The Cold Mark
The hallway reeked of blood and dominance.
Not just the metallic tang of spilled life — but the stench of cruelty etched into the very stones beneath her bare feet.
Seraphina followed the smears with silent steps, her heartbeat calm, her expression cold as frostbitten steel.
Every drop whispered a story of pain — and her wolf strained to listen.
The door at the end of the corridor was massive, carved from shadowwood and decorated with snarling fangs, symbols of pride and punishment in the ShadowFang Pack.
She pushed it open without knocking.
What met her eyes wasn't surprising — but it still made her stomach coil with rage.
A young boy, barely thirteen by the looks of him, knelt on the stone floor, his arms sliced with crude, shallow cuts that bled freely down to his fingertips.
Two warriors stood over him, smirking like they'd just won a game.
"You call yourself a wolf?" one of them sneered, nudging the boy's shoulder with the toe of his boot.
The boy whimpered.
Seraphina stepped forward, her eyes cold and unblinking, her aura shifting like a silent storm about to break.
They noticed her — finally.
One warrior turned, eyebrows raised in amusement.
"Well, well," he drawled.
"Did the Alpha send you to fetch the brat's bones?"
His companion laughed, a sound like shattered glass.
But Seraphina didn't laugh.
She didn't speak.
She simply moved.
Her hand snapped out like lightning, seizing the first warrior's wrist and twisting it with a sickening crunch that made the boy gasp.
The man howled in pain, dropping to his knees.
The second didn't even have time to react before her boot slammed into his ribs, sending him flying backward into the wall with a thud that echoed like thunder in a cave.
Silence fell.
The boy stared at her with wide, terrified eyes.
She turned to him, kneeling so their eyes met.
"What's your name?" she asked, her voice calm, but sharp enough to cut.
"A–Alric," he stammered, trembling.
"You're not weak, Alric," she said softly, her tone laced with steel and something warmer — something that tasted like protection.
"Now go."
He ran.
Fast.
Faster than fear itself.
She rose slowly, turning back to the groaning warriors.
Her eyes burned with silent warning.
"If I see you near him again," she whispered, "I'll tear your throats out with a smile."
She left them bleeding.
Behind her, the air was heavy with her promise.
But as she stepped out into the corridor, a tall figure blocked her path.
Kael.
He leaned against the wall like a shadow sculpted into man, arms crossed, golden eyes unreadable.
"You weren't sent there," he said coolly, voice devoid of anger but laced with something worse — curiosity.
"I don't care."
His brows arched slightly, amused.
"You act like you own this place."
"I act like I don't fear you."
He stepped closer, his scent brushing against her senses like a slow burn.
Most wolves would've bowed under that pressure.
But she didn't flinch.
She met his gaze with one that promised storms.
"There are rules here," he said.
"I don't follow yours."
"Then maybe it's time someone taught you what happens to wolves who defy their Alpha."
A beat passed.
She smiled.
It wasn't warm.
"Maybe it's time someone taught this Alpha he can't cage a wildfire."
He didn't smile back.
His hand shot forward — not to strike, but to grasp her chin, firm and deliberate, tilting her face toward his.
"You belong to me now," he said, voice low, dangerous, and dark enough to drown in.
Her breath caught.
Not from fear.
From fury.
And something else she refused to name.
"I belong to no one."
A smirk curved his lips — slow, maddening.
"We'll see."
She jerked her chin from his grasp, her eyes burning like wildfire barely held back by ice.
"Touch me again," she hissed, "and I'll make sure your hand never reaches for anything else."
He chuckled.
Dark.
Deep.
Unmoved.
"That bond between us," he said, his voice velvet-wrapped steel, "you can't outrun it."
"I'll rip it out of my soul," she spat.
"You can try," he whispered, "but your wolf already answers to mine."
She stiffened.
Because it was true.
Because her wolf — that traitorous, trembling thing — stirred every time he was near.
She hated that.
She hated him.
She brushed past him, her shoulder brushing his chest like a challenge and a warning.
She could feel his gaze burning through her back as she walked away.
She didn't flinch.
She didn't run.
But inside, her fury churned like a brewing storm.
By the time she reached her room, the ache in her chest was unbearable.
She slammed the door shut behind her, then collapsed against it.
Her hands were shaking.
Her wolf whimpered.
Not from fear.
From longing.
She hated how her mate's presence melted her defiance.
She wanted to destroy him — not crave him.
She took a deep breath.
Held it.
Let it out slowly like smoke rising from dying fire.
She wouldn't let him win.
She wouldn't be another weak female silenced by an Alpha's claim.
Not after what happened to her sister.
Not after what his kind did to her pack.
Her eyes fell on the mirror.
And for a moment, she didn't recognize the girl staring back.
The scars weren't visible — but they were there.
Etched deep into her soul.
A sudden knock on the door made her tense.
She didn't answer.
The door opened anyway.
Kael stepped in without invitation, holding something wrapped in cloth.
"I don't recall asking you to enter," she snapped.
He ignored her tone.
"I thought this belonged to you."
He unwrapped the cloth slowly, revealing a small silver pendant — moon-shaped, bloodstained.
Her breath caught in her throat.
She hadn't seen it in years.
Not since the massacre.
Her sister's pendant.
"How did you get this?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her best effort.
"It was found near the ruins of the SilverMist Pack," he said quietly.
Her knees buckled slightly, but she stood tall.
She took the pendant with trembling hands, her eyes blurring as memories crashed into her like waves on jagged rocks.
"You destroyed us," she whispered.
"No," he replied, his voice flat.
"We saved the survivors."
She looked up at him slowly.
There was no triumph in his gaze.
No mockery.
Just something sharp and quiet.
Something unreadable.
"We buried the children ourselves," he added.
She clenched her jaw.
Tears burned her eyes, but none fell.
She wouldn't give him that.
She wouldn't give anyone that.
"Why are you showing me this?"
"Because I want you to know the truth."
She laughed bitterly.
"There's no truth in war."
He didn't deny it.
Didn't argue.
Just turned and walked away.
Leaving the door open behind him.
And just like that, she was alone again.
But not broken.
Never broken.
She looked down at the pendant one more time, then closed her fingers around it like a vow.
If Kael thought she'd surrender to fate — he was wrong.
She would uncover the truth.
She would expose the lies.
She would tear down his empire, piece by bloody piece.
Even if her heart betrayed her.
Even if her wolf begged for him.
And as she clutched the pendant that once belonged to her sister, Seraphina didn't see the shadow slipping past her window — eyes glowing, claws drawn, and carrying a message that would change everything.