Page 2 of Blood Marked

The courtyard sprawled around her in cracked flagstones and broken statues of beasts long forgotten. Massive figures moved through the mist, their golden eyes gleaming, their bodies barely restrained power. Wolves in human skin.

Selene’s breath hitched.

Every instinct screamed run.

She stood still.

Because that was what pawns did. They stood still and waited to be sacrificed.

A shadow detached from the mist.

He was taller than the others, towering, broad-shouldered, built like a blade honed for war. His ash-blond hair was cropped short, save for one rebellious lock that fell over his brow. Harsh planes defined his face—sharp jaw, high cheekbones, mouth set in a grim line.

Kael Fenrir.

Crown heir. Future Alpha.

Selene recognized him instantly from the Council’s briefing scrolls—and the weight of destiny slammed into her chest like a hammer.

Their eyes locked.

His icy blue gaze cut through her like winter wind. For a long, breathless moment, neither of them moved.

Then Kael's mouth twisted into something that wasn’t quite a smile. More like a warning.

"So," he said, his voice low and rough, "they sent a lamb after all."

The words weren’t cruel. They were simply true.

Selene lifted her chin, letting the fire under her skin burn away the fear.

"And here I thought I’d find wolves," she said coolly. "Not children playing at being monsters."

A murmur rippled through the gathered shifters—shock, amusement, maybe a touch of respect.

Kael’s gaze sharpened.

He moved closer, and she caught the scent of him—earth and rain and something wild and uncontainable.

Selene held her ground, even when her heart skittered like a trapped thing in her chest.

Kael’s head tilted, as if studying a particularly intriguing puzzle.

"You’ve got teeth, little human," he said softly, dangerously. "We’ll see how long they last."

Then he turned sharply on his heel and barked something in a language she didn’t understand. The guards—the ones in wolf pelts and black leather—closed in around her, herding her forward.

Selene walked.

Step after step into the jaws of fate.

The citadel swallowed her whole, its heavy iron gates clanging shut behind her like the closing of a tomb.

TWO

KAEL

Kael Fenrir watched the human girl vanish behind the iron gates, the final clang echoing through the citadel like a sentence handed down from the gods.

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