Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 104

Chapter 104

Aclara

We find an old cabin tucked into the hillside, half–swallowed by ivy and time. It was built during the last rebellion, a sanctuary for those who couldn’t afford faith.

Now, it’s just us.

Caleb’s barely conscious by the time I get him inside. His skin burns with fever, and his pulse is erratic. I ease him down onto a narrow bed and strip the ruined shirt from his chest. His skin is slick with sweat, streaked with blood and soot. The sight twists something deep in my chest.

“Don’t move,” I whisper.

He laughs weakly. “Not planning on it.”

I press my hand to the wound at his side. It’s shallow but angry, rimmed with faint traces of zealot magic and pale veins that pulse when I touch them. My stomach tightens. Their poison isn’t meant for mortals. It’s meant for me.

“Hold still.” I warn.

“I trust you.”

He shouldn’t. But I still whisper the words of healing under my breath, channeling what’s left of my power. Light spills from my palms and digs into his skin. His body arches slightly, breath catching as the energy seeps into his veins.

The poison resists me. It always does, but I refuse to give up. When the last of it fades, I collapse forward, catching myself on trembling arms. My magic flickers out like a dying candle.

Caleb catches my wrist. “Hey. Easy.”

“I’m fine.”

“You look like hell.”

“So do you.”

He smiles. “Guess we’re even.”

I pull away before the warmth of his hand can burn me deeper. I shouldn’t be touching him at all. Every use of magic binds me tighter to him. Every heartbeat in sync with his pulls me farther from Charlotte.

But when I look down at him, the rise and fall of his chest, the bruises painted along his ribs, something inside me softens despite everything.

“You never stop fighting,” I murmur.

He cracks one eye open. “That’s rich coming from you.”

“I mean it.”

“I know.” His gaze lingers on me. “You scare me sometimes.”

“Why?”

“Because you look like you belong to another world, and you keep pretending you don’t.”

Though the words are true, they still burn. “Maybe I don’t belong anywhere anymore.”

He pushes himself up slowly, wincing. “Then stay here.”

I blink. “Here?”

“With me.”

“Caleb…”

“I know what you’re going to say,” he interrupts. “That you’ll lose your connection to her, that you’ll lose your divinity, your purpose. I get it. But you’re losing yourself faster than either of us realized.”

He reaches out, fingers brushing my jaw. “When’s the last time you let yourself be anything other than a weapon?”

“I can’t afford to be human.”

“Maybe that’s exactly what you need to be.”

His hand lingers, thumb tracing the edge of my mouth. My breath stutters. The air between us shifts.

“Don’t,” I whisper.

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t make me choose.”

“I’m not.” His voice is quiet, steady. “I’m asking you to stop running.”

I close my eyes. The room suddenly feels smaller, too full of things unsaid. The bond between us hums beneath my skin. coaxing instead of demanding.

When I open my eyes again, he’s closer. Too close.

“I almost lost you,” I say.

“But you didn’t.”

“I can’t keep doing this.”

He leans forward, his forehead brushing mine. “Then stop fighting me.”

My hands grip the edge of the mattress, torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer. “You don’t understand what happens when I stop”

“Show me,” he whispers.

That single phrase shatters every defense I have left.

I pull back, breath ragged. “You shouldn’t want this.”

“Too late.”

He says it like it’s a confession and a vow all at once. His fingers slide to the back of my neck, just asking for permission. And

gods help me, I want to give in.

The bond hums louder now, the silver thread of it wrapping around my ribs, pulling tight. But beneath it, something else stirs, Charlotte’s heartbeat, faint and flickering like a candle in wind.

I feel her slipping.

Caleb sees it on my face. “You feel her, don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“She’s fading again.”

“Then go,” he says softly. “I won’t stop you.”

I shake my head, tears stinging my eyes. “If I leave now, you’ll die. If I stay, she will.”

“Maybe neither of you has to.”

He says it like he believes it, and it undoes me.

I press my palms against his chest, feeling his heartbeat under my hands. It’s steady now, stronger than it was an hour ago.

“I hate you,” I whisper.

He smiles faintly. “You keep saying that.”

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