, I touched it. that when I woke up, everything would be as it had been.

But I knew the truth in my heart.

It was no longer normal.

Everything had changed with the Blood Moon.

And things would never be the same again.