CHAPTER THREE — THE ALPHA'S MARK
I didn't stop running.
Not when branches whipped against my arms.
Not when sharp rocks cut into my bare feet.
Not even when my lungs burned like fire.
Because behind me somewhere behind me Declan Storm was still in the forest.
Still my Alpha.
Still my nightmare.
Still my mate.
The last word made my stomach twist so violently I nearly tripped over an exposed root.
My mate.
No. No, it wasn't possible shouldn't be possible. The Moon Goddess had a cruel sense of humor if she'd paired me with him. The only boy who ever made me feel small. The one who laughed when I fell. Who smirked when I cried. Who made my years in Ridge Academy feel like a cage within a cage.
No way that boy grew into the man I'd just seen.
And no way fate would tie me to someone who once treated me like a joke.
But my wolf didn't care about history. She didn't understand humiliation or grudges or pride. She only knew the bond.
And she was still crying for him inside my chest.
Shut up, I snapped at her.
She whimpered.
Great. Now I felt guilty for yelling at my own soul-animal. That was how broken this situation already was.
I finally slowed when I reached a creek one I recognized. The water shimmered under the moonlight, running lazily over smooth stones. My old escape spot from childhood. A place nobody ever followed me to.
Except… now I had no guarantee of that.
I spun, scanning the trees. Listening for footsteps. For breathing. For the sound of branches snapping beneath a hunter's weight.
Silence.
Only the trickling of water.
Only the distant hoot of an owl.
Only my own frantic heartbeat.
I wrapped my arms around my chest and leaned against a maple tree, forcing oxygen into my lungs.
Think.
Think, Aria.
If Declan had known I was his mate… he hadn't shown it before. He'd barely looked at me back then except to tease, annoy, or misunderstand everything I said or did.
So this wasn't something he'd known for years.
It must've hit him tonight.
Just like it hit me.
That was the only mercy the Goddess gave me the assurance he wasn't sitting on this knowledge for years while I suffered.
Small comfort.
I sank down onto a flat stone, dipping my toes into the cold stream. The shock of the icy water grounded me, pulling me away from the spiraling panic and back into my body.
I stayed like that for a while.
Breathing.
Watching the ripples spread across the surface.
Trying not to think about silver eyes or Alpha growls or the way Declan said my name like it meant something.
The forest eventually settled around me, peaceful again.
Too peaceful.
Which meant it was time to go home.
If he was still out here, he would've caught me by now.
He wasn't the clumsy bully from school anymore. He had control now too much control. He'd let me run because he chose to.
That realization made something cold sink into my stomach.
Declan Storm didn't lose anything he truly wanted.
And tonight… he'd looked at me like he wanted something.
Nope. Not going there.
I stood, brushing off dirt and leaves, and began the long walk back.
The moon was high overhead by the time the forest thinned and the houses of Blackwood Ridge came into view. Most lights were dark except for a few porch lamps glowing like watchful eyes.
My house was one of them.
Warm golden light spilled from the windows.
But something felt wrong.
The air was too tense. Too still. Too charged.
I frowned, stepping carefully onto the driveway.
The moment I reached the porch, the front door swung open.
My mother stood there.
Her eyes were red.
She'd been crying.
Mom never cried.
"Where have you been?" her voice cracked in a way I'd never heard. "Aria what happened? Why were you gone so long?"
My chest clenched. "I just went running."
"Running?" She looked me over my scraped shins, my torn hoodie, my dirty feet. "Like this?"
"I shifted," I admitted.
She shut her eyes.
Of course she knew what that meant.
Wolves didn't shift at night without purpose unless they were running toward or away from something.
I stepped inside, and Mom closed the door immediately, locking it. Then bolting it. Then sliding the chain.
"Mom," I said softly, "what's going on?"
She didn't answer. Not right away. She wiped her cheeks, inhaled shakily, and smoothed her blouse like she could iron her emotions into submission.
"Sit," she said.
I obeyed, mostly because I was too tired not to.
She sat across from me.
Then she said the last thing I expected:
"Did you see him?"
My breath hitched. "Who?"
Her eyes narrowed sharply. "Don't play games with me, Aria. You know exactly who."
I swallowed hard. "I don't want to talk about it."
She leaned forward. "You must."
"No." I stood abruptly. "Not tonight."
She stood too fast. "Aria, look at me."
I didn't.
