Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 85

Charlotte

The scent of ash never leaves my skin, and the taste of Samson’s blood won’t leave my mouth. No matter how many times I wash my hands, I can still smell it, the temple fire, the blood, the smoke. The end of the curse. The beginning of something I can’t yet name.

It’s been two days since the fire. The Blackthorn Pack house is quiet, almost reverent. Wolves bow when I pass, but they won’t meet my eyes. It makes me uneasy, not the respect, but the fear threaded through it. I’m not. sure what they see when they look at me now. I went from being one kind of outcast to another.

The council summons comes at dawn. Jake reads it aloud while I’m sitting at the window, wrapped in one of Ronan’s shirts, watching the sun burn through the mist.

“The surviving Alphas request the presence of the Ancient One and her bond–mates for council at midday. Subject: the future of our kind.”

The future. I’m not sure they want a future that includes me, and I can’t say that I am surprised.

Damon tilts his head to the side and smirks. “Road trip?”

“This is serious,” Jake growls. “What if they don’t like our… arrangement?”

I rise from the window seat and move toward the dressers. I strip off the shirt and toss it onto the ground. “I will go alone.”

Ronan scoffs. “They’ll smell weakness if you go alone,” he growls, pulling on his jacket.

Jake and Damon exchange wary glances. They’ve been different since the temple, more protective, more watchful. None of them leaves me alone, not even for a moment.

***

When we reach the council hall, the air inside is heavy with power. The great stone chamber is filled with the heads of the surviving packs: Blackthorn, Southpaw, Ironclaw, Ashvale, and remnants of others whose Alphas. were lost to the sickness. Lights burn in silver sconces, casting light over carved walls depicting the Moon Goddess and her daughters.

My eyes fall on the carving of the daughter on the Goddess’s right side. My mouth curves into a small smile as I recognize the crooked grin that could only belong to Tala. I draw in a sharp breath and step into the room, feeling more at ease knowing that Tala is probably watching over me.

The moment we step through the archway, every conversation dies.

Whispers rise like smoke as I move forward. Ronan walks slightly ahead of me, Jake and Damon at my sides. I can feel their tension in the air, three wolves ready to tear apart anyone who even thinks about laying a hand

on me.

At the center table, Alpha Lucian of the Southpaw Pack rises to his feet. “So,” he says, voice echoing through the hall. “The curse–breaker arrives.”

I stop a few paces away. “You make it sound like a crime.”

Lucian’s mouth curves into a smile. “Depends on who you ask.”

Leah stands just behind him. She catches my eye and raises her chin in reassurance. I hold on to it like a lifeline.

My eyes flicker around the room, and every Alpha seated around the crescent table watches me like I’m the ticking fuse of a bomb they can’t decide to disarm or detonate.

Ronan stands to my left, his hand resting on the table, ready to spring if anyone so much as twitches wrong. Damon and Jake stand behind me; one shadow, one storm.

Alpha Calder of the Ironclaw packs, rises to his feet. “Explain.”

Lucian growls in his direction, and Leah shifts behind him, ready to strike. I can feel their bond through the air, not as mates, but as soldiers sworn to the same cause. To me.

“It’s okay,” I call out to them. “I can tell them what happened.”

I start my story, making sure to leave nothing out. It drags on into the day, and the Alphas shift uneasily in their seats. By the time I am finished the chamber is silent.

“Is that all?” Alpha Calder growls.

“I’ve told you everything,” I say finally, my voice low but steady. “Samson’s gone. The curse is broken. Tala’s spirit has been freed.”

He folds his arms. “And yet you sit here alive. Forgive us, Luna, but curses like that don’t just end. They shift into something new.”

A murmur ripples across the chamber.

“Are you suggesting she’s carrying something darker?” another Alpha demands.

“I’m not suggesting. I know,” Calder snaps, “that the Goddess doesn’t grant mercy without reason. This ancient one is a plague.”

Ronan’s growl rolls through the room. “Watch your tongue.”

“Enough,” I say, before it can devolve into chaos. “You wanted proof. You wanted the truth. I’ve given you both. If you still doubt me, then you’ll have to take it up with the Moon Goddess yourself.”

The doors slam open before anyone can respond.

A group of warriors with Blackthorn’s corrupted sigils burned into their armor surge into the chamber with weapons drawn. Their eyes are feral, clouded with something wrong. Not wolfsbane, not rage. They are still infected.

“Samson may

be dead,” the lead warrior snarls, “but the Goddess still demands balance. We won’t let the ancient one leave her alive.”

Chapter oJ

I push to my feet as chairs scrape and Alphas shout. “Friends of yours?” I snarl at Alpha Calder.

Lucian is the first to move. His claws extend from his fingertips, and in one brutal motion, he slices through the nearest attacker. Leah drops to a crouch beside me, claws already extended, eyes glowing gold.

“We hold the line,” she says through her teeth.

“Always,” I reply.

Ronan is gone from my side in the next breath, a blur of fury and motion, tearing through the intruders with the kind of precision that only comes from desperation and love. He’s fighting for me. For us.

Lucian fights like he was born to protect kings. His strikes are measured, perfect, efficient. Leah fights like the storm she is, wild, relentless, glorious.

I call the silver within me, Cricket thrums beneath my skin like a heartbeat of starlight. It answers, coating my arms with shimmering light. When the next wave of warriors rushes in, I meet them head–on, palms flaring with divine power.

The room shakes with impact.

One falls. Then another. I spin, strike, and release a surge that sends three crashing into the wall.

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