LILY POV
My body started shaking for no reason.
I was floating in the strange energy that protected from Elena’s strikes, feeling empty and confused about everything around . My mind felt like a puzzle with most of the pieces missing. I couldn’t rember who these people were or why they kept calling my na with such worried voices.
But when the dark-haired man stepped closer to , sothing weird happened.
My heart started beating faster, even though I didn’t know why. My skin felt warm where he looked at . Most strange of all, my hands wanted to reach for him, like they rembered sothing my brain had forgotten.
"Stay back," I told him, scared of these feelings I couldn’t understand. "I don’t know you."
"Yes, you do," he said softly. His voice made sothing deep in my chest flutter. "Your body rembers , even if your mind doesn’t."
I shook my head, but even as I did, my wolf stirred inside . She was restless, whining like a puppy removed from her pack. That was weird too, because I barely rembered having a wolf at all.
"Lily," the man said, and when he spoke my na, my whole body reacted. Goosebumps ran down my arms. My breathing got deeper. It was like my body was having a chat I wasn’t part of.
"How do you know my na?" I asked, wrapping my arms around myself. The empty feeling in my mind was getting worse, but these physical responses were getting stronger.
"Because I’m Caleb," he said. "And you’re my mate."
The word ’mate’ hit like lightning. My Triple Moon Mark, which had been barely burning, suddenly flared bright silver. Pain shot through my wrist, but it wasn’t bad pain. It was like a muscle learning how to work after being asleep.
"That hurt," I said, looking at the mark.
"But good hurt or bad hurt?" Caleb asked hopefully.
I thought about it. "Good hurt. Like stretching after sitting still too long."
Around us, the confusion continued. Elena was getting more powerful, the supernatural politicians were still arguing, and that girl with the spell book was sweating as she fought so kind of magical battle. But all I could focus on was how my body kept responding to Caleb without permission from my brain.
"Why does my wolf like you?" I asked him. "I can’t rember you, but she keeps trying to get closer."
Caleb’s eyes filled with tears. "Because dogs mate for life. Even when magic steals mories, the soul rembers."
"That’s impossible," I said, but my voice sounded unsure. My wolf was nearly purring inside now, responding to sothing in Caleb’s scent.
"Touch my hand again," Caleb pushed. "Just for a second."
I paused. The first ti we’d touched, I’d felt that weird warmth. But Elena’s voice was in my head, telling these people wanted to hurt , that I should trust no one.
"I won’t force you," Caleb said. "But your body knows the truth, even when your mind is confused."
Slowly, I reached through the dinsional energy again. The mont our fingers touched, my whole world exploded with feeling.
My mark blazed with silver fire. My wolf howled with joy inside . And weirdest of all, my body seed to lt toward his, like tal drawn to a magnet.
"What is this?" I gasped, jerking my hand back.
"Mate bond," Caleb stated. "It links us on every level - mind, body, and soul. Elena can steal your mories, but she can’t break what’s written in your very cells."
I stared at him in shock. My body was still humming from that short touch, like I’d grabbed a live wire. But more than that, I felt... safe. For the first ti since waking up in this nightmare, I felt like soone was on my side.
"Elena!" I called out. "Is this true? Can mate ties survive mory magic?"
Elena’s face twisted with anger. "Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to trick you!"
But sothing in Elena’s tone made my wolf suspicious. She was lying. I could feel it in my bones.
"If he’s lying," I said to Elena, "then touching him shouldn’t affect at all, right?"
Elena’s eyes went wide. "Don’t you dare—"
I reached for Caleb’s hand again, this ti on purpose. The mont we connected, power flooded through . Not the empty, cold power Elena had been showing , but warm energy that felt like coming ho.
My Triple Moon Mark flared so bright it lit up the whole basent. But more importantly, fragnts of mory started coming back. Not full mories, but feelings. The protection I felt in Caleb’s arms. The way he made laugh. The fierce protectiveness that filled when anyone threatened him.
"No!" Elena shrieked. "You’re ruining everything!"
That’s when I realized sothing that made my blood run cold. Elena’s fear wasn’t just about losing control of . There was sothing else.
"You’re afraid," I said, staring at Elena. "You’re not just stealing my thoughts. You’re afraid of sothing."
Elena’s form flickered, like a TV with bad service. "I fear nothing!"
But my newly awakened senses told otherwise. Elena was afraid of sothing, and whatever it was had to do with the mate bond she couldn’t break.
"Caleb," I said quickly. "There’s sothing Elena doesn’t want to rember. Sothing about us."
"What do you an?"
I closed my eyes, trying to feel my way through the empty places in my mind. "She stole mories of our love, our ti together, even my own identity. But she left the mate link alone. Why?"
Caleb’s face went pale as he understood. "Because she can’t steal it. The mate bond isn’t just a mory - it’s a permanent change to our hearts."
"Exactly," I said, pieces clicking together. "Which ans..."
"Which ans the bond has information she can’t erase," Caleb ended. "Information about who you really are."
Elena’s shriek of rage proved we were right. But as she lunged toward us with void energy sparking around her, I felt the mate bond pulse with knowledge I didn’t consciously understand.
Hidden in the connection between Caleb and was sothing Elena badly needed to destroy. Sothing that would ruin all her plans if I figured it out.
"The bond is trying to tell sothing," I whispered anxiously. "Sothing about my Guardian powers."
Elena hit the dinsional barrier around with everything she had, trying to break through before I could access whatever the mate bond was protecting.
But as her strike struck, the bond pulsed one more ti, and suddenly I knew.
The terrible secret Elena was hiding. The real reason she wanted my mories gone.
I wasn’t just any Guardian.
I was the Guardian she used to be, before she fell to the void. And the mate link held the key to undoing everything she’d beco.
"Elena," I said, my voice carrying new power. "I rember now. I rember what you did to yourself. And I know how to fix it."
Elena froze, her face going white with fear. "That’s impossible. Those mories are gone forever."
I smiled, feeling power flow through from the mate bond’s protected knowledge. "Not gone. Just hidden where you couldn’t find them."
But as I prepared to use this new understanding, Elena made one final, frantic move that changed everything.
"If I can’t have your mories," she snarled, "then I’ll take his instead!"
She spun toward Caleb, void energy sparking around her hands, and I realized with horror what she planned to do.
She was going to steal all of Caleb’s mories of , breaking the mate bond from his side and destroying the one link that could save us all.
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