Bound by the Blood Moon

Chapter 8 The Return Decision

The cold night wind slipped through the wooden window c***k, brushing my cheeks and pulling me back from my tangled thoughts.

The Silverthorn messenger knelt before me, blood dripping onto the wooden floor, his breath weak and unstable. His eyes begged silently, knowing that the fate of two wolf clans and a cursed Alpha rested entirely on my answer.

I looked at the peaceful village outside the window—children sleeping soundly, quiet cottages, a life without chains, without mates, without bloody prophecies. This was what I had dreamed of since my mother died.

But then my palm glowed faintly silver.

The lunar magic pulsed, connecting me remotely to Ronan’s fading life force. Through the bond, I could feel his staggering pain: the curse corroding his veins, his wolf soul growing weaker each hour, his desperate, subconscious longing for his fated mate.

I could run. I could stay here, bury my identity as the Moon Maiden, forget the Stormfang Alpha, and let everything end with the blood moon.

But I could not do it.

Not when Mia would seize the throne and m******e every remaining Silverthorn wolf. Not when Ronan would die believing I hated him forever. Not when the mate bond woven by the crimson moon bound our souls too deeply to be torn apart.

“I will go back.”

The words left my lips softly, yet carried irreversible resolve.

The messenger lifted his head in shock, relief bursting in his eyes. “Thank you, Moon Maiden. You will save us all.”

I folded my worn gray cloak over my shoulders, hiding the silver glow beneath the fabric. Before leaving the quiet cottage, I glanced once more at the peaceful human village behind me. My brief freedom was over.

Dawn broke across the rolling hills as I stepped onto the forest path leading back to Stormfang Castle.

Halfway through the woods, the bond suddenly flared violently. A sharp, crippling pain stabbed through my chest, so intense that I stumbled to my knees on the leaf-covered ground.

Ronan was dying.

The blood curse had surged to its peak overnight. Through the bond, I sensed his body collapsing in the castle hall, his golden vision blurring, his heartbeat slowing dangerously.

“Hold on,” I whispered into the wind, my lunar magic surging forward along the invisible thread connecting us. “Don’t die before I reach you.”

I ran faster than I ever had before, my half-wolf legs carrying me through thorns and shadow, the silver moonlight wrapping around me like armor.

This time, I was not running away from Ronan.

I was running toward the truth. Toward the man who had wronged me, yet still owned my soul under the blood moon. Toward the final confrontation that would break all lies… or destroy us both.