Marked Mate

1

SCARLETT

I stumbled through the dense forest, not having a clue where I was. I cursed to myself. Every direction looked the same.

A branch snapped from behind me, and I sprinted through the trees, my footsteps echoing in the silence of the night. My breath came out in ragged gasps as I pushed myself to my limit, adrenaline coursing through my veins.

Somebody was out there - likely following me. And I was weak, not having eaten for days, my limbs shaking as I continued to move as fast as I could.

Glancing behind, I couldn't see the perpetrator. I pressed my back up against a large tree, sliding down it and attempting to catch my breath, grumbling as I gazed down at my hands. One of my gloves had slipped off, exposing the red splotchy mark on my hand. I hated that it was scarred upon my body.

It made me easily identifiable - I was a gifted wolf.

We were a hunted breed, other werewolves seeing us as objects and snatching us up when possible, turning us in for a reward to the Enclave clan. I could have lived a perfectly happy and normal life with a pack and a mate if I hadn't been cursed, but instead, I was made a target through no choice of my own.

I could control the emotions of others, pushing the desired feeling into their brain and making them feel how I wanted them to for a short period of time. I stayed away from people for my own safety though, so I had never really had the opportunity to practise much. I was a little rusty.

I couldn't remember exactly how long I had been on the run, but I struggled to think of a time when I hadn't been moving around constantly. My childhood hadn't been the greatest - my parents gave me up when I was young once my red mark began to develop. I made their pack a target, and so, they let me go. It just proved how little they wanted me in the first place.

The scratchy feeling of bark against my back brought me back to the present moment, and I pushed my braided dark hair away from my face. The forest had gone silent.

Forcing myself up, I continued to walk. I needed to find some shelter. A storm was on its way.

I began to trudge through the forest, whipping my head around every few seconds to check my surroundings, my body complaining.

Suddenly, a force hit me so harshly that my breath was knocked out. I gasped, landing on the wet muddy ground, twisting around to see a large dark wolf hovering above me, snapping its jaw with drool dripping from its teeth.

Shifting into my own wolf, I growled, kicking it off and scrambling to my feet. Rain started to pour down as I stalked towards the wolf, and it lunged forwards, biting down harshly on my shoulder. I whined loudly, blood oozing from the large gash it had left.

I wasn't going to go down without a fight. However, just as the wolf released another threatening growl, we were both knocked to our feet. My body froze, unable to move, whereas the other wolf struggled against its attacker's chest.

The assailant bit my attacker's neck until it was limp, blood spurting from the gaping wound, signifying that it was dead.

I gawked up to see a huge wolf above me, using only one of its paws to pin me down. It studied me, looking intrigued as to why I wasn't fighting back. To my surprise, it removed its paw, and I pushed myself to my feet, backing away.

He shifted, my eyes going wide once I took in his naked human body, averting my gaze. He stood tall with muscles bulging out of his flesh, his tousled hair light on top of his head.

"You're awfully close to our land," the man stated, narrowing his eyes at me. "We heard a fight break out, but it's not often you see a female wolf out here alone."