MARKED FOR PRETEND - Chapter 33: Chapter 33

Chelsea had always thought transformation would hurt. That becoming something else—something more—would tear her apart. Bones cracking. Skin splitting. A howl echoing into the night.
But what she felt wasn’t pain. It was clarity.
And it terrified her.
The golden mark had spread like wildfire across her arm, etching lines like vines made of starlight. It throbbed faintly under her skin now, glowing only when she got too close to him.
To Kaden.
She stood in front of her mirror, brushing her fingers across her cheek. She didn’t even look like herself anymore. Her features were sharper. Eyes brighter. Every breath came easier—but heavier. And her skin? Her skin hummed like it had been threaded with lightning.
She turned toward the door before he knocked.
She felt him coming.
He stood there, silently. Tall, broad, storm-eyed. No armor. No Kael.
Just Kaden
He didn’t speak at first. Only looked at her like he couldn’t believe she was real. Then he stepped forward, gently pressing his forehead to hers.
“I felt your transformation ,” he whispered.
“I know.”
“I felt the world change when you did.”
Chelsea trembled. “Am I… still me?”
“You’re more than you,” he said. “But you’ve always been that.”
They didn’t kiss. Not yet. But he lay beside her that night. Again. This time, Kael didn’t stir. This time, it was Kaden's heartbeat she heard beside her own.
As the candle burned low, she whispered, “Do you hate me?”
His answer came after a long, steady breath.
“No. I just… don’t know how not to want you.”
She closed her eyes and let herself drift. And in the depth of night, something ancient within her stirred.
Her first true shift came silently—white fur blooming across her limbs like snow falling in reverse. Her form stretched. Her bones aligned. The girl vanished… and the white wolf emerged beneath the moonlight.
And Kaden?
He didn’t wake.
He just shifted too—his body curling protectively beside hers.
As if his soul already knew:
She wasn’t his threat.
She was his tether.
Kaden's pov
Morning came like a breath held too long. Kaden sat at the edge of the bed, elbows on his knees, staring at the girl who wasn’t just a girl anymore. Her white fur was gone now. Her skin back in place, but the glow in her bones? That remained.
Kael hadn’t spoken since the night before.
Not a word,not a growl,not even a breath in his mind.
He was quiet but present and for the first time in years, his wolf was content.
And Kaden hated it.
Because he wasn’t.
He loved her. And that was the problem.
He hadn’t said it not aloud. But he knew it.
Felt it like a second heartbeat. Like a third breath. Like punishment.
Because the last time he’d let himself love, it had broken something so deeply inside him that Kael vanished.
Lysaria. She had been human. Blonde,gentle.All wide eyes and sweetness. She’d smelled like lavender and paper and warmth. He’d thought she was it his calm after chaos.
But when the Council came knocking, offering power for her betrayal… she didn’t even flinch.
She sold his secrets. She left him for dead.
And Kael? He never forgave him for choosing her in the first place.
Kaden exhaled, rubbing his hands down his face.
Chelsea stirred under the covers. He looked at her again—and hated how much he wanted to stay.
He got up.
And paused when her voice—soft, sleepy—cut through the room.
“You keep looking at me like I’m going to disappear.”
He froze.
She sat up slowly, the sheet slipping from her shoulder. Her skin glowed faintly. And her eyes? They looked like truth.
“I won’t disappear,” she whispered. “But you keep pushing me like you want me to.”
Kaden turned. “I don’t want to.”
“Then stop acting like you do.”
They stared at each other.
And then—finally—he kissed her, not the brush of lips they’d shared before.
Her breath hitched when he kissed her.This kiss was desperate,full,soul deep.A tangle of fear and fire. His mouth molded to hers like it had been waiting for this moment far too long. And maybe it had. Maybe they both had.
She tasted fire. She tasted him.
His hands slid around her waist, fingers splaying across her lower back like he needed to memorize every inch of her skin. She didn’t flinch—not when he pulled her closer, not when he pressed her against the wall, not when the bond flared hot and alive between them.
Her mark pulsed like it had a heartbeat of its own.
She gasped when his lips traced her throat, just once. “Kaden—”
But the voice that answered was Kael’s—dark, possessive, velvet-rough.
“You smell like surrender.”
It should’ve scared her. It didn’t.
His teeth grazed her skin, but not enough to break it. Just enough to leave a trail of heat behind. She could feel him—both of them—barely holding back. Every muscle in his body tensed as if restraint was the only thing keeping him upright.
“I shouldn’t,” Kaden rasped, resting his forehead against hers.
“But you will,” she said.
He stepped back, barely. His eyes scanned her like he was searching for hesitation.
Then he froze.
He’d caught it.
The scent.
Her scent.
His eyes darkened, his voice sharp. “Chelsea…”
She tilted her chin. “What?”
“You’re… you’ve never…”
The words died in his throat. His jaw clenched, hard. “There were rumors. They said you—”
“—slept around?” she finished for him, voice flat.
The moment cracked open. Not from the bond. From something else.
Pain.
She turned her head, eyes flashing. “That’s what you thought?”
“No,” he said quickly. “No—I didn’t believe it. I just… never thought…”
He reached for her, but she flinched back.
“You never thought I’d still have something left to give?” she said, quieter now. “That maybe I’d kept one piece of myself untouched?”
Kaden’s face was wrecked. “I never thought I deserved it.”
Silence.
Then her voice, small but steady: “Do you still think that?”
He didn’t answer.
Instead, he kissed her again—but this time, slower, reverent .His hands moved carefully, slipping beneath her shirt, trailing over her ribs, her spine. She let him. She wanted him. And when he lifted her, she wrapped her legs around his waist like it was the only place she belonged.
The bed caught them in a rush of breath and heat. Her hands threaded through his hair. His mouth traced fire along her collarbone, down the valley between her breasts. Every inch he touched felt claimed.
Not forced. Not fast.
Worshiped.
She trembled beneath him when he paused, lips at her navel.
“I’ll stop,” he said hoarsely. “If you want me to.”
But she was already pulling him down, heart in her eyes.
“I want you,” she breathed. “Just you.”
They moved like they had been made for this moment.
His hand at her thigh.
Her fingers against his bare chest, trailing the scars he never spoke of.
Every brush, every sigh, every sound—a sacred vow between broken pieces learning how to fit.
And when he finally entered her—slowly, gently—he held her gaze the entire time.
The pain came, sharp and fleeting, but she didn’t look away. Neither did he.
“You’re mine,” he whispered.
“Yours,” she answered, breaking.
And when the bond roared to life, it didn’t feel like fire.It felt like coming home.
Kaden's pov( The morning after )
He didn’t leave,he couldn’t.
The sun rose slow, golden. She slept with her face tucked under his chin, one leg thrown across his waist. Her mark, faintly glowing, pulsed against his chest where her palm rested.
He kissed her temple, softly. Like a promise.
Chelsea woke in his arms, still sore from the shift but grounded in his warmth.His arms were still around her—tight, even in sleep. His heartbeat was steady beneath her ear. Steady and hers.
But something felt… different.
The mark on her arm pulsed gently, warmer now, glowing faintly even in daylight.
And her shoulder right where his lips had pressed the night before burned.
Not painfully. But like something had been sealed there.
Something claimed.
She reached up and touched the spot—
And gasped softly.
There, just beneath her collarbone, was a new mark.
Faint. Golden. Shaped like the curve of a crescent moon.
Kaden's mark.
She sat up slowly, confused and breathless.
And then—
she heard it.
A voice. Not her own. Not Kayden’s.
Rough. Deep. Ancient.
“Mine.”
Her breath hitched. Her wolf stirred inside her, awake and aware.
“Kael?” she whispered aloud, though she wasn’t sure why.
Beside her, Kaden stirred. Eyes opening. Instantly alert.
He caught the look on her face. Then…
He smelled it.
He inhaled again—sharp. Eyes flashing.
“You… you’re marked,” he said hoarsely.
Chelsea swallowed. “I didn’t even feel it.”
“I did,” he said. Voice like gravel. “Last night. When I couldn’t stop. When I lost control.” He reached for her, brushing his fingers over the fresh mark. “I left it. My wolf… left it.”
A beat.
Then his voice dropped.
Kaden pushed himself upright beside her, sheets falling to his waist. He looked at her for a long moment, then leaned in forehead pressed to hers.
“I need you to know something,” he murmured. “This wasn’t just instinct. It wasn’t just Kael.”
Chelsea’s breath hitched. “Then what was it?”
He lifted her hand, pressing a kiss to the curve of her wrist. “It was me. Choosing you.”
Her eyes stung.
“You’re mine now, Chelsea. Every wolf will know it.”
She tested her wolf again by midday struggling at first, but managing the transformation on her own. Kaden watched quietly from the doorframe, his arms folded, gaze unreadable but locked to her like a second skin.
She’s ours.”
The voice echoed low and deep in Kaden's mind rough with emotion.
“She’s ours, Kaden.”