CHAPTER NINE — "THE ROGUE KING'S MARK"
The world tilted sideways as Declan yanked me down the corridor, the alarm's deep throated howl vibrating through the walls and through my bones. Wolves shouted outside the pack house. Boots pounded across dirt. A dozen scents fear, adrenaline, steel crashed into me all at once.
I tried to match Declan's speed, but he was moving like a man possessed.
"Slow down!" I snapped, stumbling as he nearly dragged me through a side door and into the cold evening air.
"No," he growled. "You stay close. You don't leave my sight understood?"
The command in his voice ricocheted through my chest, hot and confusing and infuriating.
"I'm not helpless," I hissed.
Declan whirled, eyes glowing silver in the fading light. "They're not coming for helpless girls. They're coming for Alpha blood."
My breath hitched. "Alpha"
"Not now." He turned back toward the ridge. "Later."
But later felt like a lie.
Raven darted past us, already shifting mid-run, her wolf a sleek black blur launching into the trees. Owen and three warriors followed, their bodies trembling as fur rippled through their skin.
Declan didn't shift.
Not yet.
His hand was clamped around my wrist, hot and unyielding, grounding me even as chaos exploded around us.
"What do they want with me?" I forced out.
His jaw tightened. "To capture you."
That wasn't an answer.
But before I could demand more, a deafening roar shook the sky. It was not a wolf's howl. It was deeper, broken, guttural like something torn from hell itself.
My knees nearly buckled.
Declan stiffened. "Damn it. They're closer than I thought."
He pulled me toward the eastern watchtower, but the moment we rounded the corner, I froze.
A rogue wolf massive, scarred, eyes burning red stood at the tree line, staring directly at me.
Not at Declan.
At me.
"Oh God," I whispered.
The rogue bared its teeth in a twisted grin.
"Inside," Declan growled, pushing me behind him.
But the rogue lunged before the word finished leaving his mouth.
Declan moved faster.
He shoved me aside and shifted mid-leap, bones cracking, fur erupting across his skin. His wolf huge and shadow dark collided with the rogue in a spray of dirt and blood.
I scrambled backward, heart trying to punch its way out of my throat.
Declan's wolf snarled, fangs sinking into the rogue's shoulder. But the rogue fought like a creature with nothing to lose wild, frenzied, mindless with rage. They tumbled across the ground, rolling out of sight behind a fallen trunk.
I reached for them, instinct screaming.
"Aria!"
I spun.
Tasha was running toward me, hair flying behind her, eyes wide with terror. "Are you okay? Owen said you were"
A second rogue burst from the trees.
"Tasha!" I cried.
She shrieked as the rogue lunged for her throat, claws outstretched.
I didn't think. I didn't breathe.
I just moved.
I grabbed the broken branch at my feet and hurled myself between them, slamming it into the rogue's ribs.
It roared and spun on me.
Shit.
Its claws raked across my arm, slicing fire into my skin. My knees buckled.
Tasha screamed my name.
The rogue raised its paw to finish me
then a silver blur slammed into it from the side.
Raven.
Her wolf shredded the rogue's flank, ripping flesh open. The creature howled and staggered back, blood spraying across the dirt.
"Aria, run!" Raven snarled through her teeth.
But I didn't run. I couldn't. Something inside me rooted me to the ground, a strange trembling rising beneath my skin heat, pressure, something sharp begging to break free.
Raven didn't notice.
She pounced.
The rogue tore into her shoulder.
Raven yelped, stumbling.
I screamed, "Declan!"
He appeared an instant later, his wolf barreling into the rogue with bone breaking force. The rogue crumpled under him, and with one savage twist of his jaws, Declan ended it.
Blood sprayed across the leaves.
Declan turned immediately toward me.
His wolf's eyes locked on the gashes on my arm and something snapped inside him. His body trembled with barely restrained fury.
"Declan, I'm fine," I whispered.
It was a lie.
My arm was bleeding badly.
Tasha grabbed my hand. "Come on, we need to get you inside"
A howl split the air.
Not a rogue's howl.
Not a pack howl.
A call.
A claim.
The air went cold.
Every wolf froze.
Before any of us could react, a figure stepped out from the shadows between the trees. Human. Tall. Cloaked in dark leather, red sigils etched across his chest. His hair was white as bone, eyes a sickening gold that glowed in the dim light.
Not a rogue wolf.
A rogue king.
The blood drained from my face.
He smiled when he saw me.
