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Luna considered the question carefully. "I didn't trust you. Not at first. But I believed redemption was possible because if it wasn't, then I would be stuck being the person who carries nineteen names forever. I needed to believe people could change because I needed to believe I could change.""Did you? Change?""I'm learning to. Therapy helps. Support helps. Accepting that I'm not defined by my worst moments helps." Luna created a shield, solid and stable. "You killed your father to stop violence. That was both terrible and necessary. Both can be true. Just like teaching wolves who might die is both risky and worthwhile.""Dr. Chen says similar things in my sessions. About holding contradictions.""You're seeing Dr. Chen too?""Twice a week. Dealing with growing up in a cult and trying to figure out who I am when I'm not just my father's weapon." Peter smiled weakly. "It's terrible. But helpful.""Yeah. That describes therapy perfectly." Luna dissolved her shield. "Peter, you're doi
Luna asked to resume teaching six weeks after starting therapy."I'm ready," she said during breakfast, pushing eggs around her plate. "Dr. Chen agrees. I can handle twenty hours a week with supervision.""What changed?" I asked carefully. Luna had been improving, but recovery wasn't linear. She still had bad days."I stopped waiting to be completely healed before living. Dr. Chen said I'll probably carry Thomas's name forever. But I can carry it while also teaching. Both things can be true." She set her fork down. "And, Mama, I miss it. I miss my students and watching them learn and feeling useful.""You're useful even when you're not teaching.""I know. Dr. Chen drilled that into my head enough times." Luna smiled slightly. "But I want to teach. Not because I need it to feel worthy. Because I actually enjoy it."Adrian and I exchanged glances. This was progress. Real, tangible progress."Twenty hours a week. With Katherine supervising initially. And if you start spiraling again, we
My stomach dropped. "She wouldn't think that.""She thinks her teaching killed Thomas. Thinks her reforms caused nineteen deaths. Thinks her existence makes people targets." Dr. Chen's voice was gentle but firm. "Luna's thought patterns are still distorted by guilt. Alice manifesting early could feel like proof that Luna's very presence harms people."I found Luna in her room, staring at nothing."Hey, baby. Want to talk about Alice?""She's manifesting because of me." Luna's voice was flat. "Because I taught around her, exposed her to magic too young, pushed her development unnaturally.""Or she's manifesting because she's gifted. Because she's special in her own right, not because you damaged her.""Sarah wanted a normal baby. Now Alice is going to be extraordinary and suffer for it." Luna pulled her knees to her chest. "Everything I touch becomes complicated and painful. Maybe I should stay away from her. Let her develop normally without my influence.""Luna, you love Alice. She lo
Alice's second word was "shield."Not mama, not dada. After "Luna" came "shield," spoken as clearly as day while watching Luna practice in the training yard."Shield, shield, shield!" Alice babbled from Sarah's arms, tiny hands reaching toward the silver barriers flickering in the air.Luna stopped mid-demonstration, staring at the seven-month-old. "Did she just...""She did." Sarah laughed, though her eyes held concern. "Your influence, apparently.""I'm sorry. I didn't mean to teach a baby supernatural vocabulary before normal words." Luna looked genuinely distressed. "That's probably not developmentally appropriate.""Luna, she hears 'shield' fifty times a day in this pack. Of course she'd learn it." Sarah shifted Alice higher. "Though I was hoping for 'mama' before 'defensive magic terminology.'"Alice reached for Luna, still chanting, "Shield, shield!" Luna took her carefully, the baby immediately grabbing her nose."You're supposed to say mama," Luna told Alice seriously. "Your
Here's your passage with the unnecessary blank spaces removed while preserving the formatting and dialogue:"Terrible. I cried the entire time and Dr. Chen made me talk about Thomas's children and how I felt about their father dying, and it was the worst thing I've ever done." Luna's voice was raw. "She wants to see me again the day after tomorrow.""Will you go?""I don't want to. But she said if I don't process this grief, it'll destroy me, and I guess I'm not quite ready to be destroyed yet." Luna looked at me with exhausted eyes. "She also said you're probably blaming yourself for not protecting me from this and that we should do a family session because apparently everyone in this family is terrible at processing trauma.""She sounds very insightful.""She's annoyingly perceptive, and I kind of hate her, but I also think she might be the first person who understood that I'm not being dramatic—I'm actually drowning." Luna's voice cracked. "Mama, she said what I'm experiencing is n
They agreed, though I could see the discomfort on every face. No one wanted to hurt Luna. But everyone could see she was hurting herself far more.Luna found out that night when she tried to access the curriculum files and discovered she'd been locked out of the system.She came to my office shaking with fury."You locked me out. You took away my work." Her voice was ice-cold. "How dare you?""You left me no choice. You won't sleep, won't eat, and won't talk to anyone about what you're feeling. So I'm removing the thing you're using to avoid dealing with your trauma." I kept my voice steady despite my breaking heart. "You want access back? Complete six therapy sessions with Dr. Chen.""This is blackmail.""This is an intervention. There's a difference.""I don't need therapy! I need to work! I have students who depend on me!" Luna was yelling now, tears streaming down her face. "You can't just take away the only thing that makes me useful!""You're useful because you exist, not becaus
Dangerous GamesAldric Thorne stayed for three days.Three days of watching me with those calculating ice-blue eyes. Three days of casual questions that felt like interrogations. Three days of smiling while my skin crawled every time he entered a room.On the morning of the fourth day, I woke to fi
The next morning, I woke before dawn.Damien was still asleep beside me, one arm thrown over his face. In the dim light, he looked peaceful. Almost innocent.I knew better.I slipped out of bed silently and locked myself in the bathroom. I pulled out my phone, opened the secure banking app I'd set
The pack school was a short walk from the main house, a cheerful building filled with pups ranging from five to fifteen. As Luna, I was expected to visit regularly, to show interest in the next generation.In my past life, I'd loved these visits. The innocence of the children, their honest affectio
My mother's journal felt like it weighed a thousand pounds in my hands.I sat in her old leather chair, dust motes dancing in the sunlight streaming through the windows, and read about a legacy I never knew existed. About power, I never knew I had. About a destiny that had been hidden from me my en







