Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 102

Aelara

Caleb grabs my hand and pulls me through the dark city streets. He doesn’t tell me where he’s going, but the laughter on his lips and determination in every step almost makes me worry. His fingers are warm, grounding me in a way nothing divine ever did.

We cross bridges and alleyways until the sound of traffic fades to a whisper. Trees replace glass, and grass replaces asphalt.

When he finally stops, we’re standing at the edge of a forest. The night air hums with life, crickets, wind, and the faint rush of a nearby river. Above us, the moon hangs low and full, veiled in thin clouds.

Caleb’s chest rises and falls fast. He’s smiling, that wild, unguarded smile I haven’t seen since before the zealots, before the temple, before everything started to fall apart.

“I had to get out,” he says. “My wolf’s been pacing for days.”

I blink. “Your wolf?”

He grins wider. “You didn’t think I was just human, did you?”

“You said you didn’t remember being Cael.”

“I didn’t.” He steps closer, his hand brushing across my cheek. “But that doesn’t mean everything from before is gone.”

Caleb strips off his clothes quickly, letting the moonlight shine down on his skin. He lifts his chin, drawing in a deep breath. The air seems to ripple around him. For a heartbeat, nothing happens, then his body shudders, bends. The sound of his bones cracking fills the air. Shifting into one’s wolf form is grotesque, but I can’t seem to look away.

Then he’s standing there, no longer a man but a wolf the size of a bear, sleek and strong, with black fur shining in the moonlight. His eyes are the same.

“Caleb,” I whisper in awe.

He takes a step forward, lowering his head, tail sweeping once through the grass. The bond between us hums to life, not painful this time, just warm, pulsing with something like pride.

He circles me once, a low rumble echoing in his chest, before nudging my hand with his snout. His fur is impossibly soft beneath my fingers.

“You want me to run with you,” I murmur.

He huffs, a sound that’s half–laugh, half–command.

“I can’t,” I whisper. “My wolf hasn’t answered me in… decades.”

He tilts his head, his curious gaze meeting mine.

I close my eyes and reach inward. For so long, my wolf has been silent, buried beneath centuries of divinity and duty. She was the part of me that howled, hunted, and lived. But all I find now is silence.

I call again, desperate. Please. Just once. Wake up.’

Nothing answers.

When I open my eyes, Caleb’s watching me with something that looks like heartbreak.

“She’s gone,” I say softly. “Or sleeping too deep to wake.”

He presses his nose against my palm, nuzzling gently. The bond whispers to me.

“You shouldn’t waste your time on a goddess pretending to be a wolf,” I whisper.

He growls low in his throat, not angry, but stubborn. Always stubborn. Then he turns and bolts into the trees, black fur blurring against the silver grass.

“Caleb!”

He doesn’t stop.

The forest swallows him whole.

For a moment, I just stand there, staring after him, my heart thundering. Then something inside me breaks loose, an ache too wild to ignore.

I run.

The wind tears through my hair, the grass whipping at my legs, the earth solid beneath my feet. I can’t shift, but the instinct is still there, the need to chase, to run, to be free.

I catch glimpses of him ahead, flashes of movement between the trees, gold eyes shining against the darkness. He’s waiting, taunting me to keep up.

And for the first time in so long, I laugh.

The sound startles me. It’s light, unguarded, so human it almost hurts. I keep running, breathless, until I reach the river. He’s there already, standing on the opposite bank, fur glistening wet from the spray.

He looks magnificent. Every inch the Alpha, he must have been once.

When I cross the shallows to reach him, he lowers his head, letting me rest my hand against his muzzle. His breath fans across my wrist, hot and steady.

“I forgot what this felt like,” I whisper. “Freedom.”

He leans into me, pressing his weight against my legs, like a puppy who has grown too big for my lap.

The moon slides from behind the clouds, and for a moment, everything is still. Nothing else matters, just us.

Then, in my mind, I hear it: a faint whisper. Not Caleb’s voice. Not the Goddess’s. Something older.

‘Run.’

My chest tightens. It’s her. My wolf. Weak and distant, but awake.

Caleb hears my gasp. His ears twitch, and he steps back, watching and waiting.

I close my eyes and reach again, deeper this time. The slumbering presence inside me stirs, slow and hesitant. ‘Run with him,‘ she murmurs. Just this once.’

A sob escapes me. It has been so long since I heard her voice that I had almost forgotten what she sounded

like.

The shift is painful. My bones stretch, reshape. My skin burns as fur ripples along my arms, down my back. I drop to my knees, gasping, as the world explodes into color and scent and sound.

When it settles, I’m on four legs. The forest smells alive. I can see and hear every leaf, every heartbeat, every drop of rain.

Caleb stands before me, golden eyes wide. Then, slowly, he lowers his head and brushes his muzzle against mine.

The bond surges, not divine this time but instinctual. Mate.

I tilt my head back and howl. The sound rips through the night, echoing off the hills. Caleb joins me, deeper voice harmonizing with mine.

Two wolves beneath a wounded moon.

his

We run until the horizon blushes with dawn, until my lungs ache and my paws bleed. When we finally stop, we collapse in the tall grass, side by side, panting, alive.

For the first time since the world began breaking, I don’t feel cursed.

I feel whole.

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