로그인The semester after that was hell in a way I hadn’t expected, because suddenly I was trying to balance a lot all at once and there weren’t enough hours in the day.I’d started my internship at Blackthorne Pharmaceuticals and I’d gone through the entire application process without telling Luca because I needed to know I’d gotten it on my own merit.The interview had been with a Dr. Dean, who I already knew from those research days, and she’d looked at my resume and raised her eyebrows.“This is impressive,” Dr. Dean said, tapping the paper. “Your GPA is excellent and so is your research proposal. Why do you want to work here?”“Because you’re doing the most interesting work in medicine,” I said honestly.“Most students your age are more interested in pharmaceutical sales or clinical work,” Dr. Dooley said. “Research doesn’t pay as well and the hours are terrible.”“I don’t care about the money,” I said. “I care about the work.”She smiled. “When can you start?”I’d started the next week
The drive to my parents’ house took two hours and I spent most of it chewing on my thumbnail until Luca reached over and pulled my hand away from my mouth.“You’re going to make yourself bleed,” he said, not taking his eyes off the road.“I’m nervous,” I said, which was the understatement of the century because my stomach felt like it was trying to eat itself and my hands wouldn’t stop shaking.“They’re your parents,” Luca said. “They love you.”“I know that,” I snapped, and then immediately felt bad because he was just trying to help. “Sorry. I’m just scared they’re going to look at me different now, like I’m some kind of monster.”“You’re not a monster,” Luca said firmly. “You’re their daughter and nothing that’s happened changes that.”I wanted to believe him but my brain kept replaying that last conversation where I’d screamed at them about lying to me, where I’d said things I didn’t mean because I was angry and hurt and couldn’t process finding out I was adopted.We pulled up to
The news about Maya came two days later, and I heard about it from Cain who looked like he’d aged years in the space of a week.He didn’t say anything at first, just poured himself coffee and stood there drinking it while staring at nothing, and I was about to ask if he was okay when he finally spoke.“They found Maya’s body this morning,” Cain said flatly, and my hand froze halfway to the cereal box.“What?” I asked, because surely I’d heard wrong.“In a river about fifty miles from here,” Cain continued, still not looking at me. “Medical examiner says she walked into sunlight and let it burn her. They found her remains on the riverbank.”I sat down hard in the nearest chair because my legs had stopped working properly. “She killed herself.”“Yeah,” Cain said, finally turning to look at me with this expression I couldn’t read. “She left a note. Asked that it be delivered to Soraya. It just said ‘I’m sorry. This is the only way to make it right.’”I tried to figure out how I felt abou
Victoria was brought up and I insisted on being there even though Luca tried to convince me to rest.She looked smaller somehow, her usual perfect posture gone and replaced by shame, and when she saw me standing next to Luca her expression was unreadable.“Luna,” she said quietly, and it was the first time she’d ever called me that without making it sound like an insult.“Victoria,” I said back, keeping my voice neutral.Luca explained everything and I watched her face as she processed what that meant.“You’re forgiving me,” she said, and she sounded genuinely surprised. “After everything I did.”“The Luna requested it,” Luca said. “Against my better judgment. Don’t make me regret listening to her.”Victoria’s eyes moved to me and for just a second I saw gratitude, and then she looked back at Luca.“I don’t deserve your forgiveness,” she said quietly. “I know that. But I’m grateful for it anyway.”“Don’t be grateful yet,” I said. “You’ve got a year to figure out who you want to be. U
Luca caught me before I hit the ground, his arms wrapping around me while I tried to remember how breathing worked, and I could hear people crying but I couldn’t tell if it was from relief or grief.“I’ve got you,” Luca said, and his voice was shaking. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.”I wanted to tell him I was fine except I couldn’t form words, could barely keep my eyes open, and the last thing I saw before everything went dark was Elder Isaac walking toward me.When I opened my eyes again everything was blurry and my head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton, and it took me a solid thirty seconds to figure out where I was.Luca’s room. Our room, I corrected myself mentally.The sun was coming through the windows in that way that meant it was either very early morning or late afternoon, and when I turned my head I saw Luca asleep in the chair next to the bed with his hand holding mine.He looked terrible, dark circles under his eyes and his hair sticking up in every direction and I
LilyThree black vehicles showed up with pack members I vaguely recognized driving, and they loaded Samuel’s body into the back of one while Cain placed the urn containing Jonathan’s ashes in the front seat.War bounty, Cain had called it, which felt ironic but I was too exhausted to point that out.I ended up in the middle SUV with Luca, and the second the door closed behind us I felt like I could finally breathe properly for the first time in hours, even though breathing still hurt.It was all quiet in my head, and I couldn’t tell if Nyx t was because she was respecting my grief or because she was too exhausted to form words.My ankle was healed enough that I could walk on it but it still ached, the cuts covering my arms had finally stopped bleeding.Luca’s hand found mine in the space between us and I let him hold it while we sat there in silence while the driver drove through back roads that would get us to pack territory faster than the main highway.The forty-minute drive felt l







