Moonlit Bonds

Chapter 463: Ava: Blessed Silence

Chapter 463: Ava: Blessed Silence

"Spin, spin, spin like a top, watch the blood spill, splatter, drop! Pretty eyes, rolling back, souls escaping through

the crack!"

"Thank the Goddess," Lucas mutters as | finish pushing mana into the last rune of the ward Grimoire taught me

about ten minutes ago.

The ghost’s sing-song voice cuts off mid-verse, like someone muted a particularly disturbing children’s show. The

sudden silence washes over us like cool water, and | breathe a deep sigh.

"Better?" Grimoire asks, his voice smug as he hangs upside down in midair.

Now he’s the only spirit in here.

| sink onto the couch, my shoulder brushing against my mate’s with comfortable, informal warmth. "So much

better. You're amazing."

The book puffs his chest out. "I know."

Selene snorts from her position as a warmer across our mate's feet.

Lucas wraps his arm around me, pullingcloser. | breathe in his scent like it’s the oxygen my lungs crave. My

semi-frayed nerves settle in the aftermath of the ghost’s obnoxious singing.

I've been listening to it all day; it’s the worst.

"We should put this all over the compound," he sighs, leaning his head back as he closes his eyes.

"The ward requires refreshing every twelve hours," Grimoire explains, his expression suddenly serious. "And it

only has approximately a twenty-foot radius of effectiveness. It would be inefficient to ward the entire

compound."

| laugh, though it sounds more like a tired sigh. "I wish we could, though."

From outside, the ghost’s voice floats in, muffled but still audible through the window. "Buried deep where no

one sees, secrets resting—never free..."

My mate winces. "| feel a little bad for the guards stuck out there."

too."

We sit in comfortable silence for a while, Lucas’s fingers tracing absent patterns on my shoulder. It’s these stolen

moments that feel surreal—pockets of normalcy in a world gone mad. His thumb brushes against the nape of my

neck, and I lean further into his touch.

Sometimes | wish | could just live in his pocket, so we're never apart.

"I think the ghost is connected to Ivy somehow," | say finally. "It's mentioned her twice in a roundabout kind of

way. And it wants to see the dream-eater. It’s all strange."

Lucas makes a thoughtful sound, his eyes still closed. "You should tell Clayton. He wants to know everything

about Ivy."

"Already did." | smile, reaching up to poke Lucas’ cheek. "When | visited him earlier."

His lips quirk up. "Of course you did."

The pride in his voice makes my chest feel all gooey and full of sweet syrup.

"You're incredible, you know that?" he says, finally opening his golden eyes to stare at me. "You have such a big

heart. And you keep going, no matter how hard the situation is."

The compliment catchesoff-guard, and | glance away. "I'm just trying not to fall apart."

"That's what leadership is," he says softly. "Holding it together when everything's falling apart and still making

the right calls." He pauses, expression darkening. "It’s strange though, isn’t it? This ghost appearing not long

after we find vanishing bodies. | can’t help but feel they're related. Dead bodies and the dead who don’t rest."

| straighten up. "Yeah. You said they disappeared, but you didn’t really get into it." Granted, most of our

conversations revolved around Ryder and the Fae princess when he returned. "Can you tellmore about it?"

Yes, Grimoire echoes, and | realize he’s disappeared, himself. He must have returned to his book form. It sounds

very strange.

Lucas shifts on the couch, his body tensing as he collects his thoughts. Even Selene lifts her head, her ears

pricked forward in attention.

"While we were heading to Jericho, we found a strange sod house."

"A sod house? Like... made of dirt?"

"Exactly. Hidden under snow. Inside..." His voice drops. "We found five wolves. Five of our own."

My stomach tightens. "Westwood wolves?"

"Yes. From the first ambush. Missing scouts since we arrived here. All dead or assumed dead."

My mind races. "Were they... alive again?" We'd run into a few of those; reanimated, but strange. Or so Selene

explained.

Yes. Very strange.

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No." Lucas shakes his head. "But

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they weren't decomposing either.

They were preserveg-amnatrally

preserved There was strange magic

in there. Before we could do anything,

though, there was a rush of magic.

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And then they just... vanished." The

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His eyes are distant, reliving the

moment, and | reach up to cover his

fingers with mine, Spang@fhis

reminisberice he looks atagain

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with a faint frown. "Like something

decided they were needed

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elsewhere." The content is on

novelenglish.net! Read the latest

chapter there!

| shudder, and Selene makes a faint sound of disgust in the back of my head. Without thinking, | lean forward to

pat her head, scratching behind her ears.

They must be found. Burned and brought back to the Goddess’s embrace.

"I know," | murmur. "We will."

We've never forgotten the horror of that night, trying to honor our fallen... only for a vampire to steal them all

away. To mess with the dead is one of the worst sacrileges in any history—human or wolf.

| just wish | knew exactly what they were doing.

I'm sorry | can’t help, Grimoire says quietly. This bears the mark of reanimation, but the methodology and

objective are unclear. And the choice of a sod house? | have no viable hypothesis to offer you.

Lucas’ hand tightens on my shoulder before he lifts my chin, silently askingto look at him.

"Whatever's coming," he says firmly, with the faintest smile curving his lips, "we stand together. No secrets. No

silences. We can face it."

Through everything we've faced, every obstacle, we've grown stronger together. My eyes meet his steadily. "And

I'll do everything in my power to keep us safe," | promise. "All of us."

He presses his forehead to mine, and

for a moment, we breathe the spe

air, share the sYebohve-Oitside

the ne | catch a glimpse of the

ghost, twirling in the snow, lips

moving in snew, twisted rhyme.

But when it thinks no one is watching, it stops. Goes unnaturally still. And stares directly at our window with

empty, knowing eyes.