Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 349

Chapter 349

XENOIS

The moment we turned onto our street, I knew something was wrong.

My alpha instincts were screaming warnings before my conscious mind had even processed what I was seeing-our staff clustered

outside the house in frightened groups, some of them visibly shaking, others speaking in hushed, urgent tones that carried the scent of

panic even from this distance.

I brought the car to an abrupt stop in the driveway, the tires crunching against gravel with more force than necessary.

Beside me, Lumina had already tensed, her hand moving instinctively toward where she kept her phone, ready to call for backup if

needed.

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“Stay in the car,” I said automatically to the boys in the backseat, though I knew even as I said it that they wouldn’t listen. Not these three, not with their histories and instincts and the way danger seemed to follow them like a shadow.

I was out of the vehicle before the engine had fully stopped, Lumina right beside me. Our head of staff-Margaret, a middle-aged wolf who’d been with our family for fifteen years and had nerves of steel-rushed toward us immediately, her composure cracked in ways I’d

never seen before.

“Alpha, Luna,” she said, her voice trembling despite her obvious attempts to control it. “We tried to stop them, but they were too fast. Just smoke, black smoke everywhere, and when we tried to fight they just… dispersed and reformed. The house has been ransacked. We couldn’t catch them, couldn’t even touch them. They terrified everyone and then vanished, but I don’t know if they’re truly gone or just

hiding.”

My blood went cold. Nightwalkers.

They’d come to our home, violated our sanctuary, terrorized our people. The rage that flooded through me was primal and fierce, my wolf demanding immediate action, demanding blood and retribution.

‘How many?” Lumina asked, her voice steady even though I could smell the fear underneath her calm exterior.

“We don’t know,” Margaret admitted.

“The smoke was everywhere, in every room. It could have been one, could have been dozens. They moved so fast, alpha. Like shadows given form. We’ve never seen anything like it.”

I was already moving toward the house, my mind calculating tactics and threats and vulnerabilities. Nightwalkers were dangerous precisely because they could become intangible smoke at will, making them nearly impossible to fight with conventional methods. But they’d made a mistake coming here, targeting my family. I’d find a way to destroy them, even if I had to-

“Dad, wait!” Ollie’s voice called out behind me, and I turned to see all three boys had exited the vehicle despite my orders. Of course

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Chapter 349

they had. “You can’t just run in there! What if they’re still inside?”

B

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“Then I’ll deal with them,” I said firmly. “You three stay outside with the staff. That’s not a request, that’s an order. Do you

understand?”

Riley and Lake exchanged one of their silent, loaded glances-the kind that made it clear they were having an entire conversation

without words. Then, before I could react, Riley bolted toward the house.

“Riley, no!” Lumina shouted, but he was already through the door, moving with speed that shouldn’t have been possible for a five- year-old. Lake was right behind him, a portal opening and closing so quickly I barely registered the movement before both boys had

disappeared into the house.

“Dammit!” I cursed, already running. Behind me, I heard Ollie’s footsteps and Lumina’s voice ordering him to stay back, but my focus was entirely on getting to Riley and Lake before whatever had ransacked our home could hurt them.

The interior of the house was chaos. Furniture overturned, pictures torn from walls, drawers pulled out and their contents scattered across floors. It looked like a tornado had torn through every room, or like someone had been searching frantically for something specific. The scent of smoke lingered everywhere-not natural fire smoke, but something darker, colder, carrying undertones of decay and ancient

magic.

I followed the sound of movement upstairs, taking the steps three at a time. Lumina was right behind me, and I could hear Ollie somewhere close as well despite orders to stay outside. My wolf was fully present now, lending me speed and strength as I navigated the

destroyed hallway toward the boys’ bedroom.

The door was open. Inside, Riley was kneeling beside a box-one I recognized as the container he’d brought with him from the facility, the one that held his most precious and secret possessions. He was closing the lid carefully, his small hands precise and controlled. Lake was beside him, looking relieved in a way that made my protective instincts flare even hotter.

“They didn’t take it,” Riley said to Lake, his voice carrying an odd mixture of satisfaction and concern.

Lake groaned dramatically, flopping backward onto one of the beds.

“That’s both good and bad. Good because we still have it. Bad because it means they weren’t after the obvious target.”

“What are you talking about?” I demanded, stepping fully into the room. “What didn’t they take?”

Both boys looked up at me with those unnervingly calm expressions, and I watched as Riley carefully gathered several papers that had been scattered across the floor. They looked like schematics or diagrams of some kind, covered in symbols and notations I didn’t

recognize.

“Just checking something,” Riley said, which was absolutely not an answer.

“Making sure nothing critical was compromised.”

He was tearing up the papers as he spoke, ripping them into smaller and smaller pieces with methodical precision. Lake had already

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Chapter 349

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opened a small portal-this one clearly leading somewhere extremely hot, given the wave of heat that rippled out from it and the glimpse

of orange-red lava I could see through the opening..

Riley threw the shredded papers through the portal. They ignited immediately, consumed by volcanic heat before the ash could even

settle. Lake closed the portal with a gesture, and the temperature in the room returned to normal.

“What was that?” Lumina asked from behind me, her voice carrying the same confusion and concern I felt.

“What were those papers? And why did you need to destroy them?”

“Contingency plans,” Lake said, which explained absolutely nothing.

“Old protocols from the facility. Better to destroy them than risk them being used.”

“They came here looking for something specific,” Riley added, his gaze sweeping the destroyed room with analytical precision. “They

were searching, not just causing random damage. They wanted information, or tools, or-”

He stopped abruptly, his entire body going rigid. Then he spun toward the box again, opening it with hands that suddenly trembled. Lake sat upright immediately, tension radiating from his small frame.

I moved closer, trying to see what had caught Riley’s attention. Inside the box were various objects-some I recognized from when he’d first arrived, others that must have been acquired since. Books, strange instruments, what looked like crystals or gems, and-

Riley’s hand closed around a small orb, about the size of a tennis ball. It was dark, almost black, but as he lifted it I could see wisps of smoke curling from its surface-the same dark smoke that had terrorized our staff, that carried the distinctive signature of nightwalker

magic.

Lake grinned, a sharp, fierce expression that looked wrong on such a young face. “Oh, this is perfect.”

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Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart