All Chapters of Bound by Moonfire: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Sleep did not come.Liora lay in her cot staring at the beams overhead, her body aching with exhaustion, but her mind refusing to quiet. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Risa’s hand slipping parchment into that satchel, the leather flap closing like a coffin lid.She should tell Cael.The thought rose with every heartbeat, louder, sharper, insistent as her wolf pacing inside her chest. He deserved the truth. He had vowed to stand beside her through every strike. He had chosen her—not just as Alpha, not just as soldier, but as woman and mate.And yet…Her gut twisted, and not just from fear. If she told him now, he would act. Cael was not Elias. He would not play politics with betrayal. He would move swiftly, decisively, and Risa would vanish before they could untangle her threads. Hale would know the net had tightened. And then the trail would go cold.No, her instincts whispered. Not yet.But her wolf snapped back: Not telling him is betrayal of its own.The pull between those

The yard felt wrong.Cael stood at the edge of the training field, arms folded, watching Crescent spar in the fading light. The clang of steel, the grunt of effort, the bark of instructors—all of it should have steadied him. Instead, the rhythm of the camp beat was too sharp, too brittle.Wolves glanced more often toward the walls. Their laughter didn’t ring true. And beneath it all, he felt the pull of the bond, whispering of Liora’s unease like a low thrum beneath his ribs.She wasn’t just troubled by Hale. She was troubled by someone here.And Cael had lived long enough in war to know what that meant.A fracture.Risa.He didn’t need Liora to say the name out loud. The signs were there—thin, subtle, but enough for a soldier who’d spent his life looking for cracks.The way Risa lingered at the edges of groups, never fully part of them, never fully apart. The way her gaze cut sharply when she thought no one was watching. The way Liora’s eyes followed her now, not with distrust alone

The morning after Hale’s smoke test, Crescent stirred like a wolf nursing a wound. The camp hummed with noise—boots on stone, the clatter of training blades, the sharp calls of sentries—but none of it felt steady. The energy was too quick, too sharp, as though everyone sensed the fog wasn’t gone, only waiting.Liora felt it more than anyone. Her wolf had been restless all night, prowling just beneath her skin, teeth bared at shadows. But the shadow it kept circling wasn’t outside the walls.It was inside.Risa.Every time Liora caught sight of her—slipping out of a tent at dusk, lingering too long by the wall, carrying a satchel that never seemed to grow lighter—her instincts sharpened. It wasn’t just suspicion anymore. It was certain.And certainty meant choice.She could tell Cael. She could tell Elias. She could call Risa into the open, strip the lies from her skin in front of the pack. But that would send Hale slinking deeper into the fog, leaving them blind.No. She had to play h

Risa hadn’t realized silence could scream.It followed her everywhere now—in the way conversations dulled when she passed, in the way Crescent’s warriors looked through her instead of at her, in the way Liora’s gaze lingered too long, sharp as a blade pressing against her ribs.She told herself she was imagining it. That Liora was only watchful by nature, not because she knew. But each day the lie frayed thinner, until every moment she felt close to unraveling.And Hale’s voice echoed over all of it: Prove yourself, or you’ve already chosen wrong.By midday, her hands trembled so badly she spilled water from the mess line. Maren caught her eye, brows drawing tight, and Risa forced her grip steady, muttering something about fatigue. She slipped away before the scrutiny could cut deeper.She found a corner in the weapons hall, hidden between racks of spears. The smell of oiled steel should have been grounding. Instead, it clawed at her nerves, reminding her of how sharp everything was—h

The parchment haunted her.Not the words—she hadn’t read them. Not yet. But the weight of it in the spruce hollow lingered in her mind as though it had pressed itself into her bones. Risa’s slip wasn’t rumor anymore, wasn’t suspicion. It was fact.Liora had the proof she needed.And still, she hesitated.By dawn, Crescent moved with uneasy purpose. Wolves trained harder than usual, voices carried sharper than they should, and every glance toward the walls held too much weight. Hale’s fog pressed close, a reminder that their enemy was not gone, only waiting.Liora walked the yard with Maren at her side, answering questions, correcting form, and giving the impression of calm. But her wolf was restless, pacing beneath her skin, snarling at the secret she still carried.“Your eyes are somewhere else,” Maren said quietly when the others had moved on.Liora forced a smile. “Always.”Maren didn’t press, though her gaze lingered.But Cael wasn’t so easily fooled.He found her near the stables