Chapter 9 Pain That Glows

The bruises didn’t fade anymore.

They shimmered faintly beneath his skin, pulsing with a strange light—silver, cold, and alive.

Aiden didn’t tell anyone. He couldn’t. The glow on his chest had begun the night Damian struck him across the training field for “insubordination.” The pack had laughed, as always. But when Aiden fell, clutching his ribs, he’d felt something burn beneath his skin… something that wasn’t pain alone.

Now, every scar hummed with that same silvery pulse.

Days blurred together in quiet torment. Aiden worked, trained, and endured. The pack’s cruelty had only deepened after his vow to Selena—an Omega swearing loyalty to the Luna was practically heresy.

When he walked through the corridors, wolves whispered.

When he ate, they shoved his plate aside.

When he trained, they used him as a target.

Each humiliation dug into his heart, but with each wound, the glow on his chest grew brighter.

Sometimes, when he caught his reflection in water, he could see faint veins of light crawling along his shoulders, threading toward his neck. It frightened him. Yet, it also called to him—like something ancient and buried was trying to wake.

That morning, the pack gathered at the training ground again. Damian watched from the raised platform, his arms folded, his expression carved from stone.

“Today,” he said, “we see what loyalty means.”

Aiden’s stomach twisted as two warriors dragged him into the ring. The others circled, anticipation thick in the air.

“Luna Selena’s little pet thinks he can stand beside her,” Damian said, his voice smooth and cruel. “Let’s see how long loyalty lasts under pressure.”

Laughter rippled through the ranks.

Aiden clenched his fists. He knew what this was—another show, another test of humiliation.

“Fight,” Damian commanded.

The two warriors lunged.

The first hit knocked Aiden to the ground. The second drove the air from his lungs. He gasped, tasting blood, and when he tried to rise, a boot slammed against his shoulder, forcing him down.

“Stay down, Omega,” one of them sneered. “Know your place.”

But Aiden’s eyes burned. Not with tears—this time with light.

The mark on his chest throbbed, a brilliant silver glow seeping through his shirt. The air around him seemed to shift, humming with power no one could name.

“Stop,” Damian ordered sharply, sensing the change.

Too late.

Aiden’s hand struck the ground, and for a fleeting second, the earth trembled. The wolves nearby stumbled back as a faint silver aura pulsed around him. The warriors who had mocked him now stepped away in alarm.

“What… what is that?” someone whispered.

Damian’s eyes narrowed. “Enough!”

He descended from the platform and grabbed Aiden by the collar, lifting him with unnatural strength. “You dare bring witchcraft into my pack?”

“I—I don’t know what this is!” Aiden gasped, the glow flickering like a heartbeat.

Damian’s grip tightened. “Then I’ll rip it out of you.”

Before he could strike, Selena’s voice rang through the field.

“Stop!”

The crowd parted like water. Selena strode forward, her eyes blazing, the command in her tone sharp enough to still even Damian.

“Put him down,” she ordered.

Damian smirked. “Defending your pet again?”

Selena ignored him, stepping closer. “That’s an order, Alpha or not.”

A low growl rumbled in Damian’s throat, but he released Aiden roughly. The Omega collapsed to the ground, coughing.

Selena knelt beside him, her expression shifting from fury to shock when she saw the faint silver light beneath his torn shirt.

“What is this?” she whispered.

“I don’t know,” Aiden rasped. “It started after—after everything.”

Her hand hovered above the glow, hesitant to touch. “It’s… old magic,” she murmured. “Wolflight. It shouldn’t exist anymore.”

“Wolflight?”

She looked into his eyes, the silver of her own reflecting his. “The power of a pure heart bound by pain. Legends say it appears only in wolves destined for something greater than their rank.”

Damian scoffed. “Nonsense. He’s an Omega, not a chosen one.”

But Selena’s voice grew cold. “And yet, he glows while others rot in cruelty.”

Her words cut through the tension like a blade. The pack stared, murmuring uneasily.

Damian’s eyes darkened. “You’re playing with fire, Selena.”

She stood, placing herself between Aiden and him. “Perhaps fire is what this pack needs.”

The moment hung heavy—two powers clashing, not in fists but in will.

Aiden struggled to stand, clutching his chest as the glow faded to a faint shimmer. He didn’t understand it—only that each act of pain made it stronger. Each humiliation fed something inside him that refused to die.

Selena turned to him, her expression softening. “Rest, Aiden. I’ll see that you’re not harmed again.”

He shook his head weakly. “You can’t protect me forever.”

Her lips pressed into a thin line. “Then promise me you’ll protect yourself.”

He wanted to answer, but before he could, a sudden howl echoed from the forest—long, fierce, and furious.

Every head turned.

From the treeline, shadows moved. Wolves—outsiders, cloaked in red mist—emerged from the darkness.

The intruder pack.

Damian’s eyes blazed. “Raiders,” he snarled. “Defensive formation!”

Selena’s silver aura flared, commanding. “Get Aiden to safety!”

But Aiden didn’t move. His chest burned again, the silver mark blazing brighter than ever before.

He could feel it—the pull of destiny, the hum of power waiting to break free.

And when the first raider lunged from the shadows, the mark erupted with light, flooding the field in silver radiance.

Every wolf froze.

Every eye turned toward him.

Aiden stood trembling, breath ragged, bathed in a glow that defied the night itself.