Chapter 7: Bound by Moonlight
1703 Words
Deborah’s POV
Pain woke Deborah up.
It wasn't a sudden, sharp pain, but a deep ache in her bones, like her body had been taken apart and put back together wrong. She opened her eyes and saw a ceiling she didn't recognize and smelled medicine.
It was the pack's medical room. She had been there before to see injured people, but never as a patient.
She tried to sit up, but her muscles hurt too much.
"Take it easy," Maya said from her left. "You've been out for eighteen hours. You need to rest."
Eighteen hours. The eclipse. The change.
Erick.
Deborah quickly touched her chest. She felt raised skin through her shirt. The mark. The symbol that had burned onto her.
"Don't," Maya said softly. "Don't look yet. Not until you're ready."
But Deborah pulled down her shirt to look. She gasped.
Silver lines covered her skin in patterns, starting from the mark on her chest and spreading across her body. They looked like tattoos, but they were raised on her skin and seemed to glow.
"What did it do to me?" she asked. Her voice was rough.
Maya held her hand. "The Elders are calling it the Lunar Mark. They say it proves you and Erick are the ones from the prophecy."
"Where is he?"
"Next room. He woke up an hour ago." Maya paused. "His marks are gold. Like yours, but mirrored."
Of course. They were connected. Deborah felt sick.
"I need to see them. All of them."
Maya brought a mirror and put it next to the bed. Deborah stood up, shaking, with Maya holding her arm. She took off her shirt.
The marks covered almost all of her skin. Her back, her stomach, her arms. Only her face didn't have them, but her eyes now had silver in them, making them glow even in daylight.
She looked like an ancient warrior. Or someone about to be sacrificed.
"Can they be hidden?" Deborah asked.
"Long sleeves. High collars. But Deb, everyone already knows. The whole pack saw you and Erick glowing during the eclipse. You can't hide it."
"I'm still me. Still Alpha." But she knew she was lying. She wasn't the same. Things would never be the same.
Someone knocked on the door. She grabbed her shirt. Elder Thorne came in, looking serious.
"You should be resting," he said.
"I should be leading my pack," Deborah put on her shirt, wincing. "What's the damage? How many did we lose to the Void Hunters?"
"Three injured, none dead. The creatures left when the eclipse started. Like they were afraid of what you would become."
"Good for them." She sounded bitter.
Thorne looked at her. "The marks aren't a curse. They show what you've always been. What was hidden is now revealed."
"I didn't want to be revealed. I didn't want any of this."
"Neither did he."
Deborah stopped buttoning her shirt. "How is Erick?"
"Struggling. Like you." Thorne got closer. "The bond between you is stronger. You must feel it. You can sense him, even through walls."
She could. She could feel Erick in the next room. His confusion, his worry, his panic about what they had become.
"I need to see the old books," Deborah said. "Everything we have on the Lunar Bloodline. On hybrids."
Thorne looked worried. "That knowledge is forbidden."
"I don't care. These marks, this bond, it's changing me. I need to understand what I'm becoming before it's too late."
"Too late for what?"
"To stop it."
No one spoke. Maya looked uncomfortable. Finally, Thorne nodded.
"The restricted archives. But you won't like what you find there."
"I don't like any of this."
The archives were in the pack house basement, behind a triple-locked door. The air was dusty, and the old paper smell made Deborah want to sneeze.
She walked between the shelves alone. Thorne let her in but wouldn't help, as he wanted her to find the truth on her own.
The books about the Lunar Bloodline didn't agree. Some said they were good, others said they were monsters. But they all said one thing: hybrids were dangerous. If their power got too strong, they could change reality.
And they died young.
Deborah's hands shook as she read stories about hybrid couples burning out, their power killing them from the inside. The longest they lived was seven years after their marks showed up.
Seven years.
She slammed the book closed, making dust fly. This couldn't be true. There had to be exceptions, a way to...
"Looking for answers, or a way out?"
Deborah turned around fast. Erick was in the doorway, his marks showing on his arms. Gold swirls covered them, beautiful but bad news.
"How did you get in here?"
"Thorne gave me a key, too. I should know what we're dealing with." He walked into the room, and Deborah felt hot even though it was cold. "Find anything good?"
