The forest doesn't ask questions.
It swallows me whole.
Branches whip past my flanks as I run, paws pounding earth slick with moonlight and shadows. My breath comes fast and sharp, steam curling from my muzzle as the wind screams in my ears.
Run.
Run faster.
Don't stop.
My wolf howls in wild exhilaration, drunk on freedom, on power, on finally existing without permission.
"This is ours," she growls, fierce and breathless. "The dark. The distance. The space between us and them."
Between us and him.
The bond stretches, tight, aching, furious, but it no longer yanks me backward. It pulses instead, like a wounded thing learning it has been abandoned.
Good.
Let it hurt.
I leap over fallen logs, duck beneath low branches, push deeper until the forest thickens and the air grows heavy with old magic. The sounds of the pack, howls, footfalls, voices, fade behind me, swallowed by distance and terrain.
Only when my lungs burn and my muscles scream do I slow.
I skid to a stop in a hollow ringed by ancient trees, their trunks wide and scarred, roots twisting like the bones of something long buried. Moonlight barely reaches the ground here. The shadows feel alive.
Watching.
Judging.
Home.
I lower myself to the earth, chest heaving.
Silence presses in.
For a long moment, I just exist.
No hands grabbing.
No voices sneering.
No expectations crushing my ribs.
Just breath.
Just fur.
Just me.
My wolf paces inside my skin, restless but alert. "This place is old," she murmurs. "Old enough to remember when wolves like us walked freely."
"Marked wolves," I whisper into the dirt.
The word still feels unreal.
I lift my head and glance down at my side. Even through my fur, the golden patterns glow faintly, pulsing in time with my heartbeat. They itch, not painfully, but insistently. Like something unfinished.
Like a door half-open.
"What are we?" I ask.
My wolf snorts. "Alive. That's more than they ever wanted for us."
Bitterness coils tight in my chest.
Memories surface uninvited.
Cold stares at the dinner table.
Whispers that stopped when I entered a room.
My sister's smile, sweet on the surface, sharp underneath.
Kade's laughter when I fell.
Kade's voice calling me weak.
Useless.
Nothing.
I bare my teeth at the memory.
"He doesn't get to kneel now," I growl. "Not after everything."
"No," my wolf agrees. "He doesn't."
But there's hesitation in her voice.
It irritates me.
"What?" I snap.
She sighs, settling beside my thoughts. "You felt it. His fear. Not for himself. For you."
"So?" I bite back. "Fear doesn't erase damage."
"No," she says softly. "But it changes the shape of it."
I don't respond.
Because the truth is, I did feel it.
The way his hands trembled when he knelt.
The way his voice cracked when he begged.
The way his wolf bowed to mine without hesitation.
Submission.
Not demanded.
Offered.
It messes with my head.
I shake myself violently, fur rippling. "Enough. We don't need him. We never did."
My wolf doesn't argue.
Instead, she lifts her head sharply.
"Someone's here."
My body tenses instantly.
I whirl, hackles rising, a low warning growl vibrating in my chest. The shadows shift between the trees.
Then a figure steps forward.
Not a wolf.
An old woman.
She moves slowly, leaning on a twisted staff carved with symbols that make the marks on my ribs flare brighter. Her hair is silver-white, braided down her back, eyes sharp and knowing.
She smells like smoke, earth, and something ancient.
I bare my fangs.
She stops at the edge of the clearing, unafraid.
"Easy, little star," she says calmly. "If I meant you harm, you'd already be bleeding."
My growl deepens.
The woman smiles. "Ah. Yes. That's the reaction I expected."
My wolf bristles. "She knows."
"I see many things," the woman says, as if hearing her. Her gaze drops to my glowing marks. "Including legends that were never meant to wake."
I take a cautious step back.
The woman lifts a hand, not threatening, not commanding. Gentle.
"I am Elder Maera," she says. "And you, child, are very far from where you should be."
Anger flashes hot. "I don't have a place I should be."
Her eyes soften. "That is the lie they fed you."
The marks on my ribs burn hotter.
I snarl despite myself.
Maera nods, unsurprised. "Yes. There it is. The Mark responding to truth."
I circle her warily. "If you're here to drag me back, "
"I'm here to offer you a choice," she interrupts.
I pause.
Choice.
The word feels foreign.
She taps her staff against the ground. The earth hums in response. "The pack will not accept you. Not fully. They will fear what they cannot cage."
My jaw tightens.
"You already know this," she continues. "Which is why you ran."
I don't deny it.
"But running forever will tear you apart," Maera says. "The bond will weaken you. The Mark will burn you hollow without guidance."
My wolf shifts uneasily.
"What guidance?" I ask.
Maera's smile turns sharp. "Mine. Or his."
Rage explodes through me. "I will never, "
"Listen," she snaps, sudden steel in her voice. "This is bigger than your hatred. Bigger than your pain."
She steps closer. The air thickens, pressure rolling off her like a storm.
"You are a convergence," she says. "A wolf born without a wolf. A mate bond formed in betrayal. A Mark that hasn't surfaced in centuries."
My heart pounds.
"What happens if I refuse?" I ask hoarsely.
Maera studies me for a long moment. "Then the council will hunt you. The Alpha-to-be will defy them. Blood will spill."
Kade.
The bond pulses, sharp and furious.
"And if I accept?" I whisper.
"Then you disappear," Maera says. "For a time. You learn what you are. You decide who you will be."
Hope flickers, dangerous and bright.
"Where?" I ask.
She turns, gesturing toward the deeper forest. "There is a sanctuary beyond the ravine. Old magic. No pack law. No chains."
My wolf leans forward eagerly.
"But," Maera adds, eyes narrowing, "he will come for you."
I stiffen. "I won't let him."
"You won't have to," she says. "The bond will."
Silence stretches between us.
I think of Kade's bowed head.
Of his shaking hands.
Of the way he didn't chase me.
I swallow.
"Then let him try," I say coldly.
Maera smiles, satisfied. "Good. You're stronger than they ever knew."
She turns and begins walking away.
I hesitate only a second before following.
Behind us, far away, a lone howl rises, raw, broken, defiant.
Kade.
My chest tightens, but I don't stop.
Because this time, I'm not running from him.
I'm running toward myself.
And if he wants to find me,
He'll have to survive the monster he helped create.