Mai’s P.O.V.
The wind outside howled like a wounded beast, tearing through the trees like it was trying to rip the entire forest apart. I sat on the wooden porch steps, my knees tucked against my chest, glaring at the invisible barrier that had kept imprisoned for five days. Five. Long. Days. I had tried everything—running, digging, throwing anything I could get my hands on—but Eldur’s magic held firm. The barrier shimred faintly when I touched it, taunting .
I wasn’t scared. I was pissed.
How the hell had I even ended up here?
One mont, I had been talking with Liam. The next, Eldur had appeared—silver eyes dim but filled with sothing disturbingly close to devotion. Before I could react, his magic had wrapped around like invisible chains. The world had blurred, and then—bam. A dense forest. And before I could even process that, we were here. Just like that. Like a roller coaster with no brakes, no warning, no escape.
I was trapped.
And I didn’t even know this guy.
Yet, he acted like he knew . Like I was his.
Eldur hadn’t been cruel. That was the worst part. He gave food, warm clothes, even let roam freely within the boundaries of the invisible cage. The cabin had everything—Netflix, cable, a bed so soft it felt like sleeping on a damn cloud.
A perfect little prison. A golden cage.
And I wanted out.
"Mai."
His voice drifted from inside the cabin, smooth, expectant.
I exhaled sharply. Like clockwork.
"Co eat," Eldur called again.
I didn’t move. My arms tightened around my legs.
He sighed, and a few monts later, the door creaked open. Instead of waiting, he strolled outside and dropped onto the step beside , stretching out like he had all the ti in the world. The space between us crackled—not just with his magic, but with sothing heavier, sothing unspoken.
"You’re stubborn," he mused, a lazy smirk tugging at his lips.
"No shit," I muttered, keeping my gaze on the trees.
"Co on," he pressed. "You’ll starve."
I turned, eting his gaze with an icy glare. "I’d rather starve than sit at a table with you."
Eldur chuckled, shaking his head. "You always were dramatic."
Always?
A flicker of sothing ghosted through my mind—not a mory, but a strange, distant feeling. A sensation, like déjà vu.
I shoved it away.
Eldur stood, brushing dirt off his pants. "Fine. Stay out here and sulk. But when you decide to co inside, the food will be waiting." He cast one last amused glance before disappearing into the cabin.
Bastard.
I lasted ten minutes.
Then, with a sigh, I got up and trudged inside.
The scent of food filled the air, warm and rich. Eldur sat at the dining table, eating leisurely, completely at ease. Like we were just an ordinary couple sharing an ordinary al. My plate sat untouched, my fork hanging limply between my fingers.
He was talking—going on about our supposed childhood. How we used to play in the woods. How I used to cling to him. How we were ant to be.
Blah, blah, blah.
I barely heard a word.
I was thinking.
Three days. Three whole days since I had stopped fighting outright, switching to a different tactic. If brute force didn’t work, maybe manipulation would.
So far? Nothing.
The barrier still held, and worse, I had started hearing whispers.
Not from him. From inside my head.
Voices murmuring things I refused to believe. That Eldur was my mate. That I belonged to him. That I should claim him.
Bullshit.
I only wanted one person.
Liam.
"Are you even listening to ?"
The casual amusent in Eldur’s tone snapped sothing inside .
I slamd my fork down onto the table. The sharp clang echoed through the cabin.
"I only listen to Liam," I spat. "If you want to listen to you, let go."
The air shifted.
Eldur’s smirk vanished. His silver eyes darkened, sothing cold and unreadable flickering across his face.
"You really don’t rember anything," he murmured. It wasn’t a question. It was a realization.
I crossed my arms. "No. And I don’t care."
He set his utensils down, slow and deliberate, then leaned forward, his voice dropping to sothing almost dangerous.
"You belong to , Mai. Not Liam."
My heartbeat picked up—not from fear. From fury.
"I don’t know what you did to erase your mories," Eldur continued, his gaze piercing, "but I’ll fix it." His lips curled, sothing cruel glinting in his eyes. "And besides—" He stretched lazily, his tone almost bored. "Even if I did let you go, you’d never see Liam again."
The words sliced through like ice.
Everything inside went still.
