Semua Bab SAVING ALPHA THORNE: THE MOONBOUND PACT: Bab 1 - Bab 9

Ian's POVIf exhaustion had a face, it would be mine.Evening had settled like a heavy cloak over Barry’s Bakery House, and I was still at my station, hands buried deep in soft dough, rolling out yet another batch of doughnut rings on the chilled counter. The hum of the ovens, the scent of yeast and sugar - it should have been comforting after a long day. But all I could think about was my aching back and how desperately I needed my bed.“Just a few more minutes,” I whispered to no one, knuckles pressing into the dough. “Then I’m free.”My body ached with the kind of weariness that seeps into the bones - raw, quiet, merciless. Even the simple act of stretching the dough felt like lifting a boulder. Sleep. Food. Silence. That was all I craved.Then the door slammed open.Samantha stormed into the room like a firecracker in heels. “Everyone stop working. Now. Mr. Barry’s downstairs. He wants to see everyone immediately.”No greeting. No explanation. Just that clipped tone she always use

Ian's POV I was walking down the alley. Night had already claimed the sky, and the atmosphere was mercilessly cold and windy. Tucking my hands deeper into the pockets of my woolly sweater, I exhaled. Smoke puffed out from my lips and dissolved into the air like ghosts fleeing the living. My ears stung from the biting chill, but that wasn’t what made me grit my teeth. It was her. “Sly bastard,” I muttered, heat bubbling beneath my skin despite the cold. Rage pumped through my veins like molten lead. When she flashed that smirk inside the bakery’s mixing room, I knew something was off. Brenda always smirked before launching her venom. And this time? She went nuclear - accusing me of stealing a hundred thousand dollars. Me! A man who’s never taken so much as a donut without paying for it. That girl… she wasn’t just toxic. She was a principality. A dark force sent to make my life hell. She sabotaged equipment and blamed it on me. Spread rumors like wild disease. Two months

Ian's POV Consciousness returned to me slowly - like a flower coaxed into bloom by reluctant sunlight. But with each sense that flickered awake, one truth became glaringly clear. I wasn’t where I belonged. As soon as my eyes adjusted and took in the world before me, my breath caught in my throat. “What the actual fuck...?” I was in a forest soaked in eternal twilight. Silver-leafed trees swayed in a gentle wind that whispered lullabies, and the forest floor pulsed with soft blue-glow moss. The light it cast was eerie, serene, and unholy all at once. My head shook on its own, disbelief pounding through my skull. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” I whispered, wide-eyed. Everything - the fog, the rocks, the fucking shadows - was moving. Breathing. Watching. Panic bloomed in my chest like wildfire. CRINNNNN. Images exploded behind my eyes like shattering glass. One. Two. Three... Boom! The dam of memory broke. Brenda. Figo. The train. Me. My heart thudded against my ribs a

Ian's POV I couldn’t breathe. I just kept staring, kept blinking, my heart pounding fiercely inside my chest as though I was faced with a ghost. The fuck! What was I even saying?! This was something worse than ghosts. This was more scarier. The figure hovering above the shimmering pool wasn’t human. She wasn’t even a creature. She was presence. A rippling form suspended in mid-air, not made of flesh or bone, but of liquid light. As if moonbeams had slipped beneath the water and forgotten how to return. No feet. No solid form. But still - there were eyes. A mouth. A soul. A voice. "Welcome to Silwyn Woods,” she whispered. Her voice struck before my ears could register it. It crawled into my bones like frost, sinking deep into my marrow. Unshakable. My chest kept tightening, my lungs screamed for air. “What the hell is a Silwyn Woods?” The thought exploded in my skull, but even that question felt insignificant compared to what was unfolding before me. Me—Ian—talki

Ian's POV I woke up gasping. Air burned down my throat, but it wasn’t the metallic tang of a train tunnel where I had died in my world, or the stifling incense of Ava’s shrine - it was fresh. Pine-laced. Cold. My back pressed into damp earth, and when I opened my eyes. I sat up fast, and froze. My clothes... they were gone. I was completely naked. “Shit!” I scrambled to cover myself, scanning the forest in horror. But there was no one. Just dark trees. Dense bushes. Crows cawed overhead. The obsidian trees stretched like skeletal fingers into a sky that was- Purple. Bright. Too bright. Recognition slammed into me. “That sky…” I whispered. “The same one from Silwyn Woods.” My throat tightened. “Shit. I’m still in Torguyl?” The realization spread through me like ice. I hugged myself, shivering - whether from the cold or dread, I didn’t know. Where was I? Where did that fucking water woman transport me to? Why here? What now? Brenda’s face flashed