Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 57

Chapter 57

The bond snaps like a whip across my soul. Just like it has in every other lifetime, only this time it feels different. It feels like the beginning and the end. Charlotte is not Tala, and that scares me.

One moment, I’m standing on the balcony of the old church that has been my refuge; the next, white–hot pain sears through my chest. It drives me to my knees. My claws scrape the stone, creating deep grooves, and a growl rumbles in my chest. My vision turns white, and steam exhales from my nostrils.

They’ve done it.

Charlotte has finally bound herself to the wolves, and in doing so, she has done what Tala could not. She convinced her three werewolf mates to choose her despite having to share her. That is something I could never bear to do. I would rather spend a lifetime in agony than share what is rightfully mine. The strand of our bond that has kept me tied to her over the centuries is pulled tight, begging me to find her. To end this, once and for all.

I brace my palms against the floorboards, breathing through the agony. My inner demon half snarls at the insult of her choosing them. But my wolf, the one I pushed away all those years ago, bleeds. He longs for her just like he did the first time he saw her, but I had already chosen my fate. It was too late for me. For us.

He tries to burst to the surface, chanting Tala’s name. It sounds like thunder in my ears, rumbling over and over, until it becomes a litany.

My demon takes control, pushing my wolf back. Drowning out her name. His mind is focused on Charlotte. Unlike Tala’s other hosts, he has taken an interest in her. He has never permitted me to touch one of them before, but he wants nothing more than for me to touch her again.

I push them both to the side, trying to remember who I am beneath them.

A voice cuts through the haze in my mind. “Are you going to tell her the truth this time?”

Boots step into view. The figure kneels beside me, the scent of ash and sulfur curling into the air. His face remains hidden behind a half–mask of dark steel, but he doesn’t need to remove it for me to know who he is. What I can see of his face is expressionless, except for the faint gleam of green in his eyes.

I force

my

hands to unclench. “There’s nothing to tell,” I rasp, though my throat burns with the lie.

The masked figure tilts his head, studying me like a curious bird. “You still think you can outrun it?” Their voice is harsh, reminding me of who I am bound to. “You’ve felt it as surely as I have. She’s stronger this time, and so is the curse.”

A low growl crawls out of me. “It’s not a curse,” I hiss. “It’s a penance.”

The figure chuckles without mirth. “You called it a penance the last time, and two mates were not enough to bind her. And the time before that. What makes you think three will be enough? What will you call this when she remembers the dagger?”

I freeze, every muscle locking, resisting the urge to strike.

His voice dips closer to my ear. “What will you do, demon, when she remembers what you did to her? When she remembers what you both did to all of them?”

“I wasn’t alone in this,” I snarl. “You also played a part.”

Images flash behind my eyelids. Tala’s eyes glowing in torchlight, before she was bound to another’s body, and she was just Tala. The silver dagger in my hands, glinting against the flames, as I run the blade over both our palms, our blood mingling as the ritual ignited. Then the first scream, the smell of burning fur, and the first wolf falling sick.

We couldn’t have known what would happen when we bound ourselves together. We didn’t know unnat it would lead to sickness and ruin. Because of what we did, her kind fell from the earth, forced to bind themselves to another to survive. Through it all, she has never blamed me, only herself. That’s why each lifetime, each time she uses the dagger, she takes her life, and not mine.

My demon snarls at the thought of losing Charlotte, and it rips from my lips.

The figure straightens, and the hem of his black velvet cloak brushes against the stone. “You’re running out of lifetimes, Theo.”

I grind my teeth, pushing to my feet despite the pain still clawing at my soul. “Leave.”

“I have never understood why you choose to stay here?” The masked figure laughs. “This place is so dull.”

“This is my home,” I remind him. “Before it was taken from me.”

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