The first time I saw Kade's tattoo, I thought it was just ink. Some tribal nonsense curling around his arm, a splash of green like vines crawling up his skin. But now? After everything after the crypt, the shadow, Lucian's silence that tattoo felt like a secret screaming in the dark.
"Why did you show up like that?" I asked, still trying to catch my breath from last night.
Kade leaned back against the cracked window frame, eyes tracing the fading sunlight. "Because I don't trust him." His voice was low, the kind that made you listen even when you didn't want to.
"Lucian?" I laughed, bitter and sharp. "Trust him? You don't even like him."
He smirked. "Nope. But that's not the point. The point is, he's dangerous in ways you haven't even begun to understand."
I narrowed my eyes, heart pounding for reasons I couldn't explain. "Like what?"
Kade rolled up his sleeve, revealing the tattoo in full. It was a twisting, almost living pattern sharp edges meeting soft curves, like it was alive beneath his skin. Green ink pulsed faintly, as if it was breathing.
"This," he said, tapping the design, "is more than just art. It's a mark of the rogue pack."
I blinked. "Rogue pack?"
He nodded. "We're the outcasts the ones who don't bow to the alphas or the crown. We run in the shadows, protect our own, and don't take orders from anyone."
"So, you're a bad boy werewolf," I teased, but even I could hear the edge in my voice.
Kade's grin was slow, dangerous. "Something like that."
I looked at him, really looked at the soft curve of his jaw, the tattoos that mapped his skin like a battle scar, the way his green eyes seemed to glow even in fading light. There was danger there, sure. But also something raw and real.
"Why should I care?" I challenged. "Lucian's the alpha. He's supposed to protect me."
"Supposed to," Kade corrected. "But sometimes, protection looks a lot like control."
I swallowed, feeling a knot tighten in my chest. Kade was playing a different game and suddenly, the whole world felt more complicated.
The wind rattled the window, and for a second, I thought I saw a shadow flicker outside. My breath caught.
"Did you see that?" I whispered.
Kade's eyes darkened. "The forest is waking up. And it's watching."
"Watching what?"
"Us."
I shivered. This was bigger than just a love triangle or a curse. It was a war. And the rogue's tattoo wasn't just a symbol,it was a warning.
"I thought rogues were just myths. Ghost stories to scare pups," I murmured, eyes fixed on the ink spiraling up Kade's bicep like ivy twined in secrets.
He scoffed. "Is that what Lucian told you? Sounds like him."
I turned away, unsure why his words stung. Maybe because they sounded too much like truth. Maybe because Lucian had told me that.
Kade stepped closer, and the space between us crackled. "The mark isn't just a warning—it's a vow. I made it the night I watched my mother die because the crown wouldn't claim us."
The cold twist in his voice made my breath hitch. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be," he said, softer this time. "She died free. That means more than any gilded cage Lucian could offer."
I met his eyes, and for a second, I forgot how to breathe. There was pain there—years of it—but also a strange tenderness. The kind that didn't beg for pity. The kind that bled quietly and kept going.
"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked, voice low.
"Because you're standing at the edge of something huge, Raven. And whether you realize it or not, your blood is waking up. You need to know who's really on your side."
I frowned. "What do you mean my blood is waking up?"
Kade tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle that didn't quite fit. "You've been having dreams, haven't you? Hearing things? Feeling things that don't make sense?"
My stomach dropped.
"Maybe," I hedged.
He gave a slow nod. "That's the call of the wild. It's in you. Your bloodline... it's not normal."
"What are you saying?" I whispered. "That I'm what special?"
Kade smiled, but it was sad. "No. I'm saying you're dangerous. To them."
The air between us pulsed. Every instinct told me to back away but I didn't. I leaned in.
"Why should I believe you?" I asked.
He didn't blink. "Because I've seen what happens when girls like you get too close to alphas like Lucian."
My chest tightened.
"I'm not just another girl."
He leaned down until his lips were close enough to send sparks racing up my spine. "No, Raven. You're the girl—the one they've been watching. And the one they'll try to break."
Before I could answer, a sound shattered the tension.
A howl.
Low, guttural. And close.
Kade went still. "We're not alone."
The howl echoed again closer this time, laced with something wrong. Not just warning.
Hunger.
Kade shoved me gently behind him, his voice a gravel-dipped growl. "Stay low. Don't run."
"I wasn't planning on frolicking into the woods," I whispered, but my knees betrayed me with a tremble.
He didn't laugh. Not this time.
A shadow peeled itself from the tree line outside the cabin—tall, gaunt, with glowing red eyes and limbs too long to belong to anything natural. My breath caught. It didn't move like a wolf. It didn't move like anything I'd ever seen.
Kade exhaled slowly, then his hands curled into fists, and his body shifted.
The change wasn't graceful like Lucian's. It was violent. Raw. Bones cracking, muscles warping, fur bursting through skin like fire through dry grass. One second, he was human. The next, he was beast.
A massive wolf with mottled dark fur and eyes still burning that eerie green.
He didn't wait. With a snarl that shook the trees, he launched at the creature.
The impact sent both of them crashing into the side of the cabin, wood splintering under the weight of the collision. I ducked just in time as debris exploded around me.
"Holy hell…" I gasped, crawling for cover.
Kade's wolf form was brutal, all muscle and fury, but whatever he was fighting didn't bleed like a normal rogue. It didn't move like one either. It twisted unnaturally, hissing instead of growling, like it didn't even belong to this world.
Something in my gut screamed: this wasn't just a rogue.
This was sent.
I scrambled toward the door, desperate to get outside, to find help,to find Lucian.
But then I stopped.
In the dirt outside the threshold, something glowed. A symbol. A sigil. Drawn in ash and smeared with red.
My name. In old runes.
And below it, two marks.
One of the crown.
One of the rogue.
My breath stilled in my chest.
This was a message.
Choose.
Behind me, Kade howled in pain.
I turned just in time to see the shadow-creature plunge a claw into his side, dragging him down.
"No Kade!"
I moved before I could think, grabbing the iron poker by the hearth and charging out into the chaos.
I didn't care about bloodlines or curses or what I was supposed to become.
All I knew was if I didn't fight, I'd lose him.
And I wasn't ready to choose yet.
Not when the forest had just whispered my name.