Bound By Moonlight to My Mates (by Sofange Daye) novel Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Charlotte

The healer’s wing smells like antiseptic and clean linen. The steady beeping of a monitor fills the space. It is out of place in a werewolf pack house, but it is comforting. It lets me know that she is still alive. I push the door open and find Leah propped up against a pile of pillows. A thin sheen of sweat clings to her forehead, and I hesitate to move into the room. She looks smaller somehow. Frail. Not like the carefree, headstrong girl I have come to know.

કોઈ હોલ ખાત

I close the door softly behind me, not wanting to startle her. “Hey,” I murmur.

Her eyes flutter open weakly, but they still hold the hint of mischief I have grown to love about her. “Hey, yourself.” Her voice is nothing more than a rasp, but she smiles anyway. “You look like hell.”

“I’ve had better days.” I manage a fake smile as I sit on the edge of her bed. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugs her shoulders. “I feel like I got hit by a truck, but Theo says I’ll be okay. He healed the worst of it, but it will be a while before I am back on my feet.”

I bite back the tears at the sound of his name. Theo was sure to leave before I arrived; he is avoiding me. Leah takes my hand and wince as she tries to smirk. “Guess that guy wasn’t such a good one–night stand after all.”

I swallow a laugh that catches in my throat. After everything she has been through, Leah still manages to have a sense of humor. Because of me, she has lost her father and become gravely injured, yet she still tries to smile.

The mark on my neck pulses under my hair, a reminder of everything that has happened and everyone who has risked their lives for me. “Leah, I’m so sorry you got dragged into this. I’m so sorry you are hurt.”

She dismisses me with a wave of her limp hand. “I’m your knight. It’s literally my job to get dragged into this.”

My fingers trace the mark on my neck, and I swallow back my fear. “That’s why I’m here.” My voice softens. “You’re not anymore.”

Her brow furrows. “What? Is this because of the apartment? I can train harder. I will be stronger. Don’t toss me aside.”

I take her hand, squeezing it gently. “I am not tossing you aside.”

“Then why?” Her voice cracks on the question.

“I’ve been marked.” I brush my hair back so she can see the crescent–shaped imprint on my neck. “Jake marked me. You don’t have to guard me anymore. The bond between me and my mate is supposed to protect me now. Right?”

She stares at me for a long moment. Confusion and hurt flickers across her face. “Char, that’s not how it works.”

I shake my head. “You are too weak to argue right now.” I squeeze her hand, ignoring the sting of tears in my eyes. “You need to heal. If you truly think I need a knight, let Lucian assign someone else. You’ve done enough. I won’t let you get hurt again.”

Her lips tremble, and she refuses to look at me. Staring at the wall behind me, she nods, closing her eyes. “Fine,” she whispers. “If that’s what you want.”

“It’s what I have to do. I can’t lose you, too.” I lean down and press a kiss to her forehead. “Rest. I’ll check on you later.”

It’s a lie. I have no intention of checking on her later because I won’t be here, I am leaving tonight. I have to find my father’s box, even if it means going alone. I know the answers I need are inside it.

Leah doesn’t respond. She’s already drifting back to sleep. Slipping from the room, I pull the door shut behind me.

meet Theo’s cat-

I am already formulating a plan to leave undetected when I bumped into a wall of muscle. I lool like gaze. His arms are crossed over his chest, and he looms over me like a shadow. He looks perfe.., composed. His hair is tied back, and his sleeves are rolled up, exposing the tattoos that cover his forearms. I don’t have time to dwell on how delicious he looks because there is something dangerous in his gaze.

“You think you have solved the problems,” he says softly, “but you’ve only moved the pieces.”

I step away from him, refusing to look away from his menacing gaze. “She almost died, Theo. I won’t risk her like that again. She’s important to me.”

He tilts his head, and an unreadable expression ghosts across his face. Does he regret coming here? Or maybe he is disappointed in me. He closes the distance between us, swiping a finger down my neck and over Jake’s mark. “You’ve misunderstood what the bond means. Your knight will know when you have been fully anchored. And you have not.”

I blink at him, trying to ignore the heat rolling off his body. “What are you talking about? You said…”

“I said you needed to be anchored.” His voice stays cool, but words cut like a knife. “I never said it would work with only one.”

A pulse of unease coils in my stomach. “I didn’t make a mistake.”

He leans down, his breath fanning against my ear. “You did.” He steps away, but his eyes linger on the mark burning on my neck. “And now you’ll have to decide how many mistakes you are willing to make before it kills you, and everyone else.”

I swallow, unable to answer. His words should have changed my mind, but they haven’t. I will find my way to the answers even if I have to go alone.

His eyes bore into mine, and I know he is reading my thoughts. I narrow my gaze, daring him to challenge me, but he doesn’t. Instead, he straightens, and his unbothered mask slides back over his face.

“Get some rest, Little Cricket. Your foolish errand will take more energy than you possess.”

He turns and walks away, leaving the hallway colder in his wake. I watch him walk away, my anger bubbling under my skin. How can a man be so enticing and annoying at the same time? I glare at his back until he disappears around a corner, and then I stomp my feet in annoyance. He isn’t going to let me leave, and that only leaves me one option. To drag one of them along with me.