Chapter 3

The walk back to the house felt longer than it should have. Amber's legs ached with every step, but it wasn't the physical exhaustion that wore her down. It was the heaviness that pressed against her chest, like something had shifted inside her-a part of the world she didn't understand had been exposed, and there was no going back.

She couldn't stop thinking about Victor Keller's body, about the blood and the wolves that had attacked him. He had been so scared in his final moments, so desperate to speak, but it was too late. The look in his eyes as he had muttered something about the full moon, about the wolves, haunted her.

The words still echoed in her mind.

*Tell them to stop. The full moon's coming. It's too late for me. It'll be too late for all of us.*

Amber tried to shake the image from her head, but it stuck, digging itself deeper into her thoughts as the sun rose higher in the sky. She hadn't spoken to Marcus after he'd sent her back to the house. He had been blunt, dismissive even. "This isn't your fight," he'd said. But she knew it was far too late for that. She had already been pulled into something she didn't understand, something darker than anything she could have imagined.

When she reached the porch, her legs nearly gave out from under her. The house loomed in front of her, its shadows stretching longer than before. Amber reached for the door handle, but stopped just before it. Her hand hovered over the cold metal, and for a moment, she was struck by the overwhelming sense that someone was watching her. She glanced over her shoulder, half-expecting to see Marcus lurking in the trees, but there was nothing-just the quiet forest, the air thick with tension.

It was the town, she realized. It wasn't just the wolves or Victor Keller. The entire town of Shadow Creek seemed suffocating, as if the very ground she walked on was steeped in secrets.

Amber pushed the door open and stepped inside. The house was just as quiet as before, if not more so. She set her bag down on the counter, her eyes scanning the room. The silence was deafening, and it felt like the house was watching her, waiting for something.

She made her way upstairs, towards the room she had claimed for herself. The journal was still there, sitting on the bed where she had left it. Amber walked toward it, feeling a pull, like she was meant to read it. Her fingers hovered over the pages, then, after a deep breath, she opened it once more.

*The mark is not a gift, but a curse.* The words seemed to pulse on the page, as if they were alive, and Amber couldn't shake the feeling that they were meant for her. She flipped through the pages again, more carefully this time, reading the cryptic passages that seemed to tell a story she couldn't yet understand. Sketches of wolves, full moons, symbols she didn't recognize, all interwoven with the frantic, almost desperate writing.

And then she found it-another entry, dated just a few days before her aunt's death.

*They've come for me. I can hear them in the woods at night. I'm marked, and I can't run anymore. The wolves, they're not just beasts. They're people, too. And they are coming for me. They'll come for her next.*

Amber's heart skipped a beat. *Her?* She read it again, and again. *They'll come for her next.* Her aunt hadn't been talking about herself-she had been talking about her. About Amber.

The bloodline. The mark. The curse. It was all real.

Amber slammed the journal shut, her hands trembling as she stared at it. The room spun, the walls closing in on her. She couldn't breathe. She wasn't ready for this-none of it. But she couldn't escape it, either. The truth had found her, and it wasn't going to let her go.

A knock at the door shattered the silence, making Amber jump in surprise. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stood frozen for a moment, unsure whether she should open it. But there was only one person it could be. Marcus Blackwood. No one else would dare enter her home uninvited.

Amber stood up, took a deep breath, and walked to the door. She opened it slowly, only to find Marcus standing there, his expression tense, his face slightly flushed.

"You didn't leave," he said, his voice low and strained.

"I wasn't going to," she replied, stepping aside so he could enter. "What's going on, Marcus? What's happening in this town?"

Marcus closed the door behind him, his eyes darting to the walls as though he expected someone to be listening. "You shouldn't have seen what you saw in the woods," he said after a long pause. "Victor Keller was a part of something much bigger than anyone in Shadow Creek knows. You don't belong in this fight. I told you-this isn't your war."

"I don't think I have a choice anymore," Amber replied, her voice steady despite the turmoil inside her. "Victor's dead, and I don't know why, but I know I have something to do with it. This town, these wolves-they're all connected to me somehow. And I want answers."

Marcus stared at her for a long moment, his lips pressed into a hard line. Finally, he nodded. "I should have known you wouldn't just walk away. But you're not going to like what I'm about to tell you."

"Tell me," Amber said, feeling a sense of dread welling up inside her.

Marcus exhaled slowly, his gaze never leaving hers. "You're a descendant of the Duvall bloodline. The wolves-the pack, they're bound to your family. It's why you're here. It's why they're watching you."

Amber felt her blood run cold. The words seemed impossible, and yet, deep inside, she knew they were true. She didn't want to believe it, but the journal, Victor's death, and the strange feeling she had whenever she was near the woods-all of it pointed to the same conclusion.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" she asked, her voice rising. "Why haven't you told anyone?"

Marcus's face hardened. "Because the pack isn't just some group of rogue wolves. They're tied to an ancient curse. The Duvalls were once protectors of the forest, guardians of the balance between the human world and the supernatural. But the wolves-they weren't always like this. They were once human, and they were cursed by your ancestors. Your bloodline."

Amber's mind was spinning. She had heard rumors about her family's past-about the strange things her aunt had written in her letters-but this... this was beyond anything she had imagined.

"Why would my family curse a group of people? What's the connection?"

Marcus hesitated, his gaze softening for just a moment. "Because they were hunters. They were trying to protect the town, to stop something even darker from being unleashed. But the pack grew too powerful, too uncontrollable. And now, your bloodline is tied to them. You are the last Duvall, Amber. And they will come for you."

The words were like a slap in the face. Amber's world tilted on its axis, and for a moment, she couldn't even process what he had said. *The last Duvall.* The weight of the statement settled heavily in her chest. It felt as though the floor had fallen out from beneath her, leaving her in freefall.

"And what do you expect me to do?" she asked, her voice trembling despite her best effort to stay composed. "What am I supposed to do with all of this?"

Marcus's eyes were grave, and for the first time since meeting him, Amber saw the fear in them. "You're going to have to make a choice, Amber. You either embrace the curse, or you break it. But either way, you'll have to fight."

Amber's thoughts raced, but she couldn't shake the feeling that everything she had known, everything she had believed, was unraveling. She was part of something she didn't understand-something ancient and dangerous. The pack, the wolves, her bloodline-all of it was connected. And now, there was no turning back.

"What's the plan, then?" Amber asked, her voice quiet but firm.

"You need to learn about your family's past. You need to understand the curse, its origins. But most of all, you need to understand the wolves-and the danger they pose to everyone in Shadow Creek."

Amber nodded slowly, her mind already racing ahead, trying to process everything he had told her. This wasn't just about surviving the town. It was about saving it, and perhaps herself, from a legacy of violence and supernatural power.

She wasn't sure if she was ready for what was coming. But she knew one thing for certain-there was no going back now.