My Moonlit Declaration

Chapter 8: Severing the Mark

Cold sweat poured down Elara’s temples. Her entire body began to tremble uncontrollably, and her breathing grew increasingly rapid.

The power of the mate resonance was spiraling out of control.

That silver thread deep within her soul vibrated wildly, as if stretched to its limit and about to snap at any moment.

It was scorching—more precisely, it was burning.

It started from the center of her chest, as though someone had pressed a piece of red-hot iron against her heart.

Moonlight crept around the side of the boulder and fell on her arm. The burning sensation intensified. The moonlight was igniting the silver thread in her chest.

Every breath Elara took felt like a knife slicing through her.

Moonlight was everywhere. It shone in from both sides of the boulder, poured down from the sky above, and reflected off the spring water. Elara was enveloped in silvery-white moonlight with nowhere to escape.

It hurt so much! Sweat beaded on Elara’s forehead from the pain.

She knew that if this continued, she would not be able to endure this extreme agony.

She needed to find a larger place to hide—one completely untouched by moonlight.

Using the boulder for support, she struggled to her feet, intending to find a bigger rock. Suddenly, a heavier shadow engulfed her.

A powerful oppressive force swept over her from behind, and the air seemed to sink abruptly.

She could feel him right behind her.

She smelled his scent, felt his body heat, and heard his ragged breathing.

In the next instant, a pair of arms reached out from behind and pulled her firmly into an embrace. His arms wrapped tightly around her waist, so tight that she could feel them trembling.

“Enough!” A low, hoarse voice sounded right beside her ear, carrying a tremor of extreme restraint.

Elara’s entire body stiffened. “Let go of me…” Her voice was so soft it was almost inaudible.

He did not release her. Instead, his arms tightened even more, as if he wanted to crush Elara into his own body.

This scent was far too familiar to her—it was him. Kael.

Tonight, his scent had already been etched into her bones and blood.

“If this continues, you will die.” His voice came from beside her ear. “I would rather bleed and die myself than watch you die before my eyes.” It was not a threat, merely a statement.

Elara knew he was not referring to the enemies lurking in the shadows, but to the out-of-control bond between them.

“Don’t continue like this. You can no longer endure the resonance.” He slowly loosened his hold, turned her around, and forced Elara to look directly into his eyes. His silver pupils churned with a suppressed storm in the darkness. “I’m going to sever it completely!”

At that moment, Elara’s breathing nearly stopped. Her mind went blank.

“No, you absolutely cannot!” She instinctively grabbed his arm, her fingertips digging unconsciously into his skin. “You will die!”

A thread of consciousness in her mind kept reminding her that forcibly severing the mate bond was an act of near self-destruction for this young leader.

It would cause spiritual backlash and bloodline collapse. He might even lose the ability to transform forever. In more severe cases, it could lead to complete mental breakdown and leave him crippled for life.

“Do you think I don’t know?” The corner of his lips curved into a faint, self-mocking smile that vanished in an instant. “But I cannot let you die.”

The night wind brushed past, and his voice dropped so low it was nearly swallowed by the darkness. “Even if the price is myself.”

Severing the bond would only mean she was stripped of their connection—a momentary pain.

But for Kael, he would have to endure several times, even dozens of times, that pain. From now on, every full moon would become his weakest moment.

Elara’s throat tightened, her eyes stinging fiercely. “No…” She shook her head, her fingers clutching him desperately. “You can’t… I won’t allow it!”

He lowered his gaze and looked at her. In that moment, Elara saw a gentleness in his eyes that nearly broke her.

It wasn’t the dominance of an Alpha, nor the coldness of a Wolf King—it was the final restraint of a man on the verge of losing the one he loved most.

“Be good,” he said softly, as if coaxing a child on the brink of collapse. “Look at me.”

Suddenly, he raised his hand and placed it on the back of her neck.

Elara’s heart clenched violently. “Kael—! Don’t!”

But he did not stop.

His silver pupils slowly darkened with a dim, eerie light—the sign that the Snow Moon Clan’s secret technique was being activated. “It won’t hurt for long,” he said.

But she knew he was lying.

When the first s***h of power came down, Elara’s mind went completely blank. Agonizing pain flooded over her like a tidal wave—as if something was being brutally sawed off from the depths of her soul.

Back and forth, each cut opened another fissure, tearing away a small piece of her soul.

Elara heard her own uncontrollable scream. In the next second, the world spun violently.

She could barely stand and had to clutch Kael’s arm with all her strength just to keep from collapsing.

Elara looked up at him.

His condition was far worse than hers. The backlash from severing the mate resonance struck him with several times the force.

She clearly saw his face turn deathly pale in an instant, the veins on his forehead bulging, and a trickle of dark red blood leaking from the corner of his lips.

“Don’t look,” he said hoarsely, suppressing the pain. “Close your eyes.”

The second s***h fell.

Elara’s vision kept darkening. Her ears filled with a constant buzzing sound. It felt as though her chest had been brutally torn open, and even her breaths carried the metallic scent of blood.

He let out a muffled groan and dropped to one knee. One hand pressed hard against the ground for support, while the other remained firmly on the back of her neck, refusing to loosen even slightly.

The Holy Elder silently walked up behind Kael and channeled the power of the Witch God into him, trying to ease the backlash.

Elara used every last bit of strength to lift her head. She stared fixedly at Kael—this leader who seemed invincible in the eyes of his people—watching him slowly crumble before her.

The third and final s***h!

The mate bond was completely severed.

In that instant, the entire world seemed to fall silent.

The frantic pulling sensation in her heart vanished abruptly, leaving only a hollow emptiness.

Elara could no longer hold herself up. Her body slumped forward weakly. The next second, a pair of strong arms caught her, pulling her tightly into his embrace, so tight she could barely breathe.

Elara could feel his body trembling uncontrollably.

“Kael, hurry to the Moon Spring. I need to give you the last Purple Lotus Flower, or you will suffer a mental breakdown and become a cripple!” The Holy Elder increased the flow of Witch God power, urging him anxiously. “Let go of Elara. She is no longer in any danger now.”

“Live on!” His voice pressed against the top of Elara’s head, low and hoarse, almost broken. “Don’t ever come back to find me!”

Elara wanted to speak. She wanted to tell him she wouldn’t leave. She wanted to tell him she wasn’t afraid!

But her consciousness completely slipped away at that moment.

Darkness surged rapidly from the edges of her vision.

Before she lost consciousness entirely, she heard his extremely soft whisper: “I’m sorry…”

When she woke up again, she was inside a carriage.

She lay in the somewhat worn-out carriage, cushioned by Teacher Herman’s beige cloak. A faint herbal scent drifted to her nose, bringing a strange sense of comfort.

The burning pain in her chest had disappeared. In its place was an empty void, as if a piece of her heart had been dug out.

Elara stared blankly at the carriage roof for a long time, unable to snap out of her daze. Only when the carriage slowly came to a stop and the curtain was lifted did blinding sunlight pour in, making her squint.

Teacher Herman stood outside the carriage. He had changed back into human-world attire. His face was ashen, with deep dark circles under his eyes, as if he had just suffered a serious illness.

“Awake?” His voice sounded utterly exhausted.

“Mhm,” she replied, her voice hoarse.

“Come out. We’ve already passed through the Shadow Abyss Forest. There won’t be much danger ahead. Let’s stop and rest for a while.”

The sky was already bright. Elara stepped out of the carriage and gazed at the forest in silence.

On the other side of the forest lay the Snow Moon Clan—his territory.

But she could no longer see him.

It was as if everything between them had been nothing more than a brief, cruel dream.

She turned away, no longer looking at the forest.

In a place she could not see, deep within the Snow Moon Clan’s grand hall, Kael knelt on one knee on the cold stone floor. Blood dripped steadily from his jaw, pooling into a large dark red stain on the ground. Shadow guards knelt all around him, yet none dared to step forward.