บททั้งหมดของ Bound by blood and the moonlight: บทที่ 41 - บทที่ 50

Dimitri’s words struck harder than claws ever could. You are dangerous. The bond trembled under the weight of it, Jason’s calm tightening like a net around me, Mateo’s fire snapping hotter in protest. But Dimitri’s eyes—cold, unflinching—held mine like he had tied me down with chains. And gods help me, the worst part was that he wasn’t wrong. Tears blurred my vision, slipping fast and hot down my cheeks. My fingers curled tighter into Jason’s tunic, desperate to hold onto his steady warmth, but the echo of light still burned under my skin, restless and sharp. I remembered the way it had poured out of me, the way Dimitri’s hand blistered from touching me, the way Mateo’s fire flared as if even he couldn’t stand against it. I remembered the beast’s eyes. Red. Hungry. Fixed on me. My breath hitched, jagged, breaking. Jason whispered something soft against my hair, but I couldn’t hear it over the pound

Jason’s forehead rested against mine, his breath slow and steady, as if by sheer will he could make mine match. His calm seeped into me, soothing, steadying, like a river pulling me out of the storm.And gods, I wanted to stay there forever.I wanted to let his voice, his warmth, his vow erase the burn of Dimitri’s words and the fire snapping restless from Mateo. I wanted to believe I wasn’t what Dimitri said I was. That I wasn’t dangerous. That I wasn’t the reason everything we loved teetered on the edge of ruin.But no matter how tightly I clung to Jason, the truth pressed against me, sharp and unyielding.The light inside me didn’t care that I was afraid. It didn’t care that I didn’t want it. It pulsed beneath my skin, fierce and wild, demanding to be unleashed.Jason’s thumb brushed across my cheek, grounding me. “Breathe with me,” he whispered, voice low, steady.So I tried. In. Out. In. Out. Each breath caught, shaky, but his rhythm wrapped ar

“Mateo.”The word slipped from me before I even knew I’d spoken it. His name—soft, trembling, but it was enough.His fire froze.For a moment, the bond pulsed wild, sparks snapping sharp in my chest, and then it softened. The heat that had been clawing up my throat, threatening to choke me, eased with one breath. His golden eyes snapped to mine, wide, wild—and then still.Like he’d been waiting for me to say it all along.My hands shook, but I didn’t look away. I couldn’t. He looked so breakable in that second, his fire flickering like a candle caught between storm winds. Not the unstoppable blaze that had terrified me. Not the vow that had burned hot enough to scorch my soul. Just Mateo.And gods, he looked at me like I was the only thing that mattered.Jason’s arms still held me close, his breath steady against my ear, grounding me, but my heart beat to a different rhythm now. I didn’t understand it—didn’t want to understand it—but I felt it.

The second Dimitri opened his mouth, the fire roared back in my chest.It listens. And if you can call it… then so can it.No.No.I saw Amelia’s glow flicker, soft and fragile, her hope lighting just for a moment before Dimitri cut it down. And the way her face crumpled—gods, it was like watching someone snuff out the sun with their bare hands.“Say one more word,” I snarled, fire crackling sharp at my fingertips, “and I’ll burn that truth right out of you.”Jason’s calm slammed hard against me, the bond tightening like chains, but it barely held. Dimitri’s steel met my fury without flinching, his jaw set, his gaze sharp.“She needed to hear it,” he said, voice cold as stone.“No,” I spat, stepping closer, fire snapping between us. “She needed hope. She needed someone to remind her she’s more than what hunts her. But all you ever give her is fear.”Amelia’s breath hitched behind me, broken, trembling. I felt it through the bond—the way

Jason’s voice still echoed in the air, sharp as a blade.We can’t tear each other apart and protect her at the same time.My brother was right. He was always right when it came to balance, to holding the pack steady. But the words still cut, because they left me exposed—like he’d stripped the steel from my bones and shown the weakness beneath.I clenched my jaw, watching Amelia’s small form fold against him, her shoulders trembling, her forehead pressed into his shoulder as if it were the only safe place left.It should have been me.It should have been me shielding her, taking her fear, steadying her light. But I wasn’t built for gentleness. My hands had been forged for war, not comfort. And if I held her now, she would feel the truth in my bones—that all I saw were threats. That even her light terrified me.So I stayed still, the cold one, the cruel one. Better to be hated than to fail her.Mateo’s fire simmered nearby, restless, coiled like a