Moonlight Bonds, page 1
Moonlight Bonds.
All Rights Reserved. 2025.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental and formed by this author’s imagination. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. No AI is used in the writing/artwork/cover of any of my books.
Edited by Polished Perfection
Formatted with Vellum
Darkness is beautiful, once you learn to play with the shadow.
— ANAND THAKUR
Description
Never stop running—even if the Gods are chasing you.
Starlight City is gone, reduced to ash and memories. Half of the city lies dead beneath the rubble and ash, and the other half is scattered like leaves in a storm. Gwenieve’s mates are just as broken and lost, their bonds strained to the breaking point, with no clue what to do next. Desperate and running out of options, Gwen turns to her past to find answers that might save what’s left of her world.
She finds herself in Morriganis City, facing a family member she never expected. But the Gods have long memories, and it turns out they have not forgotten her vow. The Rite of Freedom will continue its deadly course, even if her world is shattering apart day by day.
With her Nexus finally ready to reveal all the buried secrets of their Starlight past, with her mates slowly learning who they truly are and the devastating power they wield, her twin sister and the Vian king sowing chaos at every turn, and the world tipping dangerously toward a path of no return, Gwenieve has to dig deep and find the strength to fight.
The Gods may think they hold all the cards, but they’ve forgotten one crucial thing about Gwenieve and her bonds. As her Nexus promises in the darkness: “They are mine, and all Gods will die.”
MOONLIGHT BONDS is a dark romantasy full of irresistible tension and dangerous desire. Dive into a story teeming with growly alpha shifters, rejected mates, forced proximity, and electrifying “touch her and die” moments. This is a tale where love is fierce, bonds are unbreakable, and monsters lurk just beneath the skin. This is book four of five.
Prologue
COMMANDER RHODES
“Commander Rhodes. I am carrying your future mate, and if you do not do exactly what I tell you, then she will die.”
I turn swiftly, surprised that a Nexus of all things could sneak up on me. Surprise is an emotion I rarely get to feel anymore—not that I feel much of any emotion. The air is bitterly cold and damp, but I sense magic woven into it. Nexus magic. One more breath and my world stops. I barely process what the Nexus woman is saying as I sense her baby in her round stomach. Even though she is not born, my world spins and changes when I feel the bond. It’s a lie that we need a mating ceremony to sense our bonded. It confirms it, but the soul always knows. I know.
The bond radiates like a pulse right next to my heart, and I thought the old thing stopped beating a long time ago. This is the most alive I have felt in one hundred years. I was born to be the commander to the king, trained with my twin from the moment we were weaned from our mother. We are his weapons, and weapons are not meant to feel.
I almost stumble back in front of an enemy, barely even noticing the cliff edge behind me. The Nexus woman is young, with long blonde hair and a stern expression. From the scent of her, I can tell she is mated, and I doubt her mate is far behind. I reach out with my Vian senses and find a male Nexus in the tree line a few feet away from the woman.
“Address me as one team, or I’ll end him,” I coldly begin. “Nexus are not welcome in this city.”
“Does that mean you are not welcome? You are half Nexus after all,” she counters, and it’s a valid point. I’m tolerated in the Vian capital city because of my title. I ignore her jab; it’s meaningless. Her mate steps out of the shadows and smoothly, calmly walks to her side. “My name is Elly Autumn, and I’d like us to have a conversation that does not involve a fight, Commander Rhodes.”
“I should begin by asking how you know my title and identity, Nexus?” I drop my eyes to her stomach. “But we do have much more to discuss.” The baby she carries is definitely not her mate’s. It’s a different scent from the male at her side…a familiar scent hovers around Elly.
I know that my king’s plan for years has been to breed his race into the various cities of the Nexus and take them down from the inside. It is not a job my brother and I have been ordered to do, and neither of us would want to do that. Breeding is the key to how the war will end. The king rambles about half-breeds being the key, but lately he’s been twitchy. Hollis has been watching our king closely in case he’s going to do something rash and unpredictable.
