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“We helped,” Luna Selena corrects softly. Then she looks at me. “And Arlene is the reason I understood how urgent it was.” The Luna turns to me. For one strange second, I see a campfire instead of her face. Then she takes my hand. “Thank you.” My throat tightens. “You’re welcome.” Their Alpha has already arranged compensation for the warriors, healers, testing, investigation, and resources Silver Moon provided. Rylan tries to tell him it isn’t necessary. The Alpha refuses. I barely hear them. Pine Ridge is alive.
After Pine Ridge, I start paying closer attention to the things I remember. Not everything I heard in that camp was true. Some things I witnessed myself. Some came directly from Candice or Zeke. Some were repeated by enough rogues that I trust them. Others were just gossip. So when two neighboring packs begin accusing each other of attacks along their borders, I don’t tell Luna Selena I know what happened. I tell her what I remember.
“Camp gossip. Not Candice admitting it. Several rogues talked about it afterward, and their stories didn’t completely match.”
Luna Selena leans back in her chair. “So we don’t treat it as fact.”
“No.”
“We treat it as somewhere to look.”
“Exactly.”
She does. Rylan handles the security side while Luna Selena reaches out to both Lunas. They investigate before either pack can retaliate, and what they uncover is enough to bring both leadership groups to neutral ground instead of a battlefield. The war never happens. Both packs compensate Silver Moon for helping uncover the manipulation, but something else changes too. At the next regional gathering, a Luna I’ve never met catches my eye across the room. She dips her chin.
Another Alpha greets me by name. Then another Luna asks Luna Selena, “Is this Arlene?”
Luna Selena smiles. “Yes.”
The woman turns to me. “I’ve heard about you.” I glance at Luna Selena. She looks far too pleased with herself.
“Stop that.”
“Stop what?”
“Whatever smug thing you’re doing with your face.”
“I’m proud of you.”
I look away before she can see how much that lands.
Later, when the meetings are over and the office is quiet again, my attention returns to something else. Alpha business. Pine Ridge would be dead if Luna Selena had simply accepted that their Luna’s plea wasn’t something she needed to concern herself with.
I start thinking about Brennan’s other lessons. The things he has told Luna Selena about Luna authority. Pack law. Council procedures. Political responsibilities. What belongs to her and what she should leave to someone else. I don’t know enough to say he’s wrong. Darian does.
That night, he sits behind me on our bed, working his fingers into the knot in my lower back while I try not to moan.
“Right there.”
“I know.”
“You say that like you’re proud of yourself.”
“I am.”
Our pup kicks. Darian’s hands stop immediately. I smile as he moves one around my belly, waiting. Another kick lands beneath his palm. His whole face changes. No matter how many times he feels our son move, he still looks like that. Like a man being handed something precious he once believed was gone forever. I cover his hand with mine. Then I remember why I needed to talk to him.
“Darian?”
“Hmm?”
“Sit in on Luna Selena’s next lesson with Elder Brennan.”
His hand stills against my stomach. “Why?”
“Don’t say anything. Just listen.”
He turns me enough to see my face. “Arlene.”
