Chapter 5

• “Are you alright?” It was his voice again. Soft, low, a sound that both soothed and unnerved me all at once.
• I snapped my eyes open, heart hammering in my chest, and the room around me spun. I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until I felt the soft pressure of something cool against my wrist, and then the heat of his gaze. His fingers brushed against my skin, and a strange, electric tingle shot up my arm. I jerked back, startled.
• “I’m fine,” I muttered, sitting up abruptly. I felt the sweat on my brow and wiped it away, trying to calm the erratic beat of my heart. Lowan was standing in front of me, watching me intently with his usual unreadable expression. The faintest flicker of something in his eyes caught me off guard. It was almost… concern?
• But I quickly shook the thought away. There was no time for that. I had to focus. Had to understand what was happening to me.
• I had never been one to believe in fate. But ever since that night with the Kings—when they’d cornered me in the hallway—I had begun to feel as if something was shifting, something out of my control. And I hated that. I hated feeling weak.
• I glanced down at my wrist, where his fingers had just brushed against my skin. The sensation lingered, an odd heat seeping into my bones, but when I lifted my sleeve, I found nothing—nothing but the pale, smooth skin of my forearm.
• It should have been normal, but my skin felt… different. Not in a physical sense—no, it was something deeper. There was a shift within me, a subtle shift that I couldn’t quite place. I didn’t want to believe it, but the truth was undeniable. My body had started reacting to things I couldn’t explain.
• For the past week, strange things had been happening—little signs I couldn’t ignore.
• I had woken up several mornings in a cold sweat, my dreams vivid and haunting. They weren’t ordinary dreams. No. They were flashes of visions, flashes of moments that didn’t make sense. I had seen a wolf, massive and fierce, its eyes glowing with an intensity that made me shiver. It was always just out of reach, just beyond my grasp, and it left me with an overwhelming sense of longing. A longing I couldn’t place.
• It had started the night after I had run from the Kings. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I felt something—something primal stirring inside me. And now, the dreams kept coming. Each time they grew more vivid, more intense.
• But it wasn’t just the dreams that unsettled me. It was the feeling that had started creeping into my waking hours, a feeling that gnawed at me from the inside out. A strange pull, as though something—or someone—was calling to me.
• The worst part? I couldn’t remember when I had first noticed the change, but now it was unmistakable. There was a presence near me, always lurking in the back of my mind. And somehow, it felt… familiar. Too familiar.
• I shoved those thoughts aside as Lowan’s voice pulled me back to reality.
• “You’ve been distant lately.” He took a step closer, his eyes narrowing slightly. “What’s going on with you?”
• “I’m fine,” I repeated, though the lie tasted bitter on my tongue. I stood up quickly, my head swimming with all the things I didn’t know. There was no time to question it, no time to dwell on what was happening. I had to get out of there.
• But as I turned to leave, something stopped me—something inside me, deep down.
• I felt the sudden, sharp tingle in my wrist again. The sensation of his touch. The heat that burned into my skin. I froze, my fingers instinctively reaching for the spot where I had felt him earlier. The mark was there, hidden beneath the surface of my skin.
• I blinked, confused. It wasn’t just a lingering sensation. It was real. The mark. A symbol.
• I gasped. My breath caught in my throat as the mark flared to life, glowing faintly beneath my skin.
• “Shit.”
• I didn’t hear Lowan move, but suddenly he was next to me, his presence overwhelming. His eyes flashed with something—recognition, maybe, or warning.
• He reached for my wrist before I could pull away, his grip firm but not painful. His fingers traced the mark with a precision that sent a shiver down my spine. “What is this?” he muttered, mostly to himself.
• I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t breathe. The world around me seemed to freeze in place as I stared at the glowing mark.
• This wasn’t normal. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
• “It can’t be…” Lowan’s voice faltered. His grip tightened slightly as though he were trying to anchor me to him, as though he were trying to stop the world from slipping away.
• I could barely hear him. My mind was a blur of confusion and dread. I was shaking, but it wasn’t because of fear. No, it was because of something else. A deep, unshakable feeling that twisted in my gut—the feeling that I was no longer in control.
• Before I could say anything, before I could demand answers, something else happened. A sharp, painful jolt shot through my body, starting from the mark on my wrist and spreading outward, like an electric current running through my veins.
• I gasped, my legs buckling beneath me as the pain surged through my entire body. Lowan caught me before I could collapse, his strong arms steadying me.
• “What’s happening to me?” I gasped, my voice barely a whisper.
• His face was a mixture of confusion and something darker—something he didn’t want to acknowledge. He opened his mouth as though he were going to say something, but the words died on his tongue.
• “Stay with me,” he whispered instead, his grip tightening. But then his eyes flicked to the mark again, his breath catching in his chest.
• The pain was unbearable now, and I thought I might lose consciousness. But through the haze of pain, one thought kept repeating in my mind: This was only the beginning.
• I had always known I was different. But now, I had no choice but to face it.
• As the pain continued to pulse through me, my vision blurred, and I felt a surge of energy—wild, untamed—crashing through my senses. It felt like I was being torn apart from the inside, yet something else—the pull, that same force that had been drawing me—kept me anchored.
• “Ava…” Lowan’s voice was low, laced with uncertainty and something else—something I couldn’t place.
• But it didn’t matter. Not anymore.
• The mark was awakening. And I had no idea what that meant for me.
• Suddenly, everything around me seemed to shift, warping out of focus. I couldn’t understand what was happening—couldn’t understand the weight of the decision that loomed in the distance.
• And then, in the blink of an eye, it was over. The pain, the pull—it all stopped, leaving me gasping for air.
• I looked at Lowan, who was still holding me, his expression unreadable.
• “I don’t know what this is,” I whispered, barely able to keep my eyes open.
• “I don’t either,” Lowan replied, his voice soft. But there was something in his eyes now—something that made me realize this was far from over.
• And whatever it was, it was just beginning.