Chapter 9 Marked by Pain

The night air was unnaturally still. It felt heavy, pressing down on my chest like a boulder. I should have gone to bed hours ago, but something kept me near the clearing at the edge of the Nightshade Pack's border, close to the moonlight filtering through the trees.

Aira was silent, as always. But tonight, her silence felt heavier. It felt like she was awake beneath my skin, pacing, and tense. I looked up at the blood moon rising higher, glowing crimson against the dark sky. Its presence clawed at something deep inside me.

I turned to leave. My bare feet brushed the cold grass when the first jolt of pain struck.

This wasn't the dull ache of shifting. No. This pain was sharp and raw, like a thousand needles piercing my shoulder at once. I gasped, stumbling forward, barely catching myself before I collapsed. My knees sank into the earth as the agony spread.

Then came the burn.

Heat seared through my left shoulder, so intense I screamed. My voice echoed into the night, wild and full of fear. I clawed at my tunic, my nails raking down my skin, trying to understand the fire racing through my veins.

I thought I was dying.

I writhed in the grass, breath heaving, until I caught a flicker of silver in my peripheral vision. I blinked through tears and looked down.

A glowing mark shimmered across my shoulder. Silver, fiery, and pulsing like it was alive. A rune-ancient and wild-etched itself into my skin. My heart thundered in my chest.

"What the hell is this?" I whispered, shaking.

The mark spread slowly, almost beautifully, like it had waited its whole life to be seen. The pain began to fade, replaced by something even more terrifying-a pull.

Something, or someone, was calling me.

Rustling in the woods caught my attention. I wasn't alone.

Pack members had heard my scream. I sensed them drawing near, their whispers carried by the breeze.

"She screamed. Did you hear it?"

"Something's wrong."

I tried to pull my tunic over the mark, but it glowed through the fabric, defiant and bright. My panic rose. I didn't want them to see.

Too late.

Three wolves shifted back into human form before my eyes-patrollers from the Nightshade Pack. Their eyes widened when they saw me.

"Is that...a mating mark?" one of them whispered.

I flinched.

"But she's an Omega!"

I felt their confusion morph into something uglier: accusation, suspicion, disgust.

"This must be a mistake," one murmured. "Maybe a curse."

"Or she's hiding something."

I could barely breathe. I wrapped my arms around myself as if that could shield me from their stares.

A mating mark?

I'd heard the stories. The mark appears when the Moon Goddess joins two fated souls. But that was a legend-something romantic, sacred.

Not...this.

The mark continued to thrum, steady as a heartbeat.

I ran.

I didn't care where I was going. I just needed to get away. Away from the whispers, the eyes, the way they looked at me like I was something other. I tore through the forest, heart pounding. The cold air stung my skin, but I didn't stop.

My feet took me to the old riverbank, where moonlight danced across the black water. I collapsed there, trembling.

"Why now?" I whispered.

I buried my face in my knees, trying to stifle the sob that broke free. My body still ached, my shoulder burned, and my mind raced with questions I had no answers for.

Aira? I called out silently.

But she didn't answer.

The moon loomed high above me now, painting everything in red. I could feel the world shifting around me. Something had awakened, and it wasn't just the mark.

It was me.

For the first time in my life, I felt it-power stirring beneath my skin. It wasn't fully mine yet, but it was there. And it scared me.

Because if I had power, people would come looking. People would ask why. And if they found out who I truly was, what I carried in my blood...

I didn't know if I would survive it.

By dawn, I hadn't slept. I'd tucked myself behind the thick roots of an old tree, the mark still glowing faintly beneath my sleeve. My skin was clammy, and every sound in the woods set my nerves on edge.

When the sun finally broke through the trees, I returned to the village.

The way people looked at me made it clear-word had already spread. I was marked, and no one knew what to think.

An Omega with a mating mark?

Impossible.

I passed Zara near the bakery. She stopped mid-step when she saw me, her eyes flicking to my shoulder as if she could see the mark through the fabric.

"Lyra," she said, too sweetly. "Rough night?"

I said nothing.

She smirked and stepped closer, lowering her voice. "Don't get too excited. Just because you have a mark doesn't mean anyone actually wants you."

I wanted to slap her. Or cry. Or both. But instead, I walked away.

Inside the healer's hut, I sat stiffly as Elder Myra examined the mark with a tight frown. Her fingers hovered above it, not quite touching.

"You've been claimed," she said quietly.

My mouth went dry. "Claimed? By who?"

She shook her head. "The mark only shows half the bond. The other half...we'll have to wait for."

She seemed worried. That didn't help.

"Is it dangerous?" I asked.

She hesitated. "The Blood Moon awakens old things. Prophecies. Power. It's no coincidence this happened tonight."

I met her gaze. "What prophecy?"

But Myra wouldn't say. She simply covered the mark with a salve and wrapped it with gauze.

"Go home, Lyra. Rest. You'll need it."

The walk back to my cottage felt like walking through a battlefield. Every eye was on me. Every conversation stopped when I passed. I'd never felt more exposed.

And I'd never been more afraid.

Because somewhere out there, someone now bore the other half of this mark.

And I had no idea who.

That night, I sat by my window, staring at the moon. It no longer looked like a friend.

I thought about my parents-what little I remembered of them. Had they known? Had they hidden me here to protect me from this fate?

The mark pulsed again, and I closed my eyes.

Aira, I whispered. Please. Say something.

But again, there was only silence.

Only me.

Only the blood moon.

And the mark that would change everything.