Because if I looked at her, I'd break. And if I broke, I'd admit the truth. And if I admitted the truth…
Everything would change.
Too late.
Mom grabbed my shoulders, her eyes wild.
"You saw him," she whispered. "Didn't you?"
I looked away.
Mom exhaled a broken sound half sob, half curse.
"Oh Moon," she whispered. "I hoped prayed you wouldn't cross paths with him so soon."
"Why?" I whispered. "Why does it matter?"
Mom let go of my shoulders.
And her next words chilled me.
"Because Declan Storm cannot have a mate. Not now. Not with what's coming."
Before I could ask what she meant, a deep voice spoke from the doorway.
"She's right."
I jumped.
Tasha stood beside Owen, both pale and tense, but behind them
Alpha Marcus himself stepped into the room.
Tall. Severe. Unreadable.
My blood iced.
He looked at me like one would examine a weapon. Or a threat.
I stood there frozen as Alpha Marcus moved closer, his presence heavy enough to steal breath from the lungs.
"Aria," he said with a nod. "We need to talk."
Mom looked like she wanted to argue, but she bowed instead. "Alpha."
He glanced at her with something almost like pity, then back at me. "Your return complicates matters."
"I didn't ask to return."
"And yet you're here." His voice softened not kindly, but knowingly. "Did you see the wolf tonight?"
I didn't speak.
That was enough of an answer.
Alpha Marcus exhaled, turning to Owen. "Fetch him."
My heart lurched.
"No," I said instantly. "No. I don't"
"It's already done," Marcus said. "A bond cannot be ignored. And neither can the consequences."
"What consequences?"
He hesitated.
Then he said the last thing I expected:
"The one who bonds with an Alpha heir becomes a target."
My mother's breath caught again.
Tasha grabbed Owen's arm.
Alpha Marcus continued, voice low. "There are forces moving against this pack forces that would do anything to weaken my son before the succession."
Declan. He was talking about Declan.
My pulse thundered.
"And you," Marcus said quietly, "have just become his greatest weakness."
I staggered back.
"No," I whispered. "No, I don't accept this. I didn't choose him. I don't want the bond"
"It doesn't matter what you want," Marcus said. "It exists."
Mom sank into a chair, her hands trembling.
"Can it be undone?" she asked, voice barely audible.
Marcus looked at her with grim resignation. "Only through death."
My breath caught.
Death.
That word echoed through me like a struck bell.
"Aria," my mother whispered, reaching for my hand. "Listen to me. You cannot must not stay near him. The enemy will come for you."
My throat closed.
"What enemy?" I whispered.
Marcus answered:
"The ones who killed his brother."
The room froze.
"What?" My voice trembled. "Declan's brother died in a rogue attack years ago."
"That's what we told the pack," Marcus said, jaw clenching. "But it wasn't rogues. It was something far older. Far darker. And it hasn't stopped hunting us."
I stared at him in shock.
Mom's earlier fear suddenly made sense.
Her insistence I stay inside.
The tension in the air.
The warnings.
The secrecy.
None of this was random.
And I had walked right into the center of it.
A knock sounded at the front door.
Three slow, deliberate raps.
My heart jumped into my throat.
"He's here," Owen murmured.
My wolf surged so violently I stumbled. The pull of the bond snapped taut electric, painful, overwhelming.
He was close.
Too close.
Alpha Marcus stepped aside.
My mother gripped my wrist.
"Aria," she whispered urgently, "whatever happens… do not agree to anything he says tonight. Do not let him claim you. Do not let him mark you. Promise me."
Another knock.
Harder this time.
My wolf growled deep and low wanting the door opened.
Wanting him.
"I" My voice broke. "Mom, I don't"
"Promise me."
But before I could answer, Owen unlocked the door.
It creaked open slowly.
Moonlight spilled in.
And there he stood.
Declan Storm.
Barefoot. Shirtless. Muscles tense. Silver eyes burning with something feral and raw.
His gaze locked onto mine instantly.
The bond snapped like a whip between us.
Everyone else faded.
The house.
The fear.
The warnings.
Only him.
He stepped across the threshold.
"Aria," he said, voice hoarse and dangerous, "we need to talk."
Everyone in the room tensed.
But I couldn't move.
Couldn't breathe.
Could only stare.
Because the last thing I saw before the chapter ended
Was the faint shimmer of a half-formed mark glowing on his collarbone.
A mate's mark.
My mark.
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