Chapter 2 THE MARK THAT SHOULDN'T

The last thing I expected when I arrived in Black Hollow was a wolf.

The second last thing?

That it would bow.

That happened three days ago-before the standoff with the Alpha, before I told him I was a queen, and before every bone in my body whispered, Run, Aria, before they find out what you really are.

But I didn't run.

Because I needed answers. And Kael Ryker-whether he liked it or not-was going to give them to me.

It started the night I turned seventeen.

There was no cake. No candles. Just me, a roadside bus, and the whisper of pine trees as the driver dropped me off in the middle of nowhere.

"Stay out of the woods," he muttered. "And don't look at the moon too long."

I thought he was crazy. Until I did both.

The first howl came at midnight. Low. Lonely. Then another. And another.

By morning, I had the mark.

A curved crescent, like a burned-in promise, wrapped around my wrist. Glowing faintly in the dark. And my heartbeat had never felt the same since.

That was three nights ago.

Now I was here-in Kael's territory-watched by wolves who shifted faster than shadows and spoke in growls more than words. They didn't trust me. I didn't trust them.

But Kael hadn't killed me.

Yet.

Instead, he had me watched. Held in a cabin near the pack's edge. No chains. No cage. Just four walls and a silent guard who never spoke.

I spent my time drawing circles in the dust, pretending not to notice the whispers outside.

"She doesn't smell like us."

"Then what is she?"

"She challenged the Alpha."

"She shouldn't be alive."

They weren't wrong.

On the fourth day, Kael came back.

He opened the door without knocking. His presence sucked the air out of the room like a storm arriving early.

"Where did you get the mark?" he asked.

I looked up from the window. "Does it matter?"

"It matters to the wolves who would kill for it."

I stood slowly. "So why haven't you?"

His jaw tightened. "Because I don't kill without knowing what I'm killing."

I took a step toward him. "Maybe I'm not here to die."

He took one too. "Then what are you here for?"

I didn't answer. Not directly.

"I want to know why I can hear your wolves howl before they do."

Kael paused.

"And why I knew your name before I ever heard it spoken."

That got his attention.

He looked at me like I'd pulled a knife from my back pocket and stabbed the air between us.

"You dream of me?" he asked, voice like frost.

"No," I whispered. "I remember you."

Suddenly, the room shifted. A jolt of memory cracked open behind my eyes.

Flames.

A silver wolf chained in fire.

A boy screaming my name-

"Aria!"

Then darkness.

I gasped. Gripped the wall. Kael was beside me in seconds, steadying me, his hand catching mine by instinct.

When our skin touched, the mark on my wrist burned.

Literally.

He let go like he'd been stung.

"You're not human," he muttered.

"I never said I was."

Outside, the wind picked up. A long, distant howl echoed through the trees.

But this one didn't belong to Kael's pack.

He heard it too.

"Rogues," he said under his breath.

Then, to me: "If they find you first, they'll rip you apart just to taste that blood."

I lifted my chin. "Then maybe you should decide what I'm worth."

He looked at me-like he wanted to hate me, fear me, and protect me all at once.

And finally, he spoke.

"Pack meeting. Sundown. You're coming."

"Why?"

"Because they think you're prey," Kael said.

Then, darkly:

"And I need them to see who the real predator is."

I watched him walk away, the door swinging behind him.

But I wasn't thinking about Kael anymore.

I was thinking about the other Alpha.

The one from the flames.

The one who whispered my name... before I was ever born