"Just death. Lots of death." She looked away, not wanting to see him. Every time they looked at each other, she felt a pull. The bond was trying to bring them together.
"Deborah." His voice was soft. "What happened during the eclipse, when I held you..."
"It was about survival. Nothing else."
"You don't think so."
"What do I think doesn't matter?" She looked at him, holding her head high. "This bond, these marks, aren't real. It's magic making us do things we don't want to do."
"Maybe we did want it. Before we were born, maybe our souls knew each other and..."
"Stop," she said too loudly. "Don't make this into something it isn't. We're not destined lovers. We're not soulmates. The Council made us marry, and now we're dealing with it."
Erick looked like he had been hit. Good. Let him hurt. Let him know she wouldn't give in to this crazy situation.
"I'm trying to help," he said softly.
"I don't need your help. Stay away from me until I figure out how to break this bond."
"You can't break it. I read books, too. Once the marks are there, once the eclipse wakes up the power, it's permanent."
"Then I'll deal with it. Separately. You go your way, I go mine."
"That won't work. The longer we're apart, the weaker we get. The bond will pull us back together whether we want it or not."
Deborah squeezed her hands tight. He was right, and she hated it. Just being near him made her feel better, like the emptiness she'd felt since the eclipse was going away.
"I can't do this," she whispered. "I can't be what everyone wants. Can't be your mate, your partner, your other half. I've always been fine on my own."
Erick's face softened. He stepped closer, raising his hand like he wanted to touch her face.
Deborah jumped back. "Don't."
He put his hand down. He looked hurt, but he nodded. "As you wish, Alpha."
Calling her that felt like a stab. He'd never called her that before. Always Deborah, always her name, like they were equals.
She wanted space. She got it.
So why did it feel like losing something important?
Erick turned to leave, his shoulders tense. At the door, he stopped. "I never wanted to trap you. If I could undo this, give you back your freedom, I would."
He left, and Deborah was alone with books about death.
Her chest hurt where the mark was. She tried to stop the pain, but it stayed. It reminded her of what she was now.
What they were together.
She sat down, tired. The books on the table showed her bad warnings. Seven years. Maybe less if they fought the bond. Maybe more if they used it.
She was running out of time.
A sound made her look up. Maya was in the doorway, not showing her feelings.
"You hurt him," Maya said.
"Better now than later."
"Is it?" Maya came in and closed the door. "Deb, I've known you for a long time. You hide behind walls. But those walls won't help you with this."
"They have so far."
"From what? Love? Being seen?" Maya spoke softly. "He loves you. And you're scared because you feel the same."
"I don't..."
"Don't lie. I can see it."
Deborah felt tight in her throat. "It doesn't matter how I feel. This bond will kill us. The best thing is to push him away before we both die."
"Maybe the best thing is to face this together. Stop running from the one person who understands you."
But Deborah was good at running. She had been doing it for years.
She looked at her hands, the silver lines glowing. They told a story on her skin. A story of power and a bond she didn't want.
"I need to be alone," she said.
Maya waited, then nodded. "The Council wants to see you both tomorrow. To talk about what happens next."
What happens next? As if there were choices. As if she could control her life.
After Maya left, Deborah looked at the books again. She looked for hope. But every page said the same thing: paired hybrids were powerful and going to die.
Hours passed. The light changed from day to night. Deborah's eyes hurt from reading. She couldn't stop. She couldn't think about Erick's face when she hurt him. She couldn't feel the hurt in her chest.
She stood up to leave. She saw her reflection in the dark window.
She stopped.
Her eyes were glowing silver.
Not just a little bit, but bright and strange. She looked scared. Her eyes were all silver, moving.
She blinked, but the glow stayed. She looked like the dark version of herself from the eclipse. Old and powerful and not human.
Deborah breathed fast. This wasn't supposed to happen. The marks, yes. The bond, maybe. But this... losing her looks, her humanity...
The silver glow went with her fast heartbeat.
She felt a gold pulse from above, in the pack house. Erick, feeling her pain, even though she pushed him away.
The bond got stronger, pulling them together.
Deborah looked at her glowing reflection and knew.
She wasn't just marked by the prophecy.
She was becoming it.
- Writer
