Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 339

Chapter 339

XENOIS

Riley and Lake looked at each other, that silent communication happening again. Finally, Riley answered for both of them.

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“They weren’t exactly friends, not the same way Lake and I were. Snow loathed me, cause I was a werewolf, and I did not really…. I do

not know suffer like she did, with Andy being my aunt and everything, she did try to kill me once though, so I guess we bonded. More

like… fellow prisoners who sometimes worked together. But yeah. Part of me wants to know if they’re okay. If they managed to build

actual lives after everything.”

“And part of you wants backup,” I said, not accusingly. “In case this situation goes bad.”

“Is that wrong?” Lake asked defensively. “Wanting someone who understands what we’re up against, who knows how Andy’s people

operate?”

“No,” I said firmly. “It’s not wrong at all. It’s smart tactical thinking. But we need to be realistic about what we’re asking. Dex and Snow escaped. They’re living free lives, or trying to. Pulling them back into this could undo all that progress.”

“Or it could give them closure,” Riley suggested. “The chance to actually fight back against the organization that hurt them, instead of

just running and hiding.”

He had a point. Revenge wasn’t healthy, but neither was living in constant fear of being recaptured. If Dex and Snow could help us destroy what remained of Andy’s network, maybe that would give them the freedom to truly move on.

“That’s actually something I wanted to discuss with you both,” I said, deciding to take the conversation in a productive direction rather than interrogating them about what we’d overheard. “The council meeting tonight-there was a lot of skepticism about whether we could actually defend against nightwalkers and enhanced soldiers. Some people think we should…” I hesitated, not wanting to hurt them, but also knowing they deserved honesty. “Some people think we should send you away to avoid the conflict.”

“Elder Harriet,” Lake said immediately. It wasn’t a question.

I blinked, surprised. “How did you-”

“She has a pattern,” Riley interjected. “Conservative risk assessment, prioritizes established pack members over newcomers, tends to view children as liabilities rather than assets. She’d absolutely advocate for removing the source of danger even if that meant exiling five-

year-olds.”

The accuracy of that assessment was both impressive and deeply unsettling. These boys had analyzed our pack dynamics, categorized our elders, predicted their responses-all in the short time they’d been here.

“She’s not wrong about the risk,” Lake added quietly. “We do bring danger. Anyone who wants to avoid conflict would be smart to

distance themselves from us.”

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Chapter 339

“No,” I said firmly. “Absolutely not. You’re pack now. We don’t abandon pack members just because protecting them is difficult.”

“But if people die because of us-” Riley started.

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“Then people die protecting their pack,” I interrupted. “That’s the choice warriors make when they take their oaths. They know the job includes danger. Includes potential sacrifice. You don’t carry responsibility for that.”

Lumina had settled Ollie into a chair and was now standing behind him, her hands on his shoulders. “Your father’s right. What

happened to you, what was done to you, the enemies you have because of it-none of that is your fault. You were victims. You still are

victims. And this pack’s job is to protect you, not throw you to the wolves.” She paused. “So to speak.”

Riley’s blank mask flickered, showing a flash of something that might have been gratitude or disbelief or hope. Lake just stared at his cereal bowl, his shoulders tense like he was bracing for the other shoe to drop.

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“We could help though, Lake said finally. “With defense preparations. Riley and I-we know how these people operate. How they

think, how they attack, what their weaknesses are. If you let us train with your warriors, we could-”

“No,” Lumina said immediately.

“But we-”

“You’re five years old,” she continued, her tone gentle but unyielding. “Both of you. You’ve already been forced to fight and survive

and do things no child should have to do. You’re not training warriors. You’re not preparing for combat. Your job is to be safe and let the

adults handle the dangerous stuff.”

“That’s not realistic,” Riley said, his voice taking on that flat, clinical quality. “If they come for us, if there’s an attack, we’ll be targets

whether you want us in combat or not. Better to be prepared, to have skills and training and-”

“You already have skills and training,” I interrupted quietly. “More than you should. More than any child should. And yes, if there’s an

attack you’ll need to protect yourselves. But we’re not putting you on the front lines. We’re not asking you to fight our battles.”

“But we can help,” Lake insisted, looking up at me with those too-old eyes. “My portals could evacuate people, create barriers, trap

enemies. Riley’s precognition could warn us about attacks before they happen. We’re not helpless civilians who need to hide in safe

rooms.”

He wasn’t wrong. Their abilities were game-changing in terms of defense strategy. Lake’s portals alone could change how we approached security and evacuation procedures. And Riley’s precognition-if he could actually see future attacks-that was intelligence no

amount of surveillance or patrol rotations could match.

But they were also children. Traumatized children who’d already been used as weapons and tools and experimental subjects. The thought of utilizing their abilities, of putting them in situations where they’d need to use those powers defensively, made me feel like I

was no better than Andy.

“We’ll consider it,” I said finally, choosing my words carefully.

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Chapter 339

“But any involvement you have will be strictly controlled, supervised, and only in scenarios where you’re not in direct danger.

Understand?”

It was a compromise neither of them looked happy about, but they both nodded.

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Ollie had been quiet through this exchange, his head swiveling between us like he was watching a tennis match. Now he spoke up, his

voice small but determined.

“I want to help too,” he said. “I know I don’t have portals or future-seeing or anything special, but I could-”

“Absolutely not,” Lumina and I said simultaneously.

Ollie’s face crumpled, tears threatening. “But Riley’s my age and he gets to help! That’s not fair!”

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart