The Girl He Marked by Laila Callaway novel Chapter 1

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‘Hey Charlie,‘ I mumble, greeting my cat that always manages to sneak into my room and onto my bed in the mornings. 

Fear sliced through me as a loud growl resonates around my tent, coming from near my feet. I realize I‘m not at home, so the fur cannot belong to Charlie. I jump and my eyes fly open, I try to acclimatize to the darkness but all I can make out are two large indigo eyes watching me by my feet. 

My breath gets caught in my throat and I freeze in fear. I remain frozen in my sleeping bag, transfixed with the enormous black wolf taking up the majority of space in my tent. It just watches me, it doesn‘t bare its teeth or growl, it just watches me, like earlier at the lake. 

Topen my mouth to scream, but the strangest thing I‘ve ever seen in my life happens. The huge black wolf begins losing its fur and its bones start moving around under its flesh. My scream is caught short, and an incoherent squeak is all that escapes my mouth 

I watch, with absolute horror, as the wolf in front of me changes into a man. A tall, crouching man, in my tent. For a few seconds, I try to comprehend what I have just seen. The word ‘No‘ resounds in my head as I try to come up with some sort of explanation, it echoes through my mind, and it is all I can focus on. I could be dreaming, but the adrenaline and fear coursing through my veins are making that theory unlikely. 

Topen my mouth properly this time, ready to let out a real, come–save–me–now scream, but the man seems to assume this because he lunges forwards and ties something around my mouth. He isn‘t careful and catches my hair in the knot he ties behind my head. On instinct, I push him away, his skin is burning like it‘s on fire. I reach up to untie the cloth from around my mouth, but he grabs my wrists and ties them, using them to drag me up into a sitting position. 

I kick and flail about, but he maneuvers me with ease and grace, the complete opposite of me, and pulls me out of the tent. My world is turned upside down again, quite literally, as he throws me over his shoulder, winding me in the process. I grunt and bang on his back with my fists, but he is like a wall of muscle. 

He marches through the trees, I bounce up and down on his back with each step, my head bobs up and down like a bobblehead. To someone with an outside perspective, the situation might even look funny. 

But I‘m not laughing. 

lam being kidnapped with my friend only meters away, I try to scream but this stupid piece of cloth masks any noise I make. I thrash about but he reaches up and clamps his hands firmly on my waist, hold 

ing me in place on his hard shoulder. I reach out to passing trees and branches, grabbing on to anything I. can. Even as I dig my nails into the bark and hold on with all my strength, he pulls me away like it‘s nothing. I grunt in annoyance as branches snap off in my hands, I drop them to the ground and resume my pum melling of his back. 

Tattempt to keep myself calm and give myself a reassuring pep talk. 

It‘s going to be okay. Aria will wake up and come save you. Werewolves exist. You have been kid napped and apparently wandered onto the set of Twilight. But you‘re going to be fine. 

I squeeze my eyes tightly shut and pray for the situation to be some horrible dream and any momenti will wake up and laugh about this tomorrow. 

Suddenly, I am lifted from his shoulder, and he places me on the ground with my back against a tree. I push back against the tree, trying to get as much distance between us. He turns away from me and I‘m giv en the surprisingly wonderful view of his peachy backside. I widen my eyes at the thing dangling between his legs that is partially on view due to his wide stance. My eyes shift to a large brown wolf emerging from 

Not another werewolf. 

The man lunges forward and shifts back into his black wolf. My brain whirs painfully, trying to make sense of what I‘m seeing. It‘s beautiful, watching him change, but it contradicts everything I know. The two wolves begin scrapping, they gnarl and growl at each other, throwing each other across the woodland floor. I take the opportunity of their distraction to struggle to my feet and slowly back up away from them. The black wolf lifts his head and snarls loudly, his blue eyes landing directly on me. I freeze and watch him, re lieved when the brown wolf slams into him, moving his attention back to the fight. 

I turn on my heel and sprint back towards the camp. The foliage stabs and pricks at my feet through my spotty socks, but I ignore the pain and keep running. My heart hammers so loudly I fear the whole for est can hear it, thankfully the adrenaline is keeping me going. I can‘t form a coherent thought, I just keep re peating a mantra in my head: run, run, run.. 

My only warning is the sound of rapidly nearing footfalls before I am rugby tackled to the forest floor. I lay on my back, struggling to breathe as he knocked all the breath out of my lungs when he wiped me out. Within seconds, the man is on top of me, holding me down on my shoulders with his huge hands. I look up at him and the fear in my eyes turns to shock. I can‘t believe how gorgeous he is, like honestly, incredible. I try to curse but ‘Holy shit‘ comes out more like ‘Oh–ly–ih‘ thanks to the gag. 

His ethereal jade eyes stare at me so deeply: I feel he can see right into my soul. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, a faint smile of content forms on his lips. When he opens them again, he looks determined. 

To do what, I‘m not exactly sure.