Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 366

Chapter 366

XENOIS

The kids had been at it for twenty minutes now, tag-teaming their argument with the kind of coordinated precision that would have been impressive if it wasn’t being used to manipulate me and Lumina into letting them stay after school.

“It’s a robotics club,” Ollie was saying, his eyes bright with excitement that I hadn’t seen enough of lately. “They meet twice a week and build actual robots that can do stuff. Sarah said last year they made one that could play basketball!”

“And it’s completely supervised,” Riley added, his tone more measured but no less determined. “Mrs. Henderson runs it, and there are always at least two teachers present. We’d literally be in a classroom full of adults the entire time.”

“Plus it’s exactly the kind of normal kid activity you’ve been saying we should do,” Lake chimed in, crossing his arms in a way that reminded me uncomfortably of myself when I was digging in for an argument. “You can’t tell us to act like regular children and then say no when we want to join regular children activities.”

I exchanged a glance with Lumina, seeing my own conflicted feelings reflected in her expression. On one hand, they were absolutely right-we’d been pushing them to engage more with normal school life, to make friends, to do things that didn’t revolve around nightwalkers and security protocols. On the other hand, the thought of them being anywhere without immediate supernatural backup made my protective instincts scream.

“It’s not that we don’t want you to have normal experiences,” Lumina said carefully. “It’s that we’re in the middle of a crisis. There are nightwalkers actively hunting you. This might not be the best time to-”

“There’s always going to be a crisis,” Riley interrupted, then seemed to catch himself, his tone softening. ‘I mean… I’m sorry for interrupting, Luna. But respectfully, if we wait for everything to be completely safe before we try to have normal lives, we’ll be waiting forever, There’s always going to be some threat, some danger, some reason to stay locked up.”

That hit harder than I wanted to admit, probably because it was true. The nature of being alpha meant there was always something dangerous on the horizon-rival packs, rogue wolves, territorial disputes, political conflicts. If I used danger as a reason to keep my children isolated, they’d never leave the house.

‘And it’s important for Lake, Ollie added, clearly sensing our wavering. “Everyone at school is still kind of weird about him being a werewitch. But if he joins clubs and makes friends and shows everyone he’s just a normal kid, then those kids will go home and tell their parents that Lake isn’t scary. And maybe their parents will talk to other parents, and eventually even the Elder Council will have to shut up about him not belonging here.”

I blinked, genuinely surprised by the political sophistication of that argument. When had my five-year-old learned to think in terms of public relations campaigns and influencing elder opinions through grassroots social connections?

“That’s actually not a terrible strategy,” Lumina murmured, and I could hear the reluctant admiration in her voice.

“Please?” Lake added, and there was something vulnerable in his expression that made my chest tight. “I know I’m not like the other

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11:45 Sat, Jan 31

Chapter 366

kids. I know people are scared of what I am. But if I could just… prove that I’m not dangerous, that I can be part of the community, maybe things would get easier. For all of us.”

The fact that a five-year-old child was thinking about community integration and political perception instead of just having fun was heartbreaking. But he wasn’t wrong about the practical benefits. The Elder Council had been riding me hard about accepting Lake into the pack, citing ancient prejudices about werewitches being unstable or untrustworthy. Having pack children vouch for Lake’s character would actually help counter that narrative.

“We promise not to do anything stupid,” Riley said, meeting my eyes with an intensity that suggested he understood how significant this moment was. “No investigating strange sounds, no following suspicious people, no trying to solve mysteries or hunt threats. We’ll go to robotics club, build robots, and come straight home. That’s it.”

“And if anything feels wrong or dangerous, we’ll call immediately,” Ollie added. “We’ll have our phones on us the whole time.”

I was about to respond-probably to agree, because they’d effectively dismantled every objection I could think of-when my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, frowning when I saw Zade’s name on the screen.

“Hold that thought,” I said to the kids, answering the call. “Zade? What’s—”

“Hello, honey,” Zade’s voice came through, dripping with false sweetness. “It’s been almost two weeks since you left my territory and not even a courtesy call to check in? I’m hurt. Devastated, really. I thought what we had was special.”

I rolled my eyes so hard I was surprised they didn’t fall out of my head. “What do you want, Zade? I’m in the middle of something.”

“Rude,” he said, but I could hear the shift in his tone from teasing to serious. “We need to talk. Privately, if possible.”

My stomach dropped. Zade didn’t do private emergency calls unless something was genuinely wrong. I glanced at Lumina, who’d clearly picked up on my change in demeanor, and gestured toward the study.

‘Kids, we’ll finish this conversation in a minute,” I said. “Wait here.”

“But- Ollie started.

“Wait. Here, I repeated, using alpha authority to make it clear this wasn’t negotiable. The three of them deflated but nodded, settling onto the couch as I followed Lumina into the study and closed the door.

“You’re on speaker,” I said, setting the phone down on the desk. “Lumina’s here. What’s going on?”

“We had an incident,” Zade said, all traces of humor gone from his voice. “Three nights ago. One of our patrols discovered evidence of a nightwalker in the territory-specifically in our research lab. The one where Lyn does his gravitational magic studies.”

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11:45 Sat, Jan 31

Reborn From Regret A Second Chance at Luna’s Heart