บททั้งหมดของ Bound by blood and the moonlight: บทที่ 31 - บทที่ 40

Dimitri’s words echoed long after we stepped back into the firelight. Want it or not, you don’t walk alone. He hadn’t meant them as comfort. His voice had been too sharp, too cold, every syllable edged like the blade he carried. But the bond betrayed him. I’d felt it—just for an instant—when his hand steadied me. Not pity. Not duty. Something else. And it rattled me worse than his scorn ever could. Jason’s gaze lifted the moment we returned, his relief washing through the bond in a warm, steady wave. Mateo’s fire flared too, his eyes burning as they tracked every step I took. But it was Dimitri’s presence at my side, heavy and unyielding, that kept my knees from buckling. I sank down near the fire again, dragging the cloak tighter around me. Jason was there instantly, kneeling close, his fingers brushing over mine as though to reassure himself I was real. “You shouldn’t push yourself,” he murmured.

The forest breathed wrong. Every instinct screamed it at me as I prowled the edges of the clearing, the shadows stretching too long, the silence pressing too heavy. The beast was near. Watching. Waiting. I could smell it, faint but distinct, like rot and iron clinging to the air. My fire stirred in answer, restless and eager, licking at the edges of my control. Part of me wanted to draw it out. To tear into the woods and drag it into the light where I could end this hunt with teeth and flame. But Amelia sat by the fire, her shoulders hunched under Jason’s cloak, her eyes flickering between us like she couldn’t decide where to land. And that bond—gods, that bond—kept yanking me back to her no matter how hard I tried to fix my focus on the dark. She was fragile. Too fragile. One strike from that thing and she’d shatter all over again. And if that happened, I didn’t trust myself not to burn the entire forest down around us. A low growl rumbled in my throat as I circled ba

The forest shattered.One moment the night was still, heavy with waiting. The next, it was teeth and shadow bursting from the dark.The beast moved faster than I could follow, a blur of twisted muscle and hunger, its growl ripping through the air like thunder. Fire exploded through the bond as Mateo lunged, golden light flashing at the edge of the clearing. Jason’s grip ripped away from mine as he surged forward, calm vanishing beneath raw instinct. Dimitri’s blade caught the firelight, a streak of silver as he stepped between me and the shadows.I couldn’t breathe.The beast’s eyes locked on me, glowing a sickly red, and I felt it—its hunger, its intent—like a claw dragging against my skin.It’s here for me.My chest constricted, my power stirring sharp and violent inside me. I pressed my hands against the earth, desperate to hold it in, but the bond roared louder with every heartbeat.“Amelia!” Jason’s voice snapped through the chaos, firm, st

The forest was too quiet.Smoke curled from the blackened ground where the beast had fallen back, the air sharp with scorched earth and something fouler still. Mateo stood guard at the treeline, fire licking his hands, his chest heaving with fury that hadn’t burned out yet. Dimitri knelt on Amelia’s other side, his palm still clamped over her wrist, the skin blistered where her light had seared him.And her—Amelia trembled in my arms, her breath ragged, her eyes unfocused. Her skin was fever-warm, and when her lashes lifted, I saw the remnants of light still flickering in her gaze, faint as embers dying in ash.I swallowed hard, pulling her closer. The calm I usually carried felt paper-thin, fragile as glass. What I’d just seen—it hadn’t been fire or steel. It had been something that belonged to gods or monsters. And it had come from her.“Stay with me,” I whispered against her temple, though I didn’t know if she could hear. My hand smoothed down her b

The night reeked of smoke and blood. The beast was gone, driven back by Amelia’s light, but its shadow still lingered in the trees. My fire burned hotter with every breath, begging to chase it, to hunt it down, to tear it apart until nothing remained. But I couldn’t. Because she was here. On her knees in the dirt, trembling in Jason’s arms, her skin pale, her hands still glowing faint with the embers of that cursed light. The bond roared through me—her fear, her guilt, her broken whispers of I almost hurt them. It made me want to set the world on fire. Not her. Never her. But everything that dared to touch her, everything that dared to make her believe she was a danger to us instead of the reason we breathed. I couldn’t stand still. My body paced the edges of the clearing, but my heart stayed with her. Every step, every ragged inhale, pulled me tighter against the chain of the bond until I thought it would r