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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
Dr. Sarah Chen arrived three days later.She was younger than I expected, maybe forty, with kind eyes and a no-nonsense demeanor that reminded me of Katherine. She set up in a quiet room on the third floor, away from the bustle of the pack's business.Luna refused to go."I don't need therapy. I need to finish this week's curriculum planning." She was at her desk, surrounded by papers, looking like she hadn't slept in days. Which she probably hadn't."The curriculum can wait. This can't." I stood in her doorway, trying to keep my voice calm. "Dr. Chen is here to help you.""I don't want help. I want to work." Luna didn't look up from her papers. "I have eighty-three students starting advanced training next week. They need proper lesson plans.""Your instructors can handle the lesson plans.""Not as well as I can.""Luna, you haven't slept in three days. You can barely hold a pen steady. How are you going to teach anyone when you can't even take care of yourself?" I moved into the room
"I don't know, baby. I really don't know."We sat in silence, the notebook of names between us like a physical presence.Katherine found us there an hour later, both of us staring at nothing."Luna needs to talk to someone," I said without preamble. "A professional. Someone who knows how to help with this kind of grief.""I don't need therapy. I need Thomas's children to have their father back. I need nineteen wolves to be alive." Luna's voice was flat, exhausted. "A therapist can't give me that.""No. But a therapist can help you carry the weight of knowing you can't bring them back." Katherine sat beside her. "Luna, what you're experiencing is called survivor's guilt mixed with moral injury. It's what happens when good people make choices that lead to outcomes they never intended.""I'm not a soldier. I'm a teacher.""You're a teacher in a war you didn't start but are helping fight. That makes you a soldier whether you want to be or not." Katherine's voice was gentle. "And soldiers
I found Luna's notebook by accident.She'd left it on the kitchen table, open to a page covered in names written in her careful handwriting.Thomas Reed has three children: Marcus (7), Elena (5), and Sophie (3).Below that, more names.Jennifer Stone's mate survived, two infant twins.David Cross' parents are grieving. He was their only child.Nineteen names.Every wolf who'd died in Savage's attack.With notes about their families, their lives, details she'd somehow gathered."What are you doing?" Luna's voice behind me was sharp, defensive."I was getting coffee. You left this open." I touched the page gently. "Baby... what is this?""Nothing. Just notes."She tried to take the notebook, but I held it."These are the wolves who died. You've written down everything about them." I flipped back, finding more pages. Names from the Omega Settlement attack. Names from smaller skirmishes. Months of careful documentation. "Luna... how long have you been doing this?""Since the first attack.
The office was quiet except for Peter's ragged breathing.I believed him. Every instinct I had screamed that this broken boy was telling the truth, that his fear and shame were too raw to fake."Marcus is outside," I said quietly. "You're going to tell him exactly what you told me. You're going to let him decide if he wants this gift for his daughter. And, Peter, next time you want to do something kind, you ask directly. You don't follow people. Even with good intentions, that's threatening behavior.""I know. I know, and I'm sorry. I just don't know what normal looks like anymore." He looked so young, so lost. "Everything I learned growing up was wrong. I'm trying to figure out how regular people act, but I keep messing up."Marcus came in, having heard everything through the door. His face was hard, the protective father warring with the man who wanted to believe in redemption.Peter stood, holding the carved wolf like an offering."I made this for Alice. To apologize for what I was
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







