Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 280

Chapter 280

ZADE

The smell hit me before I even reached Lyn’s bedroom door – the metallic tang of fresh blood mixed with the antiseptic scent that

seemed to cling to everything in the compound these days. My wolf went on high alert, every instinct screaming that my mate was in

danger, that I needed to get to him immediately.

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I didn’t bother knocking. The door handle turned easily under my grip, unlocked despite Lyn’s stated need for privacy, and I burst into

the room with enough force to rattle the hinges.

Lyn looked up at me from where he sat on the edge of his bed, startled by my sudden entrance. In his right hand, he held a scalpel – one of the surgical instruments from Lynn’s medical supplies – and across his chest ran a fresh cut, maybe three inches long and deep enough to expose the muscle beneath. Even as I watched, the wound began to knit itself back together, his werewitch healing abilities

working to repair the damage he’d deliberately inflicted.

The scalpel clattered to the floor as Lyn dropped it, his eyes wide with something that might have been guilt or anger or both.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, his voice carefully neutral despite the obvious shock of being discovered.

I stared at him for a long moment, taking in the sight of my mate sitting calmly on blood-stained sheets with a surgical instrument at his feet. The wound on his chest was already half-healed, the edges pulling together with supernatural efficiency, but the sight of it

made my stomach clench with sick fear.

“What am I doing here?” I repeated, my voice coming out rougher than I’d intended. “Lyn, you’re sitting here cutting holes in yourself with a goddamn scalpel. Don’t try to turn this around on me.”

He had the grace to look away, his jaw tightening with that stubborn expression I knew so well. “I’m fine. I was just testing

something.”

“Testing what exactly?” I moved closer to the bed, my eyes scanning the room for signs of how long this had been going on. There were no other bloodstains that I could see, no evidence of previous self-harm, but that didn’t make me feel any better.

“Your pain tolerance? Your healing speed? Your ability to give me a heart attack?”

“It’s not what you think,” Lyn said, standing abruptly and moving toward the small bathroom attached to his room. “I’m not suicidal, if that’s what you’re worried about. I was just… curious about something.”

I followed him, watching as he grabbed a washcloth and began cleaning the blood from his chest with methodical efficiency. The wound was completely healed now, leaving behind only a faint pink line that would probably fade within the hour.

“Curious about what?” I pressed, leaning against the doorframe. “What could possibly make you think that cutting yourself open was a

good idea?”

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Chapter 280

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Lyn’s reflection met my eyes in the bathroom mirror, and I saw something hollow and distant in his gaze that made my chest tighten

with dread.

“Andy said something to me,” he admitted quietly. “When she had me. About my abilities, about what I am. I wanted to see if she was

telling the truth.”

The mention of Andy’s name made rage flare hot and bright in my chest. That woman had already done so much damage to our family, and now she was reaching out from her cell to poison my mate’s mind as well.

“Whatever she told you, it was a lie,” I said firmly. “Andy is a manipulative psychopath who gets off on hurting people. You can’t trust anything that came out of her mouth.”

Lyn turned to face me fully, and the expression on his face was one I’d never seen before – a mixture of pain and resignation that

made him look older than his years.

“Was it a lie when she said that you’ve kept me as a dirty secret for years?” he asked, his voice deceptively calm. “Was it a lie when she pointed out that I’ve never been acknowledged as your mate in public? That most people think Lynn is your chosen partner because you’re too ashamed to admit you’re with a male werewitch?”

The words hit me like physical blows, each one landing with the precision of someone who knew exactly where to strike for maximum damage. I felt my mouth open and close uselessly as I struggled to find a response that wouldn’t sound like the pathetic excuses they

would be.

“Lyn, that’s not… it’s complicated,” I finally managed, the words tasting like ash in my mouth.

“Is it?” he asked, tilting his head with bitter curiosity. “Because from where I’m standing, it seems pretty simple. Werewitches like me are supposed to be put to death according to traditional pack law. You’ve been protecting me by pretending I don’t exist as anything more than your sister-in-law’s brother. And I’ve been letting you do it because I’m too much of a coward to fight for something better.”

I wanted to argue with him, to tell him he was wrong, but the terrible truth was that Andy had identified the central wound in our relationship with surgical precision. For years, I’d been hiding behind the excuse of protecting Lyn when really I’d been protecting myself – my reputation, my position, my comfortable life where I didn’t have to confront the prejudices of my own pack.

“You’re scared of me,” I said instead, changing the subject as I noticed the way his hands trembled slightly.

“That’s why you cut yourself. You need to tell Lynn about this.”

The transformation in Lyn’s face was immediate and dramatic. The hollow resignation disappeared, replaced by a flash of anger so

intense it made me take a step back.

‘Why?’ he demanded. “Why do I need to tell her anything? She’s your public mate, not your medical consultant.”

“Because she’s your sister,” I said, confused by the sudden shift in his mood. “Because she cares about you. Because she has medical training and might be able to help with whatever psychological effects Andy’s torture had on you.”

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Chapter 280

Lyn laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. “My sister. Right. The sister you chose to parade around as your Luna while keeping me locked away like some shameful family secret. The sister who gets to stand beside you at pack meetings and public events

while I watch from the shadows.”

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I stared at him, finally understanding the depth of the resentment he’d been carrying. It wasn’t just about being hidden – it was about being replaced. In his mind, I’d chosen Lynn over him not just as a public face, but as a partner worthy of acknowledgment and respect.

“That arrangement was never romantic,” I said desperately. “Lynn and I have never been anything more than friends. She agreed to play the role because she understood the political necessities-”

“Political necessities,” Lyn repeated, his voice flat. “That’s what I am to you, isn’t it? A political problem that needs to be managed

and contained.”

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart