All Chapters of Bound by:moonlight : Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

The road into Moonridge hadn’t changed. Same narrow turns, same looming trees, same potholes that made her car groan in protest. Seraphina Blake had forgotten how tiny the town looked compared to the city she’d lived in the past five years. Everything here was slower, older, and somehow always watching.“Last chance to turn around,” she muttered, adjusting the radio for the fifth time. Nothing but static. “Okay, creepy soundtrack. Cool.”When she finally pulled into the gravel driveway of her grandmother’s house, she sat in the car for a full minute. The house was exactly as she remembered—charming in a witchy, overgrown kind of way. Vines curled around the porch railings like they were clinging to the past. The paint had peeled a little more, and the front gate still hung at a slant, as if no one dared fix it.“Home sweet… weird home.”She popped the trunk, grabbed her duffel bag, and headed up the porch. The key, still hidden under the gnome statue by the steps, slid into the lock w

The next morning, Seraphina woke up clutching the silver pendant in her hand. It was still warm. Like it had never cooled. Like it was alive.She sat up slowly, her muscles sore from last night’s impromptu forest sprint. Her brain felt like it had been run over by a truck full of unanswered questions. Lucien. The wolf. The pendant. And apparently, a war?“Awesome,” she muttered, dragging herself to the bathroom.After a lukewarm shower and two Pop-Tarts, she sat at the kitchen table staring at the moonstone. It pulsed slightly in the sunlight. Not visibly, exactly—but she felt it.Then she remembered something.The attic.Her grandmother’s journal. Or spellbook. Or maybe a treasure map. Whatever it was, it had been tucked away, and Seraphina hadn’t had the guts to look too closely yet. But if anyone had answers, it was Elira Blake.She climbed the stairs two at a time and threw open the attic door. Dust motes floated in the slanting light from the small window. She shuffled past old f

The word clung to the air like smoke.“Sister.”Seraphina froze.Her legs, scraped and trembling from the run through the forest, refused to move. Her heartbeat roared in her ears as her eyes locked with his—those glowing, golden eyes that mirrored Lucien’s in color but carried a depth of something… older. More ancient.She gripped the bloodstained dagger tighter.Lucien stood protectively in front of her, his body tensed and ready to shift again despite the silver still poisoning his veins. “Back away from her.”The man—Kael—lifted his hands slowly. “I mean her no harm. You, either.”“Lucien,” Seraphina whispered, “he’s wearing the same pendant.”Lucien’s gaze narrowed. “That doesn’t mean anything. It could be stolen.”“I didn’t steal it,” Kael said calmly. “It was given to me—by Elira Blake. Your grandmother. And mine.”Seraphina’s breath caught. “That’s impossible.”“I know how it sounds,” he said, voice steady but not forceful. “But she had a son before your mother. A secret she b

Seraphina finally stepped forward.Her legs were shaking, but she didn’t stop. She looked at him—really looked—and the world felt like it cracked open beneath her feet.Same dark hair. Same tilted smirk. Same cold, storm-gray eyes.But something was… wrong.There was no warmth in him. No light. The Rowan she remembered used to laugh like sunlight breaking through clouds. This one looked like a shadow in human skin.“Rowan…” Her voice trembled. “How are you alive?”He tilted his head slightly. “You want the short version or the nightmare one?”Kael didn’t lower his sword. “You’re not him.”“Oh, but I am.” Rowan stepped forward. “You just don’t know what it takes to survive in the Hollow.”Lucien’s grip on his blade tightened. “You shouldn’t be here.”Rowan stopped a few feet away. “Believe me, I didn’t come for a family reunion. I came for her.”His eyes flicked to Seraphina.She took a step back without meaning to.Caleb stepped between them. “You’re not taking her anywhere.”Rowan ra

The air turned still.Too still.The fire around Seraphina flickered and died, smothered by a presence colder than death.The Hollow King stood before her.His cloak billowed without wind, made of smoke and torn shadows. A crown of black bone rested on his head, sharp and uneven like broken teeth. His face… she couldn’t see it. Just darkness beneath the hood. Endless and shifting.But she felt him looking at her.Through her.The Hollowborn dropped to their knees behind him, hissing and bowing low.Kael dragged himself to her side, blood on his hands, his blade broken.“Run,” he whispered.She didn’t.She couldn’t.The Hollow King took a step forward. And with that step, the trees around them wilted. Leaves shriveled. Branches broke. The forest bent under his power.“You burn bright, Fireborn,” the Hollow King said, his voice deep and hollow. “Like a star ready to fall.”Seraphina raised her chin. “You’re not welcome here.”He chuckled. The sound echoed like bones breaking in the dark