Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 370

Chapter 370

ZADE

I groaned as I ended the call with Xenois, dropping my phone onto my desk and resisting the urge to put my head down and just… stay there for a while. Maybe forever. Forever sounded good.

“That bad?” Rivers asked from where he’d been standing by the window, giving me the illusion of privacy during the call while still being close enough to provide backup if needed. It was the kind of thoughtful consideration that made him an excellent second-in- command-he knew when to be present and when to fade into the background.

“Define bad,” I muttered, scrubbing my hands over my face. “If you mean ‘we’re dealing with nightwalkers infiltrating multiple territories, refugee supernaturals organizing at a former terrorist base, and twenty alphas who think Xenois and I have lost our minds, then yes. It’s that bad.”

Rivers moved closer, his expression shifting from casual concern to tactical assessment. “What does Xenois want us to do?”

“Build a coalition,” I said flatly. “Reach out to the alphas who might be receptive to cooperation, set up a regional summit, share information about the nightwalker threat, and somehow convince everyone that we’re not exaggerating or manipulating them. Oh, and possibly recognize the Shadow City refugees as a legitimate political entity with territory rights.”

Rivers whistled low. “That’s… ambitious.”

“That’s suicide,” I corrected. “The Elder Councils will riot. Half the alphas will see it as a power grab. The other half will think we’re insane. And all of them will question why they should trust two alphas who’ve apparently destabilized their own territories with radical

policy changes.”

‘You haven’t destabilized anything,” Rivers said firmly, his loyalty showing in the steel of his voice. “You’ve modernized. There’s a

difference.’

“Try telling that to whoever’s spreading rumors about murder attempts on Lyn and internal conflicts and-” I stopped, feeling anger rise like bile in my throat. “Did I make a mistake, Rivers? Claiming Lyn publicly, removing the homophobic laws, opening the territory to all supernaturals-did I move too fast? Push too hard? Create vulnerabilities that our enemies are exploiting?

Rivers was quiet for a long moment, his dark eyes studying me with an intensity that would have been uncomfortable if I didn’t trust him completely. Then he pulled out one of the chairs across from my desk, sat down, and leaned forward with his elbows on his knees.

“You did nothing wrong,” he said, each word deliberate and weighted. “Lyn deserves to be treated as the Luna he is. He deserves recognition, protection, and respect-not to be hidden away like some shameful secret. And the pack agrees.”

“The murder attempts would suggest otherwise,” I said bitterly.

“Oh Christ, Simon,” I groaned, suddenly remembering the entire nightmare. “The one we tried to bring false evidence against Amaya

to weaken his case?”

“That’s the one,” Rivers confirmed. “Though in fairness, most of the evidence against Amaya turned out to be true. She really was abusing people beneath her, stealing from pack resources, and generally being a horrible person. We just pinned a few extra crimes on her -like the whole ‘she’s secretly a witch’ thing-to make sure she went down.”

I winced, remembering that particular ethical compromise. We’d fabricated evidence about Amaya being a witch to deflect attention from Lyn’s abilities, knowing that if we could prove the accusations against Lyn had come from a corrupt source, the council would have to drop the charges. It had worked-Amaya was now in prison for her actual crimes, Lyn had been cleared, and we’d managed to avoid a political disaster.

But apparently, we hadn’t dealt with all the fallout.

“You think Simon and his loyalists might be behind the murder attempts on Lyn?” I asked, connecting the dots. “That they’re still bitter about losing that fight and are trying again?”

“It’s possible,” Rivers said. “Simon was one of the most vocal opponents of your progressive policies even before you claimed Lyn. He represents the old guard-the alphas who think strength means conformity, who see change as weakness, who believe the pack should operate exactly as it did a hundred years ago. If anyone would be spreading rumors and coordinating resistance, it’d be him and his