Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 271

Chapter 271

LUMINA

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“My point, Lynn continued, pulling on latex gloves with deliberate slowness, “is that most people vastly underestimate their capacity

for suffering. They think they know their limits, but they’ve never really been tested. Not properly.”

She opened her medical bag and began laying out instruments with the precise care of a surgeon preparing for operation. But these

weren’t healing tools they were implements designed for a very different purpose.

“Now, Lyn has a fascinating ability,” Lynn went on, selecting a small, sharp blade and examining it in the dim light. “His body heals

almost instantly from any injury. Which means I could spend hours studying exactly how much pain a person can endure without the

inconvenience of permanent damage or death.”

“You can’t torture me for information,” Andy said, but I could hear the first note of real fear creeping into her voice. “I know my

rights. I demand-*

“You have no rights,” Samuel interrupted from the shadows, his voice carrying the weight of pack law. “You kidnapped children. You

murdered pack members. You used magical compulsion to subvert the natural bonds between mates. Under supernatural law, you’ve forfeited any claim to mercy or due process.”

“Besides,” Silvia added with a cold smile, “we’re not torturing you for information. We already know everything we need to know about

your crimes. This is purely… scientific inquiry.”

Lynn approached the cell bars, her eyes glittering with professional interest. “I’m particularly curious about pain threshold variations between magical and non-magical subjects. And since those lovely cuffs are suppressing your abilities, you’ll make an excellent test case for the non-magical category.”

“What do you want?” Andy demanded, her composure finally beginning to crack.

“The antidote,” I said simply. “To the lover’s curse you cast on Marcus and Zade. The temporary solution Riley provided is going to wear off in less than twenty-four hours, and if it does…”

I didn’t need to finish the sentence. We all knew what happened when a lover’s curse ran its course. The victims would be consumed by an obsession so complete it would drive them to madness, violence, and eventually death. Marcus and Zade would become mindless thralls, capable of anything in their desperate need to possess the objects of their artificial affection.

“And if I refuse?” Andy asked, though we could all see she already knew the answer.

“Then Lynn gets to satisfy her scientific curiosity,” I replied calmly. “And unlike Lyn, you don’t have any healing abilities to make the experience… brief.”

The silence stretched between us, heavy with the weight of unspoken threats. Andy looked around the cell, taking in our faces, perhaps finally understanding that we were no longer the people she and Sophia had manipulated years ago. We’d been forged in fire and

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Chapter 271

loss, and we were done playing by rules that protected monsters at the expense of Innocents.

“Fine,” she said finally, her voice barely above a whisper. “Fine. I’ll give you the antidote. But I want something in return.”

“You’re hardly in a position to negotiate,” Xenois pointed out.

“Aren’t I?” Andy’s smile returned, sharp and vicious. “Because the antidote isn’t just a simple potion. It’s a ritual that requires the caster’s active participation. Kill me, and Marcus and Zade die screaming days later. Refuse my terms, and I’ll let them suffer until you come crawling back to beg.”

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Carol stepped forward, her own magical senses probing at Andy’s words. After a moment, she nodded grimly. “She’s telling the truth. The curse is tied to her life force. Without her cooperation, there’s no way to break it.”

–

I felt the trap closing around us, the same way Andy had always operated using people’s love for each other as weapons against them.

“What do you want?” I asked through gritted teeth.

Andy’s smile became triumphant. “I want to see Riley. I want to talk to him, alone, for one hour. And I want you to promise me that whatever I tell him, whatever arrangements we make, you won’t interfere.”

The request hit me like a physical blow. After everything she’d done, everything she’d taken from us, she wanted access to my son. She wanted another chance to poison him against us, to complete the work Sophia had started.

“Absolutely not,” Xenois growled.

“Then your pack members die,” Andy said simply. “And their blood will be on your hands, not mine.”

I closed my eyes, feeling the weight of impossible choices settling on my shoulders. Marcus and Zade were innocent victims of Andy’s malice, but so was Riley. How could I choose between them?

“There has to be another way,” I whispered.

“There is,” Lynn said quietly, and when I looked at her, I saw something cold and determined in her eyes. “We make her give us the antidote first. And then we make her pay for every single thing she’s done.”

Andy laughed, the sound echoing off the stone walls. “You can’t have both, Luna. You can save your pack members, or you can protect your precious son from learning a few uncomfortable truths. But you can’t do both.”

Looking at her face, at the malicious glee in her eyes, I realized that this had always been her endgame. Not just to steal our children, but to force us to choose between different kinds of loss. To make us complicit in our own destruction.

But I also realized something else. Andy had made the same mistake that Sophia had she’d underestimated the bonds that held our pack together.

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“All right,” I said finally, my voice steady despite the fear clawing at my chest. “You can see Riley. But the conversation happens here. in the dungeon, with all of us present. And if you try to hurt him in any way…”

“You’ll kill me,” Andy finished mockingly. “Yes, I gathered that. But remember, Luna – sometimes the truth hurts worse than any

physical wound. And I have so many truths to share with that boy.

As we made arrangements for Riley to be brought to the dungeon, I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were walking into another of

Andy’s traps. But with Marcus and Zade’s lives hanging in the balance, we didn’t have a choice.

I just had to trust that whatever poison Andy planned to pour into Riley’s ears, our love would be strong enough to counter it.

I had to believe that this time, love would be enough.

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart