Avery's POV
They didn't carry me.
That would have been kinder.
They marched me.
Hands at my arms. Fingers bruising. A grip tight enough to hurt but not enough to break skin. Enough to remind me I was owned by the space between their bodies, by the Alpha walking ahead of us, by the invisible line I had crossed when I touched a dying wolf and didn't walk away.
The forest blurred past. Snow crunched under boots. Torches burned low, their light barely needed because the moon hung full and merciless overhead.
I stumbled once.
No one slowed.
Pain flared in my wrist, sharp and sudden, like something inside me had been yanked awake. I bit down on a scream and kept moving. The mark was no longer just heat. It was pressure. A pull. Like a hook lodged under my skin, dragging me forward whether I wanted to go or not.
"Let me go," I said. My voice sounded thin. Weak.
No one answered.
The Alpha didn't turn around.
That was worse than if he had.
We broke through the last line of trees and the pack territory opened up before me. Not a village. Not a town. A compound carved into stone and forest both. Long structures of timber and rock. Watchfires burning. Wolves everywhere. Watching.
Some with curiosity. Some with hunger.
All with awareness.
This was their home.
And I was the intrusion.
They pushed me forward again, harder this time, steering me toward the largest structure at the center. The pressure in my chest worsened the closer we got. My skin felt too tight. My breath came shallow and fast.
"Stop," I said. Louder now. "I didn't do anything."
The Alpha stopped.
Just like that.
The entire pack froze with him.
He turned slowly, deliberately, until his gaze pinned me in place. Up close, his presence was unbearable. It crawled over my skin, sank into my bones. My instincts screamed run even though there was nowhere left to go.
"You freed a rogue," he said. Calm. Flat. "You crossed into my territory. And you carry a lunar mark that answers to me."
"I didn't choose any of that."
"No," he agreed. "You didn't."
The way he said it made my stomach drop.
He stepped closer.
I tried to step back.
Hands locked tighter around my arms, holding me in place.
"Don't touch me," I said, panic finally breaking through. "Please."
His eyes flicked to the guards.
They released me.
I nearly collapsed.
The Alpha closed the distance himself.
The mark on my wrist flared white-hot.
I gasped as pain ripped up my arm, spreading across my shoulder, down my spine. Heat pooled low in my belly, confusing and humiliating and terrifying all at once. My knees buckled. I caught myself against his chest before I could stop it.
The contact detonated something inside me.
Fire.
Not metaphor. Not poetry.
Real, searing pain and something worse underneath it. Need. Pull. Recognition that didn't belong to me.
His breath hitched.
Just once.
His hand came up, gripping my wrist to steady me.
The moment his skin touched mine, the bond snapped tight.
I screamed.
The sound tore out of me as the world narrowed to sensation. Heat. Pressure. A rush so intense it made my vision blur and my heart stutter. I felt him everywhere. In my blood. In my head. In places I didn't want him.
He swore under his breath.
"Enough," he snapped.
The pain eased abruptly, like a fist releasing its grip.
I sagged against him, shaking.
He held me upright without effort.
The pack murmured behind us.
The Alpha looked down at my wrist, at the faint crescent burned into my skin. His jaw tightened.
"This shouldn't be happening," he said.
"What is?" I whispered.
He didn't answer.
Instead, he lifted my wrist higher, forcing the mark into the moonlight. It glowed faintly in response. Alive. Aware.
"You feel it," he said. Not a question.
"I feel like I'm being torn apart," I said hoarsely.
His grip tightened just enough to be painful. "You're reacting because the bond is unstable."
"Bond," I spat. "You keep saying that word like it excuses this."
He met my eyes. Cold. Assessing.
"It explains it."
I laughed. The sound cracked. "You dragged me here. Hurt him. Hurt me. And you think explanation is enough?"
His expression didn't change. "I think survival is."
He released my wrist and stepped back.
The sudden absence made my body lurch toward him anyway, like something inside me refused to let the distance exist. I caught myself at the last second, horrified.
He noticed.
Something dark flickered in his eyes.
"Restrain her," he ordered.
"No," I said. "No, don't—"
They grabbed me again, faster this time. Rougher. Panic surged, hot and blinding.
"Stop fighting," one of them growled.
"I'm not property," I shouted. "You can't—"
The Alpha raised his hand.
Silence fell.
He approached me again, slower now. More careful.
"This is not a claim," he said. "Not yet."
My heart slammed. "Yet?"
"You are in my territory," he continued. "Under my authority. The bond recognizes that even if you don't."
He reached out again.
I flinched, but he didn't touch my skin this time. His fingers hovered just above the mark.
It burned anyway.
Hotter. Deeper. Like something was trying to carve its way out of me.
My vision swam. My breath stuttered. Tears spilled before I could stop them.
He swore again, sharper this time.
"This is wrong," he muttered. "It's reacting too fast."
"Then stop," I begged. "Please."
He pulled his hand back.
The pain receded, leaving me shaking and weak.
"You'll be housed in the inner quarters," he said to the guards. "No one touches her without my permission."
My stomach twisted. "I don't want to be here."
"That's irrelevant."
I jerked against their hold. "I want to leave."
His gaze locked on mine again.
"You can't."
The certainty in his voice terrified me more than the force ever had.
They started moving again.
I was too exhausted to fight this time.
As they dragged me toward the largest structure, the Alpha fell into step beside us. Close enough that I could feel him without touching him.
"You should not exist," he said quietly. "Not like this."
I swallowed hard. "Then let me go."
He didn't look at me when he answered.
"I can't."
The doors opened.
Warmth spilled out. Firelight. Stone. Power pressing in from every side.
They pulled me inside.
The doors slammed shut behind us.
And before the echo faded, the Alpha turned to me and said, low and unmistakable—
"You're marked."