Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 103

Chapter 103

Aclara

The first thing I notice when I wake is the silence. There are no birds chirping, no wind rustling the leaves, and most of all. no heartbeat beside mine. It is the kind of silence that is too loud, and it makes my heart pound in my ears.

“Caleb?”

My voice seems to disappear into nothing, and somehow, the silence grows. I sit up, blinking against the sun’s bright light, and only then do I realize that I am alone. Caleb is gone, but it is more than that. Everything about him is gone. His boots. his clothes, and his scent are all gone. It is as if he were never here at all.

The panic rises in my chest like a chill down my spine.

I get to my feet, scanning the clearing. There’s no sign of a struggle, no sign of blood. Just tracks leading east, wolf paws that turned to human prints halfway through.

“Caleb,” I whisper again.

Then a voice slides through my mind. Familiar and cold, just like she always was.

“Let’s see where your loyalties lie, little sister.”

“Seren,” I hiss.

Laughter ripples through my head, making it feel like my skull will crack in two.

“You ran so freely last night. So much like a foolish mortal. I thought you’d forgotten us completely.”

“What did you do?”

“Nothing that wasn’t already written. The zealots called his wolf. I simply… didn’t stop them.”

Rage flares hot under my skin. “Where is he?”

“Alive. For now.”

“Seren,” I whisper her name with a warning tone.

“You can’t save everyone, Aelara. You tried that once, remember? You saved him and doomed us.”

Her words are dripping with venom.

“So tell me, sister. Will you chase your lover, or your destiny? The Alpha wolf, or the silver one?”

The bond to Charlotte pulses weakly, like a fading heartbeat far away. Caleb’s thread, by contrast, burns bright, tangled with mine, pulling at every nerve.

I drop to my knees, pressing my palms into the dirt. The earth hums beneath me, threads of divine energy twisting like roots. If I follow the one tied to Charlotte, I might save the world. If I follow Caleb’s… I might save him.

Seren’s laughter curls through my thoughts again.

“I’ll be watching, little sister. Let’s see if love damns you twice.”

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Her presence vanishes, leaving me shaking in the quiet.

I force myself to breathe. In through the nose. Out through the mouth. The old way. Mortal way.

The tracks lead east, toward the hills beyond the river. I move quickly, ignoring the ache in my legs and the tightness in my chest. Every few minutes, I call his name through the bond, but it is like shouting into a void.

Once, I could have followed him by scent alone, but I can’t pick out his scent. Not now that my wolf is gone again. Without her, every step feels impossible.

Hours pass before I find a sign that he was here. A piece of shredded fabric caught on a branch, black like his shirt. The edges shimmer faintly with residue magic. Zealot work.

They took him.

My hands curl into fists. “I warned you, Seren,” I whisper to the wind. “If he dies because of you…”

But the threat dies on my tongue. Because even if she hears me, she doesn’t care.

By the time I reach the ridge, the sun is setting behind the trees. From the top, I see smoke rising in thin threads from the forest beyond. A campfire, small but deliberate, meant to draw me to them.

The bond between us flickers, faint but there. He’s close.

I descend quietly, on bare feet, moving through the trees like a shadow. The closer I get, the more the air stinks of their rotten magic.

When I reach the clearing, I see them, three zealots in tattered robes, chanting softly over a ring of symbols carved into the ground. Caleb kneels at the center, human again, shirtless, his wrists bound with chains that shimmer silver in the firelight.

His head hangs forward, sweat slicking his skin. But when I take a step closer, he lifts his face. Our eyes meet.

“Aelara,” he rasps. “Don’t.”

“Quiet,” one of the zealots snaps, striking him across the jaw. Blood spatters the dirt.

I see red. Magic that I thought had disappeared hums through my veins. The shadows under my feet stir, rising like smoke. My hands glow faintly with a dark magic I haven’t used in centuries.

“Release him,” I say.

The zealots turn in unison. Their eyes are all wrong with glowing symbols where pupils should be.

“The Daughter returns,” the tallest one says. “You’ve grown weak.”

“Try me.”

He raises his hand. Light flares from the palm of his hand, almost blinding me. I raise mine to meet it. When the two forces collide, thunder ripples through the air.

When it settles, he’s gone, burned to dust. The others scream prayers and attack, but my power moves before I think. The shadows surge, swallowing them whole,

Then there’s silence. Only the crackle of the fire and Caleb’s labored breathing.

I rush to him, dropping to my knees. The chains hiss when I touch them, burning my palms, but I don’t stop. I press both

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hands to the metal, channeling what’s left of my magic. The links glow, then break apart with a groan.

He slumps forward into my arms.

“Caleb,” I whisper. “Talk to me.”

He looks up, dazed but smiling faintly. “You came.”

“Of course I did.”

“I told you not to.”

“I don’t take orders.”

He laughs, weak but real. I brush his hair back from his face. His eyes are unfocused, the gold dimming at the edges.

“They were chanting,” he murmurs. “Trying to separate Cael from me. Said they needed him to find the Silver One.”

My blood runs cold. “Charlotte.”

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