The forest devours me whole as I run.
Moonlight streaks through the branches, painting my half-shifted form in trembling silver. My lungs burn, my heart ricochets against my ribs, and my bones grind as they try to choose a shape.
Everything inside me is chaos.
Pain.
Heat.
Instinct.
My wolf pacing in circles, snarling to be let out.
"You can't keep fighting this," she snaps inside my mind. "Shift before you break."
"I can't," I gasp. "Not here. Not now."
"Stupid girl. You already started. Finish it or collapse."
The ground blurs beneath my feet. My vision flickers between human clarity and animal sharpness. Colors bloom too brightly, shadows lurch too deeply.
And behind me,
behind me I feel him.
Kade.
The mate bond reaches across the forest like a burning thread. With every step I take, every breath I pull in, the tug grows sharper, as if begging me to slow down, to turn around, to,
No.
I won't look back.
I won't go to him.
He is the one thing I can never have, never trust, never forgive.
Even if the bond claws at my insides.
Even if it feels like someone is pulling my soul through a needle's eye every time the distance between us widens.
I press both hands against the nearest tree trunk, bending over as another wave of heat slams into me. A broken gasp tears from my throat.
My wolf snarls.
"Let me out!"
"No, !"
My knees hit the forest floor.
My fingers dig into the dirt. My spine arches until something cracks. White-hot electricity pulses under my skin, thrumming against the mark glowing faintly on my ribs.
A Marked wolf.
What does that even mean?
My vision blacks out at the edges.
Then,
A howl tears through the forest.
Low.
Raw.
Painful.
Kade.
The sound hits me harder than the shift itself. The bond jerks violently, yanking at my chest, dragging tears to my eyes against my will.
"No," I whisper. "No, stop. I don't want, "
But my wolf whimpers at the sound.
"He is hurting. Because of us."
"Good," I snap.
My wolf growls. "Liar."
Another wave of heat rolls over me, so intense I choke on it. My bones feel like molten metal being reshaped by invisible hands. My jaw stretches painfully.
It's happening.
It's really happening.
"Aurora!"
Kade's voice crashes through the trees like a storm.
I force myself upright, staggering, swaying. My legs buckle a second time. Panic claws at my throat.
No.
No witnesses.
Not him.
He can't see me like this. Not while I'm trembling, weak, vulnerable, pulled apart by a gift I don't understand.
I stumble deeper into the forest, clinging to trees as my vision warps and twists. The moon overhead burns brighter, brighter, brighter,
My wolf shoves forward suddenly.
"Move."
She surges upward, flooding my veins with power. My heart slams. My bones crack. The world tilts.
I fall,
And my body breaks open.
The shift rips through me like a tidal wave.
I scream, or maybe I howl, or maybe I do both.
My limbs contort. My skin crawls and tears and reforms. My spine snaps and realigns. My jaw stretches, teeth sharpening into fangs. My muscles coil with a strength I have never known.
Golden light erupts beneath my skin,
pouring through me in thick, luminous veins.
The mark on my ribs glows brightly, burning like molten moonfire.
I hit the ground, chest heaving, vision swimming,
And when I look up…
Everything is sharper.
Every sound.
Every scent.
Every heartbeat echoing in the forest.
Including his.
Kade bursts into the clearing just as the last of the shift settles over my bones.
I stand fully on four legs, fur brushing against the wind, senses heightened to painful clarity. My wolf's heartbeat merges with mine as we rise to our full height.
My paws sink into the earth. The world feels both familiar and new.
I am wolf.
Finally.
Fully.
Kade stops dead.
His breath leaves him in a single, gutted exhale.
"Goddess," he whispers.
His eyes are wide, shining with awe and fear.
Because I am not a normal wolf.
My fur is dark, but threaded with glowing gold patterns, like runes, like marks, like ancient script written across my silhouette. My aura hums with an otherworldly pulse, the same magic that had blasted him backward earlier.
A Marked wolf.
He takes a shaky step forward, voice breaking. "Aurora… Rory… look at me."
My ears flatten.
A warning.
He stops instantly.
But his wolf pushes through his eyes, wild, desperate, trembling. The mate bond coils around us like a rope, tightening with every breath we share.
He whispers, "You're beautiful."
A growl rips itself from my chest.
He flinches at the sound.
But instead of backing away,
he kneels.
His head bows.
Submission.
To me.
My breath catches in my throat. My wolf stops snarling, startled, thrown off balance. She wasn't expecting that.
Neither was I.
"Aurora," Kade murmurs, voice cracking, "I'm not here to claim you. I'm not here to control you. I just… I just needed to make sure you were safe."
Safe.
The word sinks under my skin, unsettling something buried deep.
People don't worry about my safety. Not ever. Not once.
The moon pulses overhead. My muscles twitch. My wolf wants to pace, to run, to tear through the woods and feel freedom for the first time.
But Kade's scent, sharp pine and storm, keeps pulling at me.
His shoulders tremble.
His voice drops lower.
"Please don't run from me again."
I bare my teeth.
His eyes shine with a pain so real it almost looks human. "I know I don't deserve forgiveness. And I know you hate me, and you have every right to. But I can't let you face this alone. Not with the Mark. Not with the pack already whispering."
I freeze.
The pack knows?
His jaw tightens. "They felt the burst of power. They're looking for you. The elders… they're frightened. They're already calling a council meeting."
Fear slides cold through my veins.
Marked wolves aren't just rare, they're myths. Legends. Rumors. No one actually believed they existed.
No one ever said what happened if one appeared.
"Aurora," Kade whispers, "they won't understand you. They won't trust you. And if they think you're dangerous…"
He swallows hard.
"…they will try to control you. Or destroy you."
My wolf snarls at that, hackles raised.
And Kade, Kade looks at me like he'd burn the world for my safety, even if I never forgive him.
"Let me protect you," he murmurs. "Just until we understand what you are."
I take a step back.
His face crumples.
"Please," he chokes out. "I'm begging you. Don't walk away."
The mate bond throbs painfully at his desperation, a pulse that hits me square in the heart.
I could run.
I should run.
But the forest is no longer empty.
Howls echo in the distance, multiple wolves, the search party growing closer.
Kade stiffens.
"They're coming," he whispers.
His eyes lock onto mine, frantic, pleading, terrified.
"Choose, Aurora."
I lower my head, golden marks glowing in the moonlight.
And then,
I run.
Not toward him.
Not away from him.
Into the heart of the forest.
Where no one will find me.
Where no one can control me.
Where my Marked wolf can breathe.
And behind me, Kade staggers, gripping a tree to steady himself as the bond twists painfully.
He whispers my name like a broken prayer.
"Aurora…"
And for the first time tonight,
He doesn't chase me.