I barely breathed.
"...What?"
Eldur leaned back in his chair, watching with the satisfaction of a predator that had just trapped its prey.
"Liam got himself caught in a little trap I set up," he said smoothly.
A horrible, sinking feeling coiled in my stomach.
"What trap?" My voice was sharp, deadly.
Eldur barely looked impressed by my tone. If anything, he seed amused.
"He was desperate to save you," Eldur said, tilting his head. "So, he made a deal with one of your teachers. A shady pack mber I contacted." A slow smirk stretched across his face. "The idiot really thought he could outsmart ."
My blood turned ice-cold.
Liam.
What had he done?
"He—he wouldn’t," I choked out.
The words felt foreign on my tongue, thick with disbelief. My mind rejected them even as my heart clenched in terror.
Eldur’s smirk stretched wider, his eyes gleaming with amusent. "Oh, but he did." He gave a careless shrug, like we were discussing the weather. "And now? He’s stuck. No way out."
My pulse slamd like war drums against my ribs.
No. No, no, no.
My breath ca in short, sharp gasps. I tried to piece it together, tried to find a crack in his words—anything that would make this a lie.
But then Eldur tilted his head, considering. "By now, he should be dead." A slow, mockingly regretful sigh escaped him. "A sha, really."
Sothing inside shattered.
A raw, furious scream ripped from my throat. The room blurred, drenched in a blinding golden light. My skin prickled, burning, as if sothing deep within had finally, finally woken up.
Heat. Power. Fire.
It flooded through , wild and unrelenting, rushing like a storm through my veins. My body shifted—no, transford.
Light erupted from , so bright it burned into the walls, the floors, the very air. My nails elongated into wicked claws. My skin shimred like molten gold, pulsing with raw energy.
I had never felt like this before.
I had never been this before.
Eldur shot to his feet. "Mai—!"
The entire cabin trembled.
The wooden planks beneath us groaned and cracked. The air grew thick, suffocating, vibrating with my fury.
I turned on him, my golden eyes blazing. "Where. Is. Liam?"
Eldur’s hands ignited with silver magic, arcs of energy crackling at his fingertips. "Why the hell are you losing your mind over soone who isn’t even your mate?"
I roared.
A violent surge of energy exploded outward, and from the shattered floor, vines erupted—thick, thorny, pulsing with life. They shot forward, coiling around Eldur’s throat like serpents.
He gasped, hands clawing at the vines as they tightened. His magic lashed out in erratic bursts, striking the walls, searing the air—but it wasn’t enough.
I yanked my arm, the vines constricting further.
"WHERE IS HE?"
Eldur’s silver eyes darkened, his face twisting in stubborn defiance. "I—won’t—tell—you—"
I pulled harder.
His body jerked, the veins in his neck straining, his breath ragged. His magic flared, desperate—but I didn’t care.
I was beyond reason.
Beyond rcy.
Beyond anything human.
I was rage incarnate.
Eldur’s struggles weakened. His lips parted, eyes fluttering—
Then—
Light.
Blinding. Brilliant. All-consuming.
It burst between us, severing my hold. The vines recoiled violently, hissing as they withdrew into the cracked earth.
A figure stepped forward.
The air itself humd with her presence, thick with a power older than ti itself.
A woman.
Her hair fell in shimring silver waves, her skin radiating an otherworldly glow. But it was her eyes that stopped cold—vast and luminous, like they held entire galaxies within them.
Eldur gasped from the ground, barely conscious.
The woman—this celestial being—turned her gaze to , soft yet imasurably powerful.
"Release him, child," she said.
Her voice wasn’t a command.
It was a lody.
A ripple of calm brushed against my fury, delicate but firm, like a gentle wind pressing against a storm.
I panted, my body still trembling, my magic still demanding violence.
But her presence...
It softened sothing sharp inside .
Slowly, hesitantly—
I let go.
Eldur collapsed in a coughing fit, clutching his bruised throat, but I barely saw him anymore.
The woman’s gaze remained on , unwavering.
"There is more to this than you know, Mai Blackwood," she said gently.
My hands clenched into fists. "Who the hell are you?"
She smiled.
"I am the Moon Goddess, darling."
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