Elly lifts her chin. “I have taken a grave risk coming here, standing in front of you and telling you that the child I’m carrying in my stomach is your mate. You have killed countless of my kind, and as a commander, you are the Vian king’s soldier, and you are loyal to him. I am standing here, praying your loyalty is going to shift to your mate.”
I cock my head to the side. “I could take you and wait for the birth, for all you know of me.” Even as I say it, I know I would not separate my future mate from her family. It would be cruel.
Elly smiles. “We’re the only ones who will protect the child and the only people who can hide her.” She touches her stomach. “I’m carrying twins, to be exact. One of them is your mate. The other is everyone’s downfall. They both are very dangerous and powerful. Even now, the world is trembling for their creation. For what they bring back to the world. Can you hear it, Commander?”
“But why are you talking in riddles?” I demand. My mind flickers to the king for a second, to how strange he has been these last few months. Does he sense what she is speaking of?
“We were visited by a God.” Lies. They are all dead. “The old Gods—they never let us go, and they’ve always watched us. When they fell from the skies…this became their world. They played with it like a toy, and we are their dolls. They’re playing a dangerous game of the stars’ bidding, and they don’t care who dies within it.” She ignores the disbelief on my face. “I want my children to live. I’m going to give you one of the twins when they’re born.” Her voice cracks slightly, like she almost wants to change her mind. “Not your mate. But the other.”
“Why would you give up your child to me? Wouldn’t he or she be far better raised by their mother?” I arch an eyebrow. “Or their Vian father? He might raise the other twin. If you give the twin to me, the king will have him or her.”
There would be no way to hide a powerful, dangerous child from him. The king slips into the minds of so many spies that the child would be found.
“He is gone, but you do know about him, and where he has gone will be needed in the future.” Who is her lover? “It’s safer if we have no contact going forward. This is my mate, who knows all the circumstances of what happened, and I wish to tell you everything so that one day you can tell them—my daughters.” My eyes flick to her stomach. She must be very early in pregnancy. “You must call your brother.”
“Why do I need to do that? He’ll kill you on the spot.” I know he wouldn’t see reason, even if I told him about my mate in her stomach. I have some sense left, but Hollis is far worse than I.
“You’re half Nexus, just like she will be.” For a moment I see my mother, and her memory rips me apart. She was a good, kind woman—a Nexus, but a kind woman who deserved the world. When she died, I gave up wanting any emotions and let myself sink into a numbness that has never let an emotion in. Not until right now. What would my mother say if she stood at my side right now?
“The Gods are back. You want me to believe that?” I demand. “And that you somehow talked with them about your child’s power and her fate?”
“I can show you,” she claims. “I can show you everything, Commander Rhodes. Then you will see that my children are all that’s going to stand between the end of this world and the remaking of a new one. If your king ever finds out, and if the leaders—the true leaders—of the Nexus cities find out what she is, what they both are, they’ll kill them. It’s better we play it this way. I won’t be there at the end, but you will be. She’ll hate you for what I make you do this day, but it’s the only way to save her.”
“Then tell me everything when my brother arrives.” I finish the conversation, half not believing a word she is telling me.
I call my brother. He answers immediately because I never call him unless something is wrong. “I need you to come to our mother’s meeting point.”
He doesn’t answer, but I know he will come. I put the phone down and look back at her, at her stomach, at where my mate is. For hundreds of years, I’ve never been blessed with a mate. I’ve always wanted one but never thought a creature created for death would be blessed with one. “He’ll be here.”
“Good. The others haven’t been born yet. Soon. We have time. Where is your prince?” she asks. I frown. Prince Severi? He is nothing but a babe in his mother’s arms. “Crying in his nursery, I would guess. What others?”
