Chapter 85: Bond Of The Second Fated Mate (Part 2)

The Five Ancient Elders stepped inside like shadows given form, and even in her haze, Livia knew why they were here.

“No…” she rasped, her voice raw from hours of snarling and crying. “No, don’t take me away from him…”

Elder Caelum stepped forward, his expression sorrowful but firm. “Child of the Moon, if you remain, your bond will destroy everything — including yourselves. We must take you somewhere Alaric cannot follow.”

Her wolf — Lilly — erupted inside her chest at those words, a primal snarl rattling her ribs.

> “No! He’s ours. We cannot leave him. We will fight.”

And fight she did.

With a guttural growl that didn’t sound human, Livia yanked against the chains until the silver burned her skin.

Sparks of magic flared where her fingers met the restraints, and the healers gasped as the protective circle on the floor began to splinter under the sheer will of the bond.

“Stay back!” Florita who followed them along with Sebastian and Dominick, shouted as she rushed into the room, but even she could feel it — the mate-pull tearing reality apart. “She’s resisting the spell!”

“She will,” Caelum murmured, lifting his hand. “All fated do.”

The Elders began to chant. The air thickened, pulsing with ancient syllables that made the torches gutter and the floor hum beneath their feet.

Shadows coiled around Livia’s limbs, weaving with the silver chains until she was pinned to the bed in a cocoon of moonlight and darkness.

“Aldus!” she screamed, her voice cracking. “Don’t let them—!”

Somewhere in the distance, his answering roar shattered against the walls of his own chamber. The chains restraining him wailed under the strain, and for a heartbeat Livia thought he would break through.

She felt him — Alaric — clawing at reality to get to her. Their wolves’ bond howled across the void between them, desperate and wild. They wanted to connect, but the spell of the Elder was strong enough to build something that can hold them in place.

Her strength faltered. The fire in her limbs weakened to trembling, then to nothing. The primal fury dissolved into sobs that wracked her exhausted body.

“I don’t want to go…” she whispered, tears spilling down her cheeks. “Please. Please don’t take me away from him…” It was Lilly--but also Livia's plea.

Caelum’s gaze softened, but his hands never stopped weaving the spell. “Child, sometimes mercy looks like cruelty. This is the only way.”

The darkness deepened. One by one, the runes etched into the chamber floor ignited with light, circling Livia in a glowing ring. The air shimmered, bending and twisting like a reflection on water — and then the space around her tore open into a swirling portal.

“Hold her steady,” Caelum instructed.

Sebastian and Dominick, their expressions torn between duty and pity, stepped forward to help guide her toward the rift. Livia’s knees buckled as her body resisted the pull, but the spell dragged her forward, inch by inch.

Even then, she reached out one last trembling hand toward the door — toward the direction where she knew Aldus was.

“Aldus!” she screamed again.

A final, deafening roar answered her from down the corridor — a sound that shook the castle and made every wolf drop to their knees. But he couldn’t reach her. The portal swallowed her whole before his chains could break, before his claws could tear the door apart.

And then she was gone.

The chamber fell eerily silent. The scent of her still lingered — sweet and maddening — but the heartbeat that had been calling to Aldus was no longer near. The bond still thrummed inside him, but now it was distant, muted, unreachable.

Florita sank to her knees, chest heaving. “Goddess help them… what have we done?”

Elder Caelum stared at the fading light of the portal, his expression unreadable. “We’ve done what was necessary,” he said quietly. “And now… fate will decide the rest.” And they disappear with Livia.

The air outside Blood Moon crackled like a brewing storm as the Five Elders moved swiftly down the moonlit path, their forms cloaked in shadows and ancient magic. In their grasp, struggling and snarling, was Livia — or rather, Lilly, her wolf, who had fully taken control.

Her nails raked the empty air, her fangs bared in feral defiance as she fought against the invisible restraints binding her body. Every muscle trembled with resistance. Every heartbeat screamed to turn back.

“Put me down!” Lilly howled, her voice a chilling mix of rage and agony. “We will not leave him! He is ours!”