"So," he said softly, voice smooth as poison. "The girl finally returns."
Declan snarled, stepping in front of me, fur bristling, muscles coiled to strike.
The rogue king ignored him.
His eyes stayed on me.
"You look like him," he murmured. "Just as I expected."
A chill crept up my spine.
"Who?" I whispered.
The man tilted his head. "Your father."
The world stopped.
"My"
Declan lunged.
The rogue king lifted a single finger.
A wave of raw power detonated from his hand, slamming into Declan like a shockwave. My breath tore from my chest as Declan's wolf was thrown backward, crashing into a tree so hard the trunk cracked.
"Declan!" I screamed.
He groaned but didn't rise.
Raven rushed to his side, shifting back into human form, blood dripping down her arm. "Aria, do not go near that man"
But the rogue king was already moving.
Not lunging.
Not attacking.
Approaching.
Slow. Purposeful. Like I was something sacred.
I stumbled backward until my spine hit a tree.
His smile sharpened. "You feel it, don't you? The pull." His gaze lowered to my bleeding arm. "Your blood calls to power you don't yet understand."
My pulse hammered against my ribs.
"Stay away from her!" Tasha screamed, attempting to stand between us.
The rogue king flicked his hand.
Tasha was thrown aside like a rag doll, crashing into the dirt.
I cried out, trying to reach her, but he stepped closer, trapping me with his presence alone. His scent was wrong rot mixed with metal, ancient and cold.
He reached out slowly.
Declan snarled, trying to stand, but he collapsed again, his wolf trembling violently.
The rogue king didn't look at him.
His eyes were all for me.
"Aria Winters," he murmured, fingers brushing the air an inch from my cheek. "Daughter of the forbidden line. The one who was hidden. The one who carries the blood that belongs to me."
My stomach twisted violently. "I don't belong to you."
"You will." His voice was soft enough to break bone. "Because when your power awakens… you will have no choice."
"My power?" I breathed, terrified.
His smile widened. "Ah. So no one has told you what you are."
Declan roared, shaking the ground beneath us.
But he couldn't move.
None of them could.
Not Raven, bleeding and barely holding herself up.
Not Tasha, struggling to crawl toward me.
Not Declan, whose silver eyes burned with helpless rage.
The rogue king leaned in.
"Let me show you."
"No!"
His hand pressed to the wound on my arm.
Pain shot through me like molten metal. I screamed, collapsing to my knees as something hot and wild detonated inside my chest. My vision blurred into white.
The rogue king's voice echoed through my skull.
"Awaken, child of the Alpha line."
Heat rippled through my veins power, raw and ancient, rising like a storm beneath my skin. My heart felt like it was splitting open. I clawed at the dirt, gasping for air.
"Stop!" Declan bellowed, his wolf fighting desperately to rise. "Let her go you bastard, let her go!"
The rogue king ignored him.
He bent his head close to my ear.
"You are mine," he whispered. "By blood and by destiny."
"No…" I choked, shaking violently. "No"
Images flashed behind my eyelids.
A man's shadow.
Golden eyes like mine.
A crest burned into skin.
A crown shattering.
A woman's scream Elena's scream
"No!" I cried out, the world spinning violently.
And then
Something inside me snapped.
A shockwave burst from my body, blasting outward, throwing the rogue king backward several feet.
He landed lightly, eyes glittering with delight.
"Well," he breathed. "So the power is awake after all."
I collapsed, shaking uncontrollably, my arm burning, vision flickering between black and red.
Declan dragged himself toward me, using every ounce of strength left in him.
"Aria," he rasped, voice raw with agony and fear. "Stay with me. Don't shut down. Don't you—"
The rogue king lifted two fingers to his lips.
A shrill whistle tore through the air.
Every surviving rogue turned and vanished into the trees.
He backed away slowly, never taking his gaze off me.
"We will meet again," he promised softly. "Soon."
Then he was gone.
Silence crashed over the clearing.
I gasped for air, clutching my burning arm, body trembling violently.
Declan collapsed beside me, shifting back into human form despite the pain, grabbing my face between his hands.
"Aria. Look at me." His voice shook. "Don't pass out. Don't leave me. Stay here. Stay with me."
"I…" My voice cracked. "Declan, he—he knows about my father."
Declan's face twisted with something I'd never seen on him before.
Terror.
"I know," he whispered. "And that's why we're out of time."
The world went dark.
And the last thing I heard before everything faded was Declan's voice, raw and breaking—
"Don't you dare die on me."
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