Pain. That was the first thing I felt.
Not mine—his.
Ruvan's body jerked as the mark took hold. He didn't cry out. He didn't snarl. But I saw the tremble ripple through his spine, his hands curl into fists, the fine veins along his throat darken like ink spreading through ice.
And I felt everything.
His pulse slammed into mine. His instincts shoved against the hollow carved out by Kaelen's mark. Two wolves. Two brands. Two voices now whispering in my blood.
And neither of them knew how to share.
I stumbled backward, gasping.
Ruvan didn't follow.
He stayed still. Eyes shut. Muscles locked as the bond flared inside him, trying to root where it shouldn't. I saw his jaw tighten like he was clenching it against a scream.
Then his eyes opened.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said, voice low and hoarse.
"No one survives two bonds. Not even the marked one."
"I didn't come here to survive," I whispered.
"I came here to burn it down."
We didn't speak for a long time after that.
I sat beneath the blackbark tree with my arms wrapped around my knees, the wind sticky with pine and magic. The burn from both marks pulsed in waves. Kaelen's mark was heavier—like a chain yanked tight around my neck.
But Ruvan's…
His was different. It didn't pull. It called.
Subtle. Primal. A low hum beneath my skin, like the rhythm of my own heartbeat was syncing to his.
He didn't ask me why I'd done it.
He didn't tell me I was stupid or suicidal or cursed.
Instead, he watched.
That was almost worse.
When he finally moved, it was to light a fire.
No spark-stone, no lighter. Just flint and knuckle bones, like the rogues used. He knelt in silence, calloused fingers fast and sure. I didn't ask where he learned it.
I didn't need to.
This wasn't the first fire he'd built alone.
"You said you wanted to break him," he said eventually.
"I do."
"Marking me might not do that. It might just make him want you more."
I flinched.
"Let him want," I said. "Let him feel what I felt. To be bound to someone who doesn't love you. Doesn't even ask."
"And if I start to want you too?"
Silence. My throat dried. I looked up.
He wasn't smiling. He wasn't teasing.
He was warning me.
"Then I guess we'll both burn," I said.
His gaze didn't soften. But it didn't turn away, either.
"I don't do gentle, Eira."
"Good. Neither do I."
The wind shifted.
And that's when it happened.
I felt Kaelen.
Not a voice. Not words. Just… fury.
The bond between us tightened like a noose. My breath hitched. The mark he'd left on me throbbed red-hot, lashing against the second bond like a jealous lover. A threat.
Kaelen knew.
He felt what I'd done. Or maybe just that something was wrong. A tear in the magic. A second heartbeat where there should only be one.
"He's coming," I whispered.
Ruvan stood, already grabbing his coat.
"Then run."
But I didn't run.
Not yet.
"You're not coming?"
He shook his head.
"I'm not stupid. I know what Kaelen will do when he sees me. You're the bait now. That mark you gave me? That's your leash too. He'll follow you."
"And if he finds you—"
"He won't."
"You're his brother," I snapped. "He won't just stop hunting you."
Ruvan turned, eyes like stormlight breaking through ash.
"He can try."
He vanished into the trees before I could argue.
A whisper of shadow and muscle and scarred power, slipping into the underbrush like he belonged to the wild.
Which maybe he did.
But I wasn't wild. Not yet. I was still shackled to Kaelen.
So I ran.
The journey back to the edges of Thorneblood territory was brutal. Every step tugged at the bond. My stomach churned. My skin burned. The two marks were at war inside me.
I thought I'd pass out before I reached the ridge.
Instead, I stumbled face-first into Talia.
She caught me mid-collapse, arms hooking under mine with a strength I always forgot she had.
"Gods, Eira—what the hell happened to you?"
"Long story. Short version? I bit Kaelen's brother."
She stared.
Then blinked.
Then said:
"Well. That's one way to handle a toxic relationship."
She helped me back to her den—a low, warm space buried beneath moss and stone, hidden just far enough from the main pack village. No one but us came there anymore. It was a place for misfits. And girls with bite marks they didn't ask for.
Talia poured tea. I tried to drink it. Mostly I just stared into the steam and wondered what Kaelen was doing now.
Would he drag me before the Alpha council?
Would he kill Ruvan?
Would he kill me?
"So let me get this straight," Talia said, pacing.
"You ran off into rogue territory. Found the most dangerous exile in pack history. Bit him. Marked him. And now you're what—double bonded?"
"Yes."
"You absolute lunatic."
But her voice was proud beneath the panic.
She knelt beside me, took my hand, and whispered:
"I hope it hurts him. I hope it makes him scream."
I didn't reply.
But my wolf did.
She growled.
-
That night, I didn't sleep.
Not because I couldn't. But because the mark… changed.
Ruvan's bond was pulsing now. Gentle. Intrusive only in the way that heat intrudes—it fills the space you didn't know was cold.
I felt him.
Not his thoughts. Not words.
Just presence.
Quiet. Strong. Distant.
He wasn't trying to take. He was just there.
And that terrified me more than Kaelen ever had.
-
At sunrise, the Alpha summoned me.
They dragged me to the stone circle barefoot, still in Talia's cloak, hair unbrushed and soul untethered.
Kaelen stood at the center.
Eyes glowing.
Lips curled.
He already knew.
"Who touched you?" he asked, voice soft as frostbite.
I didn't answer.
He stepped forward, slow and dangerous.
"Tell me, Eira. Tell me who dared."
The mark he left on me throbbed hard. I gasped.
"You feel it, don't you?" he whispered. "The split. You gave yourself to another. Do you know what that makes you?"
"Free," I spat.
"It makes you mine, twice over."
The crowd stirred.
Eyes everywhere. Watching.
Waiting.
But I didn't tremble.
Because in that moment… I felt Ruvan again.
Far away. But burning.
The bond between us flared, hard and hot.
Kaelen blinked—startled.
He felt it too.
"His bond is growing," Kaelen growled. "I should've killed him years ago."
"You didn't," I said. "And now I did something worse."
"What?"
I smiled.
"I made him stronger."
Kaelen's hand flashed out.
But he didn't strike me.
He grabbed my wrist and pressed his thumb to the second bond pulsing beneath my skin.
He recoiled like it burned him.
"This isn't just a mark," he hissed.
"This is war."