Chapter 158: Unexpected Reactions

Words : 1298 Updated : Sep 19th, 2025

Chapter 158: Unexpected Reactions LILY POV My body started shaking for no reason. I was floating in the strange energy that protected me from Elena’s strikes, feeling empty and confused about everything around me. My mind felt like a puzzle with most of the pieces missing. I couldn’t remember who these people were or why they kept calling my name with such worried voices. But when the dark-haired man stepped closer to me, something weird happened. My heart started beating faster, even though I didn’t know why. My skin felt warm where he looked at me. Most strange of all, my hands wanted to reach for him, like they remembered something 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 something deep in my chest flutter. "Your body remembers me, even if your mind doesn’t." I shook my head, but even as I did, my wolf stirred inside me. She was restless, whining like a puppy removed from her pack. That was weird too, because I barely remembered having a wolf at all. "Lily," the man said, and when he spoke my name, 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 name?" 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 me 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 some 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 remember you, but she keeps trying to get closer." Caleb’s eyes filled with tears. "Because dogs mate for life. Even when magic steals memories, the soul remembers." "That’s impossible," I said, but my voice sounded unsure. My wolf was nearly purring inside me now, responding to something in Caleb’s scent. "Touch my hand again," Caleb pushed. "Just for a second." I paused. The first time we’d touched, I’d felt that weird warmth. But Elena’s voice was in my head, telling me these people wanted to hurt me, 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 dimensional energy again. The moment our fingers touched, my whole world exploded with feeling. My mark blazed with silver fire. My wolf howled with joy inside me. And weirdest of all, my body seemed to melt toward his, like metal 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 memories, 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 time since waking up in this nightmare, I felt like someone was on my side. "Elena!" I called out. "Is this true? Can mate ties survive memory magic?" Elena’s face twisted with anger. "Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to trick you!" But something 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 me at all, right?" Elena’s eyes went wide. "Don’t you dare—" I reached for Caleb’s hand again, this time on purpose. The moment we connected, power flooded through me. Not the empty, cold power Elena had been showing me, but warm energy that felt like coming home. My Triple Moon Mark flared so bright it lit up the whole basement. But more importantly, fragments of memory started coming back. Not full memories, but feelings. The protection I felt in Caleb’s arms. The way he made me laugh. The fierce protectiveness that filled me when anyone threatened him. "No!" Elena shrieked. "You’re ruining everything!" That’s when I realized something that made my blood run cold. Elena’s fear wasn’t just about losing control of me. There was something else. "You’re afraid," I said, staring at Elena. "You’re not just stealing my thoughts. You’re afraid of something." Elena’s form flickered, like a TV with bad service. "I fear nothing!" But my newly awakened senses told me otherwise. Elena was afraid of something, and whatever it was had to do with the mate bond she couldn’t break. "Caleb," I said quickly. "There’s something Elena doesn’t want me to remember. Something about us." "What do you mean?" I closed my eyes, trying to feel my way through the empty places in my mind. "She stole memories of our love, our time 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 memory - it’s a permanent change to our hearts." "Exactly," I said, pieces clicking together. "Which means..." "Which means 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 me was something Elena badly needed to destroy. Something that would ruin all her plans if I figured it out. "The bond is trying to tell me something," I whispered anxiously. "Something about my Guardian powers." Elena hit the dimensional barrier around me 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 time, and suddenly I knew. The terrible secret Elena was hiding. The real reason she wanted my memories 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 become. "Elena," I said, my voice carrying new power. "I remember now. I remember what you did to yourself. And I know how to fix it." Elena froze, her face going white with fear. "That’s impossible. Those memories are gone forever." I smiled, feeling power flow through me 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 memories," 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 memories of me, breaking the mate bond from his side and destroying the one link that could save us all.

Chapter 158: Unexpected Reactions

Comments (0)