Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Charlotte

The “Blackthorn Diner” sign flickers weakly in the early dawn. Damon kills the engine of his SUV a block away from the diner. The headlights shine on the small parking lot like a beacon, drawing me home before horts them. The streets are empty as we slip through the shadows, and the air is tainted with the scent of blood. I look back at Damon, my lips pressed together in a hard line. This was a bad idea.

Jake’s mark thrums like a warning on my neck. I press my palm against it, trying to drown out the feeling that I am sure is a warning. Damon stands beside me with goosebumps rising on his skin.

“Stay behind me,” he mutters.

We slip across the cracked asphalt, and I try not to focus on how empty the lot is. Ethel always opened early to serve breakfast. Even at the crack of dawn, there should be customers here.

As I approach the front door, my stomach drops. My hearing zeroes in on the sounds of the diner, but nothing comes from inside except for the hum of the neon sign. The door hangs open as if someone yanked it off the hinge, and a single bloodied handprint stains the glass.

My mouth drops open, and I cover the gasp with my hand. “Ethel.”

Inside, the booths are overturned. Plates shattered across the floor. Coffee drips from the machine around shards of glass. It mingles on the counter with something darker. Damon clamps a hand around my arms, keeping me from moving forward. Drawing a gun from his jacket, he sweeps the diner, looking for whoever must have done this.

“Clear,” he murmurs after a moment. “Stay close to me.”

The

tang of blood in the air grows thicker. Clouding the back of my throat; almost choking me. I vault the counter before he can stop me. His fingertips barely grazing my shoulders as I slip into the back room.

“Damn it, Charlotte,” he growls in a whisper.

“She’s back here!” I say a little too loudly. Following the scent of blood.

The swinging kitchen door sticks half open, and beyond it, Ethel lies crumpled against the walk–in cooler. Blood has soaked through her apron, running in thin streams across the tile. Her breaths come shallow, each one rattling in her chest.

I don’t search for the intruder. Instead, I drop to my knees, grabbing her hand. “Ethel,” I whisper, wiping the blood from her face. “Ethel. It’s Lotte. I’m here.”

Her eyes

flicker open.

“Charlotte…”

My hands hover over her wound, unsure of what I am supposed to do. There is blood everywhere. I don’t know where to start. Tears begin to cloud my eyes, dripping one by one down my cheek.

Damon crouches beside me, fingers on her neck. He brushes her long gray hair to the side, revealing a strange tattoo on the back of her neck. “She was a knight.”

“What?” I gasp, pressing my hands to the gasp in her stomach. “Impossible.”

Damon smiles at Ethel softly, resting a hand on her cheek. “She was, but now… Now she is fading.”

“No,” I hiss. “She won’t die. Not because of me.”

Ethel reaches a shaky hand to my face, wiping my tears away. “I served my purpose.”

Shaking my head, I bite back Tala’s growls. “Who did this to you?”

Her lips move, but no sound comes out at first. She swallows, forcing a whisper past her bloodied teeth. “It… was…” She coughs hard, and a thick trail of blood trickles from the corner of her mouth. “…they know…”

“Who?” My voice cracks. “Ethel, who?”

Her hand twitches in mine, gripping it weakly. Her eyes roll back, then snap open wide. Fear consumes her dying face. “They’re coming for you…”

And then she exhales one final, shaking breath.

I bow my head to her still face. Damon tries to pull me away from her, but I refuse to let her go.

“Charlotte,” he whispers. “Don’t let her death be in vain.”

The clatter of boots outside grabs his attention, then mine. A shadow moves past the broken window, and then another. Damon curses under his breath and rises to his feet, dragging me with him.

“They’re here.”

My head snaps away from Ethel toward the cracked blinds. I can see them, Blackthorn warriors, dressed in all black, and closing in from all sides. Their scent hits me like a truck. There are dozens of them; we will never get away.

“They knew we were coming,” I whisper.

Damon’s eyes blaze as he racks the slide on his gun. The faint scent of silver trickles into the air. “It was a trap,” he growls. “Stay low.”

The diner walls shudder as they force themselves inside, breaking the windows. Someone barks orders outside, it isn’t Ronan, and I know they are here to kill me. de se at de de de d

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