The Luna Queen's Rebirth (Ellie and Dominic) novel Chapter 36

Ellie POV

I find Lucas waiting in the back corner of the library, feet kicked up on a chair, hair a little messy from the wind outside. He’s flipping through a folder on his tablet when I walk over.

“There she is,” he says, grinning. “Future medic extraordinaire.”

I roll my eyes, but I can’t help smiling. “Don’t jinx it.”

He taps the screen and turns it toward me. It’s the Healer Academy application. A lot more intense-looking than I expected. Columns and sub-columns, footnotes, prerequisites, and elective breakdowns. My head starts aching before I even get halfway down the page.

“You weren’t kidding,” I murmur, scanning the list. “This is… a lot.”

“That’s the professional term, yes,” he says with a dramatic nod. “A lot.”

There are elective requirements for Medicine, Emergency Aid, and Combat Response. Upper-division courses on pack physiology. Internship hours during field runs. A combat proficiency test every quarter.

Lucas leans back, hands behind his head. “Most people only do this out of honor, you know. Or because they genuinely want to help others. The pay sucks. The training sucks worse. And you basically live at the arena or in warzones.”

“Sounds like a dream,” I say dryly.

He chuckles. “Somehow, I think you might actually mean that.”

I don’t answer. Instead, I start mapping it all out in my mind — when I can fit combat training in, what classes I can rearrange, how hard I’ll need to push myself. It’s a lot.

But I’m tired of being someone’s accessory. Tired of waiting for fate to hand me a life I hate.

I’m doing this.

Lucas watches me with a curious tilt of his head. “So… I’m been meaning to ask during this whole…personality revamp. What’s with your sudden shift anyway? I always thought you’d stay at Dominic’s side, considering you followed him around like a pathetic puppy..”

I snort so loudly that someone in the next aisle shushes me.

“Puppies get tired of being kicked,” I mutter before I can stop myself.

Lucas’s expression hardens instantly. “Wait. He hurt you?”

The question punches the air out of my lungs before I let out a laugh, so loud it gets me shushed again. “Relax.” I elbow him. “Metaphor. I’m fine.”

At least in this life, that’s true.

He smiles, but it looks a bit uneasy before he shifts the topic, tapping the tablet again. “Still… I’m surprised. Most people would’ve gone back after learning they were fated. But you—”

“Didn’t,” I finished.

“Right,” he says, eyes narrowing thoughtfully. “It’s just strange. You followed him for years and then one random Tuesday, it’s like you were someone else.”

I stare down at the requirements list.

Yeah.

It probably did look that abrupt to everyone on the outside.

But I’m not the same girl anymore so none of that is my problem.

“You’re allowed to change,” I say softly. “People just don’t like when you do.”

Lucas studies me for a long moment, like he’s seeing a version of me he hadn’t realized existed. Then he leans back in his chair, offering a small, genuine smile.

“For what it’s worth,” he murmurs, “I like you better this way.”

I don’t know why I blush. I heard him say something like that to more then enough girls in the halls.

Maybe because it feels like a small confirmation that I’m not crazy for changing, that someone isn’t expecting me to fit into the shape I used to be.

“Thanks,” I say quietly.

Dominic POV

The library is quiet enough that I can hear my own thoughts.

Unfortunately.

I’m supposed to be grabbing a book for my father — some leadership manual he swears I should’ve read last year — but my mind keeps drifting to earlier.

Vivian asking about the mate course. Her trembling voice. Her tearful, hopeful question:

“You won’t be paired with her, right?”

I thought I’d say no without thinking.

I thought I’d feel relieved, deny her instantly.

But instead… something sharp went through me. A split-second panic I hated and ignored.

I told Vivian I needed to talk to my father first. I wasn’t lying exactly, but it wasn’t the real reason either.

I don’t know the real reason.

I’m halfway down an aisle when I stop.

Voices. Two of them.

And I recognize both instantly.

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