All Chapters of BOUNDED BY MOONLIGHT : Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

The air was thick—so thick Elora swore she could hear her own heartbeat echoing inside her skull. Her eyes darted between Joel, locked in brutal combat with the hollow-eyed figures, and Kerric, who stood untouched, his outstretched hand lingering between them like a promise… or a trap. “Choose, Elora,” Kerric murmured. His voice wasn’t raised, but it cut easily through the chaos, low and magnetic, pulling at her bones. “Do you want to keep running blind… or see?” Her breath stuttered. Another flash ripped through her mind, sharp as broken glass underfoot. She was in a dark hall, clutching a silver blade slick with blood. Someone lay at her feet, motionless. The air reeked of iron. Her own ragged breathing filled the silence, and then—a growl, guttural and furious, rising from the shadows. She gasped and stumbled, blinking hard, but the vision vanished like smoke. Joel’s blade cut another hollow in two, black ichor hissing against the ground. His chest heaved with the effort, hi

The forest breathed around her.Every tree seemed to lean closer, every leaf carried a whisper, and the mist that clung low to the ground curled like fingers, tugging at her boots as if it didn’t want her to go any farther. Elora stumbled through it anyway, her breaths shallow and ragged, her lungs burning with the sharp cold of the night air.She hadn’t realized she was crying until the wind turned cruel and stung her cheeks.Joel’s voice still rang in her head. The hard edge of his command. The desperation in it. And Kerric’s, softer, coaxing—words wrapping around her like silk threads she couldn’t tear away. Both voices warred inside her, clashing louder than the pounding of her own heartbeat.Her boots sank deeper into the wet earth, but she didn’t stop running until she heard it:“Elora!”She froze.The sound tore through the trees like a lifeline. She spun, breath catching in her throat just as Joel burst

The night had teeth.Elora felt them everywhere. In the cold bite of the wind against her skin. In the press of shadows that seemed to lean closer the farther she walked. Even the soil beneath her boots seemed ready to swallow her whole, as though the ground itself wanted to drag her down and devour her.Her chest burned from the weight of each breath, but Joel’s grip on her wrist kept her tethered—kept her moving. His hold wasn’t cruel, but it was unyielding, his pace steady even as the air grew heavier around them.She should have been comforted. Joel had always been the anchor when the world spun too fast. But tonight… she wanted to look back.Not from fear. From the pull.Kerric’s presence lingered like smoke after a fire, thick and clinging. She could feel him not where they’d left him but nearer, as though distance was only an illusion he let her believe in. If she turned her head, she was sure she would find him standing

Elora’s legs trembled as she pushed through the dense forest, her breaths coming out ragged and shallow. Each inhale scraped her throat like sand, each exhale shivered against the cold. The night air clung to her skin, damp with mist, sinking beneath her clothes until she felt the chill in her bones. Every rustle of leaves seemed to echo the frantic rhythm of her heart.Joel hadn’t allowed them to stop, not even when she begged for a moment’s rest. He had insisted they keep moving until dawn, and so she dragged one foot in front of the other, exhaustion sinking deep into her marrow. Her body screamed for relief, but something in Joel’s stride told her he would not let them falter—not now, not while the forest breathed with unseen danger.“Just a little farther,” Joel said, his voice roughened by fatigue. His hand remained firm on her arm, guiding her over the uneven path. He had been wounded earlier—she’d seen the slash across his ribs, the blood he had s

The forest was a labyrinth of shadow and breath. Every tree seemed to lean inward, their skeletal branches clawing at the sky as though they too strained to hear the whispers of the curse. The damp earth muffled Elora’s footsteps, but each one felt heavier than the last. It wasn’t just exhaustion—something in the soil seemed to resist her, pulling her back, as though the very ground knew what awaited at the end of her path.Joel walked beside her, his sword strapped to his back, though his hand hovered close to its hilt. His eyes, sharp and unrelenting, scanned every shifting shadow. He hadn’t spoken in nearly an hour, but Elora felt his silence as keenly as a shout. He was watching, listening—protecting her with every breath.And yet, she knew he was hiding something.Her chest tightened with every stolen glance at him. His wounds had closed faster than they should have, knitting themselves beneath skin that shimmered faintly under the moon’s re