Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 358

Chapter 358

JEROME

The abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of neutral territory smelled like rot and rust and the particular dampness that came from decades of neglect. Moonlight filtered through broken windows, creating patches of shadow that my brethren could use to materialize- though we were being cautious now, more cautious than we’d been in centuries, because everything had changed.

Everything had changed because a five-year-old werewitch had built a light prison.

I materialized fully in the corner where darkness pooled deepest, my form solidifying from smoke into flesh with the familiar sensation of reality asserting itself over my natural state. Around me, others were doing the same-Marcus appearing near the far wall, Helena coalescing beside the overturned machinery, Thomas emerging from the shadows beneath the collapsed scaffolding.

We were twelve in total. Twelve nightwalkers who’d survived the facility purge, who’d escaped when everything went to hell, who d been tracking those damned children across state lines for weeks now. Twelve out of what had once been nearly fifty stationed at various

installations.

And now we were eleven, because Lazarus-ancient, powerful, supposedly unkillable Lazarus-was trapped in a cage of light in the

Alpha’s basement.

“This is a disaster,” Marcus said without preamble, his form still flickering slightly as anger disrupted his solid manifestation. ‘Lazarus was supposed to be reconnaissance only. Quick in, assess the security, quick out. How did he get captured?”

“The boys,” Helena answered, her voice carrying the particular rasp that came from spending too much time in smoke form. “Lake and Riley. They anticipated our approach, built a containment system, and trapped him before any of us realized what was happening.”

“They’re five years old,” Thomas protested, though his tone carried more fear than disbelief. “How are five-year-olds outsmarting nightwalkers who’ve been hunting for centuries?”

“Because Andy didn’t raise ordinary children,” I said, my voice cutting through the rising panic. As the oldest surviving member of our group-nearly eight hundred years to my name-it fell to me to maintain order and perspective. ‘She raised weapons. Tools designed specifically to counter supernatural threats. We were arrogant to think their age would make them vulnerable.”

I’d been there, after all. I’d witnessed what those boys could do when properly motivated. I’d seen Lake open portals to places that should have been impossible to access, watched Riley calculate tactical responses faster than adult military strategists, observed both of them working in perfect synchronization like they shared a single mind.

Andy had called them her masterpieces. Looking at the carnage they’d left in their wake-facilities destroyed, handlers killed, and now one of our own captured-I was starting to believe she’d been right.

‘So what do we do?” asked Victoria, one of the younger nightwalkers, barely two hundred years old and still thinking like the human she’d once been. “We can’t just leave Lazarus. He knows too much. If the wolves figure out how to make him talk-

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Chapter 358

“They won’t,” Marcus interrupted. “Lazarus has endured worse than anything those dogs can inflict. He’ll never break.

“He doesn’t have to break voluntarily,” I pointed out. “There are truth serums, magical compulsions, psychic intrusions. The

werewolves have access to resources we haven’t fully accounted for. And more importantly, Riley and Lake have access to knowledge from

the facility-including whatever interrogation protocols Andy developed.”

That sobering thought settled over the group like a shroud. We’d all seen what happened in Andy’s interrogation rooms. The clinical

efficiency, the psychological precision, the way she could break even the strongest minds given enough time and proper tools.

If those boys had learned even a fraction of those techniques…

“We need to get him back,” Helena said firmly. “Not just because of what he knows, but because losing a brother to wolves is unacceptable. We’re nightwalkers. We’re supposed to be the apex predators, the creatures that hunt in darkness and cannot be caught. If word spreads that a pack of werewolves captured one of us, our reputation is destroyed.”

“Our reputation is already damaged,” I said bluntly. “We lost control of the facilities. We lost the subjects. We’ve been running and hiding for weeks while five-year-olds stay one step ahead of us. Reputation is the least of our concerns right now.”

“Then what is our primary concern?” Thomas asked.

I considered the question carefully, weighing variables and probabilities the way Andy had taught us during our centuries of service. She’d been human, werewitch, fragile and mortal, but brilliant in ways that had kept even ancient creatures like myself following her orders. She’d understood that the key to controlling supernatural beings wasn’t raw power-it was information, leverage, and the willingness to use both without mercy.

“Our primary concern,” I said slowly, “is that we’re losing. Not just this encounter, but the entire operation. We came here to retrieve the boys and recover what they stole from the facilities. Instead, we’ve alerted the pack to our presence, lost a brother, and given them time to prepare defenses we’ll have difficulty penetrating.”

“The light prison,” Victoria said, her voice carrying a tremor of fear. “They know our weakness now. They know that sufficient illumination forces us solid and prevents transformation. It’s only a matter of time before they weaponize that knowledge.”

She was right, and that terrified me more than I wanted to admit. For centuries, nightwalkers had been nearly invincible-creatures of shadow that could become intangible at will, immune to physical attacks, capable of infiltrating anywhere darkness existed. Our only real weaknesses were sustained magical assault and our vulnerability to light, and most people didn’t understand the specifics well enough to exploit that weakness effectively.

But Riley and Lake understood perfectly. They’d built a light prison in less than forty-eight hours using salvaged equipment, If given more time, more resources, more motivation… what else might they create? What other countermeasures might they develop?

“We’re also dealing with the Luna,” Marcus added, his tone carrying a note of respect I rarely heard from him. ‘Lumina. She killed Silas weeks ago in Alpha Zade’s territory.”

That brought fresh silence to the group. Silas had been one of our most experienced hunters, nearly six hundred years old and deadly in ways that made even other nightwalkers nervous. He’d gone after the boys when they first escaped, confident in his abilities and his

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Chapter 358

invincibility.

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And Lumina had killed him in that hospital, where we tracked them to. In our animal form, where we were supposedly untouchable

and invincible, she’d somehow found a way to destroy him completely.

“How did she do it?” Victoria asked. “In smoke form, we’re essentially invulnerable. Physical attacks pass through us, magical attacks have to be perfectly calibrated to our frequency. How did a werewolf Luna-powerful, yes, but still just a wolf-manage to kill Silas?”

“We don’t know,” Helena admitted. “None of us witnessed it directly. By the time we realized what had happened, Silas was already gone and the boys were being transported to their new pack. All we have are reports from other sources that Lumina was seen in the area

and that Silas never returned.”

“She must have caught him solid,” Thomas suggested. “Forced him out of smoke form somehow and killed him before he could shift

back.”

“Or she has abilities we haven’t accounted for,” I said quietly. “Luna wolves are rare, and powerful Lunas even rarer. We don’t fully understand what she’s capable of. Underestimating her the way we underestimated the boys would be fatal.

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18:58 Fri, Jan 30

Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart