Housebound with the Blackridge Heirs novel Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Chapter 77

Maya

I should have turned back the moment the forest started whispering my name.

Not figuratively… Literally.

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Leaves shifted overhead, and every brush of wind sounded like a breath against the back of my neck. A quiet ‘Maya.. like someone already knew I was coming and couldn’t wait for me to arrive.

“Are you sure you want to do this tonight?” Caden asked as he tightened the strap on his blade, his tone low, steady, and threaded with the kind of worry he didn’t bother to hide anymore.

“If we wait, the dreams will only get worse,” I murmured, pulling my hood up as the wind pushed against us. “And something keeps pulling me out here. I need to know why.”

Tylon glanced back over his shoulder, his expression unreadable in the muted moonlight as leaves scraped against the path.

“Stay close to me,” he said without slowing his stride. “The grove sits on my family’s old borders. There are paths here the forest hides from anyone who doesn’t belong.”

“I’m right beside you,” I said, though my steps were a little slower than I wanted them to be. Something about this part of the woods made my skin prickle, like every tree remembered something I didn’t.

Leo moved behind us, quiet and watchful as usual, though I could feel the sharpness in him growing with every foot we traveled.

“If anything feels wrong, say it,” he said gently. “Before your feet start taking you where your mind doesn’t want to go.”

My breath caught slightly, because the truth of it sat like a stone in my stomach. “It’s already happening,” I whispered. “There’s a pull… like I’m walking toward something that knows me.”

Caden slowed until he walked beside me again, his fingers brushing mine just long enough to ground me. “Tell me what it feels like.”

“Like déjà vu,” I said quietly. “And like I’m being called at the same time.”

Leo’s voice tilted with concern. “The dreams.”

“The dreams,” I confirmed.

We walked deeper beneath the canopy until the world narrowed into shadows and branches overhead, and the moonlight dripped through in fractured beams. My pulse quickened even though no one had said anything frightening. Something in the dark spoke without words, an old whisper humming at the edges of my consciousness.

“Why does this place feel familiar?” I asked, rubbing my arms as the air turned thick and warm.

“Because you’ve been dreaming it for weeks,” Tylon said, his eyes scanning the dark path ahead. “Dreams aren’t just dreams for wolves. Or whatever the hell you are.”

“That’s comforting,” I muttered.

“It wasn’t meant to be,” he replied, and I could almost hear the smirk beneath his voice.

Leo stepped closer, nudging my shoulder lightly with his. “You’re not alone in this, Maya.”

The reassurance helped-at least until the forest seemed to inhale around us.

Tylon stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” Caden asked, his hand drifting to the knife at his thigh.

“We’re here,” Tylon said.

I followed his gaze, and the trees opened like curtains being pulled aside, revealing a clearing bathed in pale, trembling moonlight.

The Hollow Grove.

The moment we stepped through, something shifted inside me. The faint warmth under my wrist flared, pulsing in a rhythm that felt older than breath. The air trembled with it. The roots coiled around the ground as if protecting something, and the clearing hummed with a muted, ancient power that made the fine hairs on my arms rise.

I inhaled deeply. “I’ve been here before… in the dreams. I met Aelera and Astrid here before.”

“That’s why I told you to come prepared,” Caden murmured, moving to stand at my side again.

I stepped toward the center, my heartbeat loud against the stillness. Leo moved wide, circling the perimeter with a deliberate sweep, while Caden stuck close enough that our arms brushed every few breaths. Tylon stayed slightly ahead, guiding us as if the land itself spoke to him.

At the center stood the stone.

It rose from the earth like it had been waiting centuries to be found. Thick roots wrapped around its edges like fingers refusing to let go, and the surface glowed faintly under the moonlight.

I reached out despite the tremor in my hand. “This is it. I can feel her.”

Caden stepped closer instantly, his body angling protectively toward me, and Tylon positioned himself on the other side, creating a silent shield around me while I traced the engraving with my fingertips.

The wolf carved into the stone was identical-absolutely identical-to the mark on my wrist. My skin heated under the sleeve that covered it, and a slow, heavy throb pulsed through my bones, as if something inside the stone recognized me.

The forest stilled.

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The air thickened.

And every breath felt too loud.

Leo’s voice cut through the tension, low and strained. “We’re not alone.”

My heart thudded painfully, and Tylon’s hand went straight to the hilt of his blade. Caden shifted in front of me, shoulders tightening just enough for me to sense the danger before I even saw it.

Leaves rustled and a shadow moved.

And then the shape of a man stepped into the clearing as if he had been waiting for us to arrive, emerging from the darkness with a slow, deliberate calm that made my blood turn cold.

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