Rebirth of the Broken Luna A Second Chance at Luna's Heart novel Chapter 380

Chapter 380

LUMINA

I couldn’t shake the feeling.

Even as I stood in our bedroom, watching Xenois make phone calls to organize the emergency pack meeting, even as I tried to focus on

what needed to happen next, my mind kept circling back to one particular piece of the grocery store gossip.

Silvia and Samuel Blackwood. The previous Alpha and Luna. My in-laws.

Their silence.

I moved to the window, staring out at the pack lands without really seeing them. The manicured gardens, the training grounds in the

distance, the forest line where our territory began-all of it was familiar, home in a way that had taken years to feel real. But right now, it all

felt uncertain, like the ground beneath my feet was less solid than I’d believed.

“What are you thinking?” Xenois asked, ending his call and coming to stand beside me. He didn’t touch me, but I could feel him there, solid

and present in a way that usually grounded me.

Today it just made the anxiety worse.

“Your parents,” I said quietly. “Margaret was right about one thing-we haven’t heard from them since we came back. Not a word. That’s…

unusual.”

Xenois was silent for a moment, and I could feel his own uncertainty through our bond. “They’re adjusting,” he said finally, but it sounded

hollow even to my ears. “Everything changed so fast. The boys, the policies, all of it. Maybe they just need time.”

“Your mother calls Ollie every week,” I pointed out, still staring out the window. “Without fail. Even when we were in Zade’s territory, even

during the worst of everything, she always found a way to check in with him. She adores that boy-he’s her favorite grandson.”

I paused, feeling the weight of what I was about to say.

“Except now there are three grandsons. And she hasn’t called once.”

The silence that followed was heavy, loaded with implications neither of us wanted to voice. Because the truth was that my relationship

with Silvia and Samuel Blackwood had never been good. Not from the beginning, and certainly not after Xena died.

Six years ago, when their daughter had been murdered, they’d blamed me. Silvia had been so convinced of my guilt that she’d used ancient pack law to force Xenois into mating me-not out of love or even justice, ut as punishment. To bind me to the pack forever, to ensure I could

never escape or find happiness, to make me suffer for a crime I didn’t commit.

I’d spent years being treated as an outsider, as a murderer who’d somehow escaped proper punishment, as someone who didn’t deserve the Luna title or the mate bond or any of the respect that should have come with my position. Silvia had made my life hell with subtle and not-so- subtle cruelties. Samuel had been quieter about it but no less condemning in his silence and his judgment.

And then Sophia had shown up with Riley, and everything had gotten worse.

Silvia had actively tried to help Sophia replace me. Had believed Sophia’s lies about Riley being Xenois’s biological son from some secret relationship, had pushed for Sophia to be recognized as the true Luna, had done everything in her considerable power to destroy what little

Chapter 380

stability I’d managed to build.

Until the truth came out.

Sophia was the murderer. Sophia had killed Xena. Sophia had been manipulating everyone, using love magic on Xenois, orchestrating an elaborate scheme to steal my life.

When that truth finally surfaced, when Silvia and Samuel realized wh they’d done-how they’d tortured an innocent woman for years while supporting the actual murderer-they’d been the ones to deal with sophia. Permanently. Violently. With the kind of savage fury that came from realizing you’d been catastrophically wrong about everything.

They’d helped us after that. Had gone to Zade’s territory when Ollie and I needed refuge during the nightwalker crisis. Had worked to

rebuild bridges they’d spent years burning. Had even apologized, in their own stilted, uncomfortable way.

It hadn’t fixed everything. Years of trauma and cruelty couldn’t be erased by a few months of better behavior. But it had been progress. It had been something.

And now? Nothing. Complete silence for an entire month since we’d returned.

“Maybe they’re ashamed,” Xenois said quietly, and I could hear the pain in his voice. “Of how they treated you. Of what they did to our family. Maybe they don’t know how to face us now that we have Riley and Lake, knowing they spent years trying to destroy our bond while the son they thought was lost was being tortured in a facility.”

“Or maybe they disapprove,” I said, finally voicing the fear that had been growing since I’d overheard that conversation. “Of the changes. Of

Lake being a werewitch. Of Riley’s enhancements. Of everything we’re trying to build.”

“We don’t know that,” Xenois protested, but I could feel his own doubt through our bond.

“We don’t know anything,” I countered, turning to face him. “That’s the problem. Your parents-who raised you, who led this pack for

decades, who have opinions about everything-have been completely silent. They haven’t called, haven’t visited, haven’t offered support or

criticism or anything. It’s like they’ve disappeared.”

A terrible thought occurred to me, sending ice through my veins.

“Xenois, when was the last time anyone actually saw them? Talked to them in person?”

His expression shifted, concern replacing uncertainty. “They got back wo days before we did. I know they arrived safely because security

logged them in. But since then…”

He trailed off, clearly trying to remember any interaction, any confirmation that his parents were okay.

“I need to call their estate,” he said, already pulling out his phone. “Make sure they’re-

“No,” I interrupted, surprising both of us. “We should go there. In person. Take the boys. If something’s wrong, we need to know immediately. And if nothing’s wrong, if they’re just… avoiding us, then we need to address that directly.”

Xenois studied my face, and I could see him processing the implications. A surprise visit to his parents’ estate wasn’t a casual decision. It

was a confrontation, an acknowledgment that something was wrong and we were done pretending otherwise.

“You’re right,” he said finally. “We should go now. Before the pack meeting, before anything else. We need to know where they stand.”

“What if they’re resentful?” I asked, voicing the fear that had been coiling in my stomach since the grocery store. “What if they look at Riley and Lake and see threats to Ollie’s inheritance, or abominations that shouldn’t be part of the family, or just more proof that we’re destroying everything they built?”

Xenois was quiet for a long moment, his jaw tight with tension. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled.

“Then we’ll know. And we’ll deal with it. But Lumina-” he reached out and took my hand, his grip warm and firm, “-we can’t keep avoiding this. If my parents are going to be a problem, if they’re going to side with the traditionalists and work against us, I need to know. Better to find

out now than let it fester.”