Chapter 3 The Marked One

• Ivy had seen strange things before—odd dreams, flickers of shadow, moments where the world seemed to slow down. But nothing compared to watching Kael Voss shift from wolf to man under the light of a fractured moon.
• She sat on the edge of the living room sofa, wrapped in a blanket she didn’t remember grabbing. Kael stood across the room now, clothed—thankfully—in the spare jeans and T-shirt he’d pulled from a stash behind a tree. As if he was used to this. As if he did it often.
• He leaned against the doorframe, arms crossed, body still tense. Watching her.
• "You're taking this well," he said finally.
• "I’m not," Ivy snapped. “I just haven’t started screaming yet.”
• Kael nodded. “Fair.”
• She rubbed her temples. "So… let me get this straight. You're a werewolf. That thing in the woods was a different werewolf. And apparently, I'm what? Bait?”
• “You’re not bait,” he said carefully. “You’re something worse.”
• She shot him a glare. "You’re really bad at this whole comforting thing.”
• He let out a sigh and moved to sit across from her, elbows resting on his knees. His eyes, still golden in the firelight, looked more tired than fierce now. “You’re part of something, Ivy. Something old. Your mother kept it from you, but it’s in your blood. The rogues out there? They can smell it.”
• “My blood,” she repeated slowly. “You mean… what? I’m one of you?”
• “No. Not like me,” he said. “You’re… more complicated.”
• She leaned back, blanket still clutched tightly around her shoulders. “That’s not terrifying at all.”
• Kael didn’t smile. “You ever hear of the Blood Moon Prophecy?”
• She shook her head.
• He stood, restless. Began to pace. “A long time ago, the packs believed that once every few generations, a child would be born of both lines—human and wolf, but belonging to neither. Marked by fate. Able to awaken power that’s been dormant for centuries.”
• Ivy’s throat tightened. “You think that’s me?”
• “I know it’s you,” Kael said. “Your mother was from one of the oldest lines. She left the pack to protect you. Hid you from us, from them—from everyone.”
• Ivy thought of the journals. The cryptic messages. The strange dreams she’d had for weeks—running through woods, eyes glowing in mirrors, her skin catching fire under the moon.
• "And this power?" she asked quietly. “What happens if it... awakens?”
• Kael’s eyes darkened. “Then the balance breaks.”
• She stared at him. “What balance?”
• “Between the packs. Between the bloodlines. Between everything. You’re not just marked by prophecy, Ivy. You’re the Marked One.”
• The room felt colder suddenly.
• Kael knelt in front of her, not touching, but close. His voice was gentler now. “Ivy… that thing that came after you tonight wasn’t acting alone. Rogues are moving again. Something’s waking up out there, and they think you’re the key.”
• Her pulse thundered in her ears. “Then why not kill me and be done with it?”
• Kael’s jaw tensed. “Because some of us think you’re the key to saving us. Not destroying us.”
• Silence fell between them like a curtain.
• Then Ivy looked him in the eye. “And what do you think I am, Kael?”
• His answer came after a long pause.
• “I think you’re the beginning of something I don’t understand,” he said. “But I can’t walk away from it. From you.”
• Ivy’s breath caught. For a moment, the fear faded—and something else bloomed in its place. Something warmer. Dangerous in a different way.
• But before either of them could speak again, a crash echoed outside—the shatter of glass and the scream of something wild.
• Kael was on his feet in a second.
• He looked at her, voice low and urgent. “Stay inside. No matter what you hear.”
• Then he was gone, out the door, into the dark.
• And Ivy, heart pounding, stepped toward the window—because some part of her already knew.
• The darkness wasn’t just coming for her.
• It was already here.