Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 77

Ronan

I don’t know how long I have been locked in this cell. A cell that I created for the most dangerous werewolves that stepped onto my territory. If I had the strength, I would laugh at the irony of it all. But strength is no longer something I possess, Elder Samson made sure of that.

The stench of wolfsbane seeps through everything, my clothes, my skin, the back of my throat. It burns when I breathe, settles in my chest like ash. Every heartbeat feels like a nail driven through bone.

They are injecting it into my veins and hiding it in my food. They’ve stopped questioning me. Maybe they think I’ll break on my own.

They’re right.

Not because of the pain, but because of her.

Charlotte.

Every time I close my eyes, I see her face, the tremor in her voice when she made me promise that I would return. Foolishly, I made that promise, not knowing about the traitors that waited for me in my own pack. Surely, I could blame the sickness, but I think it goes deeper than that. Samson has been pulling my strings for too long. I was a fucking fool to trust him.

I laugh to myself when I think about killing him. The noise rips from my throat, echoing in the bare cell like a bark. I’ve gone days without food, maybe longer without sleep. The line between dreams and reality blurs until I don’t trust either anymore.

I’m lying on the cold floor when I hear it.

“Get up, pup.”

The voice cuts through the haze, deep and unfamiliar. I look around the cell for its origin, but it is empty. I fall back onto the floor, not caring when my head smacks the concrete with a thud.

“I told you to get up.”

I drag my head up, blinking against the dim light spilling through the barred window. A shadow leans against the far wall, arms crossed, smirking as if he knows something I don’t.

“Do I know you?”

He doesn’t move aside from a slight cock of his head. “I am Conan.”

“Conan?” I whisper the name, trying to distinguish where I have heard it before.

“You don’t know me,” he says, answering my question. “I was Tala’s first knight.”

“Tala,” I groan against the floor. “Charlotte’s wolf.”

“There you go,” Conan laughs. “Now you are putting it together.”

“Tala was once a Daughter of the Moon, but she turned her back on her family when she met Theo,” he explains. “Theo killed me when I tried to save her, but the Moon Goddess did not offer me salvation.”

I raise my head to look at him again. “You’re dead.”

“Not the first time you’ve been wrong. I have been forced to walk this earth, nothing more than a shadow, and watch Tala fail over and over again in her efforts to end this curse. The only way I will be free is if she does. what the Moon Goddess asked of her all those centuries ago.”

I try to sit up, but the chains bite into my wrists. My body protests, trembling with the effort. “If this is some. kind of trick, I am not in the mood.”

“Not a trick.” He moves closer, the air around him shimmering like heat. “You’re circling the drain, Ronan. That poison’s eating you from the inside out. You’ve got maybe a day before it wins. Are you willing to die?”

I huff a bitter laugh. “Then I’ll die thinking of her.”

Conan crouches in front of me, his expression softening. “That’s exactly what she’d hate you for. You think Charlotte wants you to die for her?”

I look away. “I couldn’t protect her. I couldn’t even stop Samson from taking over my pack. Samson has what she needs to end this, and I don’t even know where it is.”

He grips my shoulder, and though I know he’s not real, I swear I feel the weight of his hand. “Then you find it and protect her. The way I couldn’t protect Tala.”

The name hits like a blade to the gut. I meet his gaze, the shadows deepening in his features.

“You know what she is,” he says quietly. “What she’s carrying. The goddess has her claws in this one. And if Charlotte falls, the curse will only be reborn in another life. I am tired of watching her fail.”

“I can’t save her from that,” I rasp. “Theo… he’s…”

“Not your concern.” Conan’s voice hardens. “You’re her anchor. She won’t survive what’s coming unless you’re there to drag her back. You hear me?”

“I can’t even stand,” I mutter.

“Then crawl.”

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