But the Elders were far stronger — older than any wolf, bound by the primordial laws of the Moon. Every time Lilly lashed out, their power slammed against her like a tidal wave, forcing her back into submission.

The forest path warped around them, ancient runes illuminating their way as they neared the hidden passage into the Forbidden Forest.

“Her wolf is resisting more fiercely than expected,” murmured Elder Roman, his silver eyes flicking toward Caelum.

“She is bound by a mate’s call,” Caelum replied calmly, though even he seemed strained, his spell pulsing harder with each step. “But no matter how strong the bond, even the Moon’s will cannot be defied forever.”

Behind them, Blood Moon shook.

Inside the fortress, Alaric had felt it.

The bond — their bond — fading.

It wasn’t gone, not yet, but it was slipping further and further from his reach with every heartbeat. The thread that tethered his soul to hers grew thin, stretched to breaking, and something primal deep inside him snapped.

A roar ripped from his throat — a sound so raw, so savage, that the stone walls themselves quaked. His pupils blew wide, golden light flooding his eyes as Alaric surged violently against his chains.

The heavy steel around his ankles groaned under the pressure… and then snapped.

“By the Goddess—!” one of the warriors outside his chamber shouted, stumbling back as the floor trembled. “The chain on his leg broke!”

“Get reinforcements!” another yelled, panic rising in his voice. “Now! Now!”

“Hold your ground!” Sebastian barked after coming back, planting himself firmly before the door, his own wolf pushing against his skin. “If he gets out, no one — no one — will be able to stop him.”

But it wasn’t just his strength that terrified them. It was the fury.

Alaric’s snarl was no longer just rage — it was desperation. It was a pain. It was the agony of a bond being dragged beyond his reach.

“LIVIA!” he bellowed, his claws digging into the ground as he yanked against the remaining restraints. “COME BACK!”

Another chain snapped. Then another. The reinforced collar around his neck creaked and sparked as the runes carved into it began to fracture.

“Sebastian!” Dominick growled, shifting partially into his wolf form, claws extending as his muscles tensed. “If he breaks that last one—”

“I know!” Sebastian hissed. “Just be ready!”

On the other side of the door, Aldus’s human consciousness clawed its way to the surface, fighting against Alaric’s violent takeover.

> “Alaric, stop!” he shouted from within. “If you break free, you’ll kll them all!”

But Alaric wasn’t listening. His mind was drowning in one thought, one instinct, one unbearable truth: > “She’s leaving us”.

The bond that had been a burning thread of light was now a flickering ember, faint and far away. Each inch that it slipped tore at his soul like claws raking through flesh. He had to get to her. He had to claim her before she disappeared completely.

And somewhere, faint but still there — she felt it too.

Livia, deep in the Elders’ hold, gasped as the bond tugged sharply inside her chest. The pain was blinding — a deep, primal ache that made her legs buckle. Lilly howled from within, thrashing harder, claws scraping uselessly against the air.

“He’s calling us!” she cried, tears streaking down her face. “He’s calling us!”

Her back arched as if pulled by invisible strings. Her heart hammered painfully, answering the cry of the beast who called her name. Every instinct begged her to tear free, to run back, to let his arms cage her again.

But the Elders’ power held firm.

“Do not fight it, child,” Caelum said, his voice heavy with something that almost sounded like pity. “The bond will not break. It will only rest.”

Livia shook her head, sobbing as she tried — and failed — to tear free from their spell. “I can’t— I can’t leave him!”

“You must,” Caelum said solemnly. “Or both of you will burn.”

Back inside the pack, the last lock holding Alaric groaned under the force of his wrath.

Sebastian and Dominick exchanged a grim look — both readying themselves for the worst.

And then, beneath the monstrous fury, a whisper slipped through. It wasn’t Alaric this time. It was Aldus.

“Livia…” he rasped, his voice breaking as he pressed his forehead to the cold stone floor. “Don’t… go…”

The moment hung heavy in the air. The chain held — barely — but the storm was far from over.

The bond screamed between them — a thread stretched thin but unbroken — as destiny itself trembled on the edge of chaos.