Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 73

Chapter 73

Tala

The emptiness wakes me.

The forest is too quiet without Theo’s breathing, too cold without the heat of his body beside me. My hands stretch blindly across the flattened grass where he should be, but I find nothing but damp earth. My heart

stutters.

“Theo?” My voice is raw and ragged, hoping he is nearby. But there is no answer.

I sit up, clutching my robes tighter around me. Every shadow between the trees suddenly looks like danger. My chest tightens until it feels like I can’t breathe. He wouldn’t leave. He promised he wouldn’t leave.

But promises are as fragile as fractured glass, and I’ve watched them snap too easily.

My throat burns as the first sob claws its way free. I press both hands against my mouth, trying to quiet the sound, but it shakes through me anyway. Hot tears spill over, falling onto my robe, my lap, the earth. What have I done? I’ve left everything behind: my sisters, the temple, and the only life I knew. For him. And if he’s gone…

If he’s gone, I’ve destroyed myself for nothing.

My mother thinks of herself as a romantic. Maybe with Theo by my side, she would take pity on us. She wouldn’t deny us the bond that fate has set before us, but if he is gone, there is no help for either of us.

I fold forward, pressing my forehead to my knees. My breath comes in broken gasps, panic thick in my chest. I’m not supposed to feel like this, not supposed to unravel over a man stripped of his wolf, cursed for turning against the Goddess. But the bond, whatever threads of fate she wove between us, is already inside me. It’s him. It has always been him. Even before I knew him, I knew I was waiting for the moment he stepped into my life.

“Don’t cry.”

I freeze, too afraid to lift my head in case I imagined it.

Then warm fingers brush against my damp cheek. I jerk upright, eyes flying open. Theo kneels in front of me; his face looks softer in the morning light. His eyes search mine, pained, guilty. He drops a bundle from his arms and cups my face, forcing me to look at him.

“You left.” The accusation tears out of me, making me sound younger than I want. “You left me.”

His jaw tightens, as if the words cut him. “I went to find you clothes.”

I blink. My breath stutters, chest heaving. “Clothes?”

“You can’t walk into a town wearing Daughter of the Moon robes.” He gestures to the bundle at his feet. “People would see you and know what you are. I needed to protect you.” His hands fall from my face, his head bowing. “I didn’t think, gods, I didn’t think you’d wake and believe I’d abandoned you. I am sorry, little one.”

A sob breaks through me anyway, I shove at his chest with both hands, weak and frantic. “You should have told me! I thought…” My voice cracks. “I thought you’d changed your mind. That I wasn’t worth the trouble.”

Theo catches my wrists, not to hold me still, but to ground me. His grip is firm, steady. His eyes burn into mine, fierce as fire.

“My mind?” His voice is low, rough with anger and something deeper. “Do you have any idea what you are to me. Tala? I couldn’t change my mind if I tried. You’re inside me. You’ve ruined me.”

The confession guts me. My knees weaken, and he pulls me against him before I collapse. My cheek presses to his chest, and the solid thud of his heartbeat anchors me. I draw in a breath, and then another, through my nose and out of my mouth. Theo breathes with me, calming the storm between us. When I have cried the last of my tears, I wipe them with the back of my hand.

“I can’t lose you,” I whisper, clutching at his tunic. “Not now. Not after everything”

“You won’t.” His lips brush my hairline. “Not while I still breathe.”

The air between us shifts, no temple, no knights, no rules. Just him and me and the weight of all we’ve risked. I tilt my face up, and he kisses me hard, like he’s been starved. His mouth molds to mine, and he moans deeply. I remember his touch from the night before, and I inch my way closer to him, needing to feel the hardness of his body pressed against mine.

When he finally pulls back, his breath shakes against my lips. He brushes a strand of hair from my face, voice rough.

“Next time, I’ll wake you.”

I almost laugh, the sound broken and wet, but real. “You’d better.”

He backs away slowly, nodding to the clothes at my feet. “I don’t know what women wear, or what size you are, so I guess.”

My fingers tremble as I lift up the items one by one. I inspect them carefully. I didn’t expect them to be exquisite, but these are much nicer than I expected.

“Theo,” I whisper. “You shouldn’t have.”

“Try them on,” he chuckles, sitting back on his heels..

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