The Mark Of The Wolf

Chapter Twenty-Five

**FIRST DRAFT **

Chapter Twenty-Five

I toyed with the hem of my shirt as I sat down having breakfast the next morning, Kian was silent, stirring his coffee as he stared out the window absent-mindedly. I pushed away my half eaten toast, biting my lip with worry.

"What's wrong?" I asked him. Maybe I had done something wrong on our shift last night...

"Can you hear your wolf yet?" He asked.

I shrugged, "bits. Last night I heard lots - she introduced herself to me and everything, she seems friendly...why?"

He rubbed his hand down his face, "let's go to the living room."

I shrugged and got up, following him to the living room. I sat down next to him, waiting for him to tell me what was wrong. A whole lot of jumbled scenarios were running through my head, but I tried to keep it clear. "What is it?" I asked taking his hand.

His eyes closed and he angled his body to face me, "what I'm about to tell you Molly, I did it for your own safety – please remember that. I would never do anything to harm you or hurt you in anyway. I love you."

I was slightly confused, "I know...I trust you. Everything feels right when I'm with you, and everything you said about the wolf thing and the mating was true – my mark doesn't hurt any more...so I believe you always."

He ran his hands through his hair, sighing roughly. "I would die if you ever left me Molly. My wolf and I wouldn't cope, and neither would yours."

"You're kind of starting to scare me now Kian..."

He cupped my cheek, "the last thing I ever wanted to do was hurt you-"

"You haven't hurt me," I said cutting him off. "Is that what you're going on about? You think you hurt me last night or something? It wasn't painful, not like what most girls go on about anyway..."

He shook his head, "no. It's not about last night." He took a deep breath, "Molly I haven't been completely honest with you...I was just so afraid after you fell that you would die, that you wouldn't trust me enough to complete the mating... I did it for your own safety, and I'm sorry I lied-"

"Lied about what?" I asked, becoming panicky now.

"We are wolves, obviously and you are my mate...but you didn't want to be at first." He held my hand as he tried to get through his words. "You were on vacation with your friends from Australia and that's when I first saw you. I knew you wouldn't stay here with me, you didn't know me...so I took you during the night." My blood ran cold when he said that, a shocked gasp leaving my throat. "Pierce took Chelsea also, around the same time we took you. We staged your deaths so people would stop looking... but you wouldn't come around, and she did. I could hear the struggle in your hand, the urge to be with me, and then yourself fighting it. You have family that are alive...you wanted to see them. We missed the first mating and you got hurt really bad, if we'd missed last night neither of us would have survived. At one stage you forgave me and said you were fine being here until I did something stupid and you weren't. Anyway we both knew we had to complete the mating but for privacy I took you up to our cottage." He swallowed, "that's where you fell, and when you woke up I knew I had to at least try and save your life. So I lied. I'm so sorry Molly, I really am-"

I got up from the couch in a daze, short puffs of breath escaping me, my heart pounding. I was kidnapped, and people thought I didn't exist any more? "Oh my god," I squeaked, walking backwards in forwards. "No. No. No. No..."