Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 99

Entwined Under Lunar Vows 99

Morning isn’t supposed to look like this. The sun climbs through a haze of smoke, turning the skyline the color of rust. Every rooftop glows faintly gold, except the one we’re on. Our roof is black. Smoke rises. through from the tar, bellowing into the air like a warning.

Aelara is no longer at my side, and panic ripples through me as I scan the rooftop for her. She stands at the edge of the building, her hair whipping in the wind, eyes silver in the half–light. She hasn’t said a word since last night. Just keeps staring down at the roof where something, or someone, burned words into the tar.

I pull on my jacket and join her. I cock my head to the side as I attempt to read the message that was left for us, but it is futile. It is in a language that I have never seen before.

“What does it say?” I finally ask.

She doesn’t answer right away. Her hand drifts out, trembling slightly as her fingertips hover above the markings. I see faint threads of light curl up from the ash. It is divine magic, still alive even after the fire.

“It’s written in the old tongue,” she murmurs. “Only the Daughters of the Moon can read it.”

“What does it say, Aelara?”

She finally looks at me, eyes full of dread.

“The Silver Wolf will fall when the last Daughter burns.”

My voice gets caught in my throat. The zealots are threatening more than just Aelara.

“Charlotte,” she says quietly. “They’re going after her next.”

“The woman you’re trying to find?”

She nods. “She carries what remains of the Silver Wolf. If the zealots destroy us all, they’ll hunt her to finish the Goddess’s work.”

I scan the message again, my throat tight. “How the hell did they even know we’d be here?”

“They didn’t,” she says. “They followed the bond.”

“Between you and her?”

“Yes. We were all bound to the Silver Wolf when she rose. But…” She hesitates, her voice trembling. “It’s fading.”

“What do you mean fading?”

She presses her hand over her chest, as if trying to feel something that isn’t there. “The connection between Charlotte and me is growing weaker. Like smoke in the wind. The closer I get to you, the less I can feel her.”

That shouldn’t sting the way it does. But it does.

“So, what, you think being around me is breaking your connection to her?”

She doesn’t answer. Which means she does.

I run a hand through my hair, trying to think, trying to push the panic out of my chest. “Maybe it’s not me. Maybe it’s this place, this city. Whatever magic you two share isn’t exactly built for Wi–Fi and traffic lights.

Her lips twitch in almost a smile. “You make it sound so simple.”

“I’m serious, Aclara. You don’t know for sure.”

She finally turns to me with a grim expression. “I can feel it slipping, Caleb. Every minute I stay, it unravels more. If it breaks completely, I’ll lose her. And if I lose her, the zealots win.”

“So what are you saying?”

“I’m saying…” Her voice cracks and her eyes well up with tears. “I may have to leave you behind.”

The words punch a hole straight through me.

I step closer before I can stop myself. “You think I’ll just let you walk into whatever hell they’ve got waiting?”

“This isn’t your fight.”

“It became my fight the second they came after us. Not just you. They came for both of us.”

“You don’t understand what’s at stake.” She raises her voice, and the air trembles around us, but I refuse to back down. Not when I have found the one person in this hellscape that makes me believe there is something worth living for.

I grab her wrist. “Then make me understand.”

Her gaze flicks to the horizon, to the smoky sunrise painting the city in shades of grief. “If they destroy the Daughters, they destroy the balance. Without us, the world unravels. Everything will burn; mortals, gods, all of it. Charlotte is the key to restoring it.”

“And you’re the key to her.”

“Yes.”

“Then you’re not going without me.”

“Caleb.”

“No.” My voice comes out rough, louder than I mean it to. “Every time you say you’re going alone, you almost die. Every time you think you’re protecting me, you just hurt yourself more.”

“I can’t drag you into this.”

“You already did. The moment you first healed me, you dragged me into this.”

She goes quiet, studying me with her black eyes that make it impossible to breathe right. “You shouldn’t care this much,” she whispers. “It makes you vulnerable.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been vulnerable since the first time you looked at me like I was someone you remembered.”

Her breath catches, but she doesn’t pull away.

I lower my voice. “If you go, I go. End of story.”

Her jaw tightens. “You’ll slow me down.”

“Probably.”

“You could die.”

“Probably.”

“You’re impossible.”

My lips curve into a knowing smirk. “I get that a lot.”

For a second, the tension breaks. She exhales, shaking her head. “You remind me so much of him.”

“Cael?”

“Yes.”

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