Все главы BOUNDED BY MOONLIGHT : Глава 101 - Глава 110

The woods were unnervingly still. Not even the breeze stirred the canopy overhead, and the thick branches swallowed most of the moonlight, leaving the forest floor broken into fractured patches of silver and shadow. Elora’s boots sank softly into the damp earth, each step heavy with unease. The air smelled of pine and moss, sharp and clinging, but it carried no life. No crickets. No rustling leaves. No owls. Only silence—an unnatural silence that pressed against her ears until she almost wished for a sound to break it.Joel walked ahead, his frame tense, each stride measured but restless. His hand lingered near the hilt of his blade, brushing it now and again as though the simple touch steadied him. His shoulders bore a weight she could feel even from behind, one that had settled on him ever since the night Kerric fell.Elora hugged her arms around herself. Her voice barely made it past her lips.“Joel… why does it feel like we’re being watched?”

The fortress was silent in a way it had never been before. No footsteps echoed through the marble halls, no voices rose in whispers or commands. The air was thick with the acrid sting of smoke, the charred remnants of banners, and the faint metallic tang of blood. The battle had ended, but the walls still seemed to bleed.Elora stood at the balcony of the great hall, her trembling fingers grazing the cold banister. From above, she could see the wreckage sprawled below. Statues of kings who once ruled Raven Ridge were reduced to fractured torsos and scattered limbs. Tapestries once drenched in royal pride now hung shredded, burned until their symbols were indistinguishable. And the dais where Kerric had once proclaimed himself Alpha—once untouchable, unshakable—was nothing but rubble and dust.She should have felt relief. The curse had broken—hadn’t it? The voices that had gnawed at her mind were gone. The venom that had laced her veins no longer burned. F

The ruins were quiet now, unnervingly quiet. The echoes of the battle—the clang of blades, the guttural roars, the cries of pain—had faded into the suffocating stillness that followed only after death had claimed its fill. Dust still floated lazily through the air, illuminated by the fractured glow of the blood-red moon, yet every mote seemed heavy, as though weighed down by grief.Elora stood at the heart of it all, her breath shallow, her body trembling from exhaustion. Her hands were smeared with blood—some hers, some not. The crimson stains clung stubbornly to her pale skin, reminders of every strike, every choice, every sacrifice. She stared at them blankly, as if they belonged to someone else.Her silver hair, once radiant beneath the moon, hung in disarray across her face. Strands stuck to her damp cheeks, where silent tears had carved trails through the dirt and ash. She hadn’t realized she was crying until her vision blurred, the ground beneath her sw

The dawn broke over Raven Ridge like a wound that refused to heal. The once-familiar sky was a washed-out canvas of grays and reds, the sun struggling to pierce through the heavy veil of clouds. It was supposed to be morning—a promise of light and renewal—but to Elora it felt like the world itself had lost its balance.Her body ached from the endless fight. Her arms were streaked with blood, her dress torn, her breaths shallow and uneven. Yet her spirit—fragile as it was—refused to collapse. She stood on the crumbling cliffside, her silver hair tangled and whipping about in the cold wind, the pendant at her throat pulsing with a faint, sickly glow.She stared down at her hands. They trembled violently, not from fear, but from the surge of power that wasn’t entirely her own. The curse had sunk its claws deeper into her soul. Every thought felt fractured, every heartbeat torn between herself and the dark presence gnawing at her mind.“Do you feel it?” a

The hum of Raven Ridge was both comforting and disorienting. Cars honked in the distance, neon lights flickered across damp sidewalks, and the chatter of humans filled the streets—ordinary life, loud and relentless. Yet for Elora, each sound was alien, too sharp, too alive, as though she had been thrust into a world that had moved on without her.It had been only three months. Three months since her friends had last seen her, three months since her name had flashed across missing-person posters plastered on telephone poles and store windows. But for Elora, it had been a lifetime. A lifetime of blood moons, curses, betrayals, and Joel’s final scream echoing in her mind.She walked past the corner café where she and Ava used to sneak in after school, the smell of roasted coffee beans curling around her like an embrace she didn’t deserve. People stared as she passed—her silver hair catching the glow of the streetlamps like a beacon. She tugged the hood of he