“Her mates. You will need each other. I have a long story to tell you about a God that whispered in my ears. A God that’s watching us all. A God that fears the baby in my stomach. Both of them.” She walks to the bench, her mate standing close as she sits down on it. My own mother sat here every single Saturday evening, listening to music with us. I came here to find her again, to listen to her music and to remember a time when someone loved me. Now my entire future sits on the same bench.
When my brother arrives, he falls to his knees in front of Elly and prays to the Morrigan in thanksgiving for granting him a mate. Only then does Elly Autumn show us a story with a power she should not hold, that’s almost too unbelievable to be true. I feel my heart shatter, knowing that to save her, I’m going to have to threaten every bit of our future relationship. I’m going to have to lie, kill, and tell myself that it’s worth it in the end because she’s still alive.
My mate hating me seems a small price to pay for her life.
Chapter
One
Ilook out against the snowy mountaintops as the ice sticks to everything from the trees to the leaves, to the damp ground under my paws. The world slips into a winter wonderland and carries on like my heart isn’t destroyed. How can the world dare to be like this, so pure and pretty, when I feel so treacherous having so many die at my hand? It’s cold enough that if I did cry anymore, the tears would disappear into the snow in an instant. Snowdonia, deep in Wales, is as good a place to disappear as any other. At least there is a lake of vibrant blue water to stare at and endless snowy mountains that almost make me feel alone in the world.
I rest for a moment after a morning of running, glancing at the mountaintops where tourists very rarely come because it’s too steep here. Even if they saw me, I’d be nothing but a story of a big grey wolf to tell their friends. The sun beats through the clouds occasionally, but it’s gloomy even in the middle of the day, and I like it that way. It matches the way I feel.
No running helps me escape the feeling. The truth of what I did and who betrayed me.
It’s been two days since I shifted back from my wolf form. It’s been three long weeks since—well, the unthinkable happened. The only way I can process Starlight City has been like this, shifted in my wolf form, running up a mountain away from Finn’s caring, pitying eyes. Away from his family trying to do everything for me, away from the feeling deep down in my chest of how angry I am, how betrayed I feel. I grew up being trained never to trust anyone, that everyone has secrets, but I never saw it coming. I let myself be used. I let this happen.
My Nexus came back into my mind after a week, all fury and anger at being drugged by Rhodes. The pain she feels only matches my own. Rhodes might as well have stabbed me in the back. Actually, that would’ve been better if it meant I didn’t destroy an entire city. But the mate we trusted the most betrayed me, betrayed me in a way that was unthinkable, unfathomable, really.
Not only Rhodes, but I have a sister who is more of a bitch than even I can claim to be. A twin sister…that my parents gave away. Why would they do that? If she had grown up with us, maybe she would…maybe things would have been better. But then I think of my childhood and wonder if it would have only turned her into this in the end, anyway. Perhaps Georgina actually got off on the light end of it. Though I don’t know what she went through, I will never, ever forgive her for what she did that day.
I killed hundreds of thousands of Nexus. My people. My city. In the blink of an eye, I felt it. I felt myself, my magic ripping into their souls one by one, and I still hear the echoes of it, still feel it, still see it every time I close my eyes and try to sleep. My wolf lifts her head and howls loudly to the sky—a howl of pain. Death has never been a stranger—but this time, it has taken over my home. I am death now, and the world will never see me as anything else. In a thousand years, what will they write of me? The monster? The destroyer? The one who made it possible for the Vian to win the war?
I will be labelled all these things, and no one will see me. I guess it was my worst fear, and it came true. Now what do I have to fear? The answer comes to me right away: losing the people I love. My mates are all missing except for Finnegan. Annie is still missing, and any reports of Starlight City survivors we get have not named her.
I groan, looking at the endless white expanse. I know Finn isn’t far from me; he never is, and I can feel him in my soul. He shifts, and he watches me in case I need him, and I love him for it. Finn follows me back to the cabin and gets there first to pretend that he wasn’t following me around. It’s sweet, but all I can think of, all I can remember right now is that pain, that echoing, endless pain of a mate betraying me.
“Nexus,” I whisper in my mind, and I push myself into that place that the tutor taught me, where I can face her directly. I don’t see her much in the mist now when I open my eyes, just a wolf’s eyes glaring back at me. “I’m done being scared of you. I’m done fearing who I am. You’re keeping secrets from me about who we are, aren’t you?”
She blinks once. “Yes. You were not ready, but now you are. Now you must face us.”
“It’s always been just you and me. You know, I think I’ve spent so much time being fearful of you that I didn’t realise the entire time, you were on my side and that I really only should have been fearful of them. The Vian king, my twin sister, Rhodes.”
My heart cracks in my chest, and it hurts. Gods above, it hurts to even think his name, like physically stabbing me in the chest. Nearly every conversation we’ve ever had, how he was never scared of me from the beginning—it’s because he knew. He knew. The lying bastard knew.
“I don’t know about you, Nexus, but I am angry with the world. I’m angrier than I’ve ever been. I am angry enough to burn this entire world down and allow only the good to survive. I want to hunt Rhodes. I want to hunt him and make him pay for it all. I want to hunt the Vian king and make him pay for using us too. I feel like I’m broken, and I feel like you are too, and perhaps if we’re together, we’re at least functioning enough to do this. I can do it, but I need you. Because the funny thing was, when I found out I had a twin sister, I realised I always did have one—it was you, my Nexus. You are my family. Isn’t it time that we went hunting together? It would be a real bonding exercise when we rip the Vian king’s head straight off his shoulders. Then we go after the commanders next. Starlight City is probably gone, the only place we ever thought of as home, and avenging it—I feel like that is something we can do. Revenge.”
“Revenge,” she snarls back at me. “No weakness. Only power.”
I think of Finn. I think of Onyx. Of Alek. They never betrayed me. I think of Severi, and I’m so confused by him, what he omitted telling me. Everything is so confusing now. I know my Nexus can see my mind, yet she still offers me that trust. “Tell me the truth of who you are. I want to know everything, and then we will begin.”
What feels like hours later, I hear her disappear back into the mist, and let her shift into control. I can’t process what she told me, but it makes sense. It all does. There is only one path forward for us now, and it lies in death. Death for anyone that stands in our way.
The cabin almost looks like it’s not there when we run up through the muddy ground. It’s one of those peculiar cabins built into the rock side that is hidden well. The rock wall curves right over the front of it, and warm orange light pours out of an open doorway and small circular windows, shining onto the wooden porch. I walk down the long path full of old Christmas-looking trees on either side, feeling the nearness of my mate. Finn’s sitting on the steps, waiting for me.
There isn’t a moment he doesn’t take my breath away. Finnegan looks like a God himself, his knees parted as he leans back on his elbows and watches me with his hauntingly pure blue eyes that remind me of the lake here. His dark brown hair is tousled, his locks longer now, brushing his eyebrows. Finnegan fits in with the forest as that something dangerous and seductive calling you in. His tight black top clings to his muscular arms, and a light sheen of sweat across his skin tells me he ran faster than my Nexus to get back here first.
“Thank you,” I gently say to her before I shift back. The leggings and crop top feel strange against my skin after two days of fur, but I roll my shoulders as I walk towards him. He doesn’t move, simply waits, watching me cautiously—not because he’s scared, but because he doesn’t want me to break again. When he woke up unconscious, I couldn’t even tell him what happened. All I did was sob in his arms, cry and cry for hours as they drove. I don’t cry in front of anyone, but Finnegan held me as my world shattered, and he never let go. He didn’t try to fix me, he just waited for me to be ready to speak to him about it. Not once has he looked at me in fear. When eventually I could explain everything, he was so angry, shaking with fury but not scared of me. Finnegan loves me despite what the worst part of me did.
