Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 70

Tala

I take a step forward, but Conan pushes me farther behind him. “Stay out of this, Tala,” he snarls. “You have done enough.”

I lunge forward again. “I will not let bloodshed happen because of me. Just go back to the temple, Conan. I will return. I swear it.”

“Yeah, knight,” Theo’s lips curl over the word. “Leave me with my mate.”

“She is not your mate,” Conan roars. “She is a Daughter of the Moon. She is to remain untouched for her entire life.” “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t care about you

r fucking Moon Goddess,” Theo spits in return.

My hand clasps over my lips in shock. I know Theo has been cursed by my mother, but I never thought I would hear such blasphemy from his lips. “Theo.”

Conan points a long finger in Theo’s direction. “Do you see what he is? He is evil, and you will burn for eternity if you choose him.”

I shake my head. “But he is my mate.”

“Then he must die,” Conan growls.

He doesn’t wait for Theo to make the first move. His blade flashes from its sheath, silver glinting beneath the lanternlight. The steel arcs toward Theo’s chest, but Theo is faster than any cursed man should be. He sidesteps, grabs Conan’s arm, and twists. The sound of bone straining fills the air before Conan jerks free, teeth bared in a snarl.

He jerks himself free but stumbles back, cradling his arm against his chest. “Please,” I beg. “Stop this.”

“Stay back, Tala!” Conan shouts, planting himself between me and Theo, his sword already swinging again.

An ungodly laughter fills the air as Theo watches Conan swing his blade in his direction. “You are pathetic. I think I will kill you slowly.”

Theo doesn’t wield steel. He wields fury. He ducks the next strike, his fist slamming into Conan’s ribs with enough force to knock the knight back a step. I hear the crunch of bone and Conan’s ragged breath. Still, he refuses to fall.

“Stop,” I scream, but I might as well be shouting into a void. Neither man yields nor listens to me. One of them will die tonight.

“You’ll never touch her again!” Conan roars, slashing low. Theo’s leg catches the edge of the blade, and blood splatters the dirt, but he doesn’t even flinch. His eyes burn like embers, locked on Conan with terrifying intensity.

“You can’t stop what’s already written,” Theo growls, his voice thick with rage and possession.

They collide in the dirt, flesh and steel, fists and fury. Conan lands a brutal strike to Theo’s jaw, the crack echoing through the night. Theo staggers, spits blood, then drives his knee into Conan’s stomach so hard the knight doubles over with a strangled sound.

Both men are wounded but refuse to back down. Blood trickles from the corner of Theo’s mouth, and he spits it into the ground at Conan’s feet. Conan can barely stay upright, but he refuses to back down. Fear consumes me because what if I lose them both?

Conan rushes toward Theo, blade in hand. He slices Theo across the midsection and raises his hand for another strike.

“Conan, stop!” I scream, but neither of them hears me.

Theo seizes the knight by the throat and slams him against the hut wall. The wood groans under the impact, lanternlight quivering as though the world itself fears him. “She is mine,” Theo hisses, low and venomous. “Relent and I won’t kill you.”

“I would rather die,” he snarls in return.

Theo shrugs his shoulders as if it doesn’t matter that a man’s life hangs in the balance. “So be it.”

I step forward, placing my hand on Theo’s shoulder, but he doesn’t register my touch. If anything, it only fuels him to tighten his grip on Conan’s next.

“Please,” I whimper. “Don’t kill him.”

“He is too dangerous to let live,” Theo snarls. “As long as he breathes, we can never be together.”

Black claws slip from the tips of Theo’s fingers, sinking deeply into Conan’s flesh. Blood drips from the wounds, falling too quickly, and I know he won’t survive the night. Tears drip down my cheeks, and hiccups shake my chest.

Conan’s sword drops from his hand, clattering uselessly to the dirt. But his eyes, those fierce, loyal eyes, stay fixed on me. “Tala…don’t…” he chokes, fighting against Theo’s hold. “He’ll…destroy you…”

Theo’s snarl splits the night as he tightens his grip. There’s a sickening crack. Conan’s body goes limp, slumping to the ground in a heap.

The silence afterward is deafening, broken only by my own horrified gasp. My knees threaten to buckle as I stare at Conan’s still form, at the blood seeping into the earth. A knight sworn to protect me is dead because of me.

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