Chapter 100
Chapter 100
I did not sleep at all that night.
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The curtains rubbed against the window and my head snapped toward it. Someone walked down the hallway and I sat up, fingers gripping the blanket. Even Damien breathing on the other side of the closed door sounded too loud, like my new body had turned the whole world up without asking me first.
Stay alert, the voice said.
I froze, one hand pressed against my chest. “No. Nope. We are not doing creepy voices at three in the morning.”
Not creepy, it answered. Yours.
I raked my fingers through my hair and stared at the door. My wolf sounded like me, but sharper. Angrier. Like the version of me that would slap someone first and cry later. “You are supposed to be helpful, right?”
Protective, she said.
“That is not the same thing.”
Damien shifted outside the door. I had told him I needed space after the rogue said my wolf was triggered. He had nodded, kissed my forehead, and left the room. But of course he had not really left.
I got up and opened the door.
He was sitting on the floor outside, back against the wall, one knee bent, one arm resting on it. His head lifted right away. His hair was messy, and his shirt was half buttoned.
I crossed my arms, already annoyed. “Seriously?”
He looked up at me. “You asked for space.”
“So you sat outside my door?”
“You did not ask for distance.”
I stared at him, then quickly looked away because I hated that it made my chest warm. “You’re so annoying.”
“I know.”
I did not invite him in. I stepped out and slid down the wall beside him instead. Our shoulders did not touch at first. We just sat there in the quiet hallway, both staring at the closed door across from us.
After a minute, his fingers brushed mine on the floor. He did not grab. He just waited. I let my hand turn over, and he laced our fingers together.
“Is she talking?” he asked.
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Chapter 100
I swallowed. “My wolf?”
“Yes.”
I nodded. “She’s angry.”
His thumb moved over my knuckles. “At who?”
“Alice. The elders. The rogues. Everyone, honestly.”
His mouth twitched. “Sounds like you.”
I elbowed him lightly. “Rude.”
“You know it is true.”
I tried to smile, but the voice moved again inside my head.
Alice smells like blood.
My whole body went still. Damien felt it. His hand tightened around mine.
“Sienna?”
I looked down the hallway, breathing through my nose. “She just said Alice smells like blood.”
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By morning, the packhouse moved like nothing insane had happened, which was honestly rude. I walked beside Damien into the main hall, arms folded, hoodie sleeves pulled over my hands. Some people looked at me and nodded. Others turned away fast like eye contact with me might be contagious.
A mother stepped in front of me with a toddler on her hip. “Luna.”
I stiffened.
She adjusted the child against her side. “I wanted to thank you. For yesterday. My son was in the safe room.”
I blinked. “Oh. I just did what anyone would do.”
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “Not anyone did.”
I did not know what to do with that, so I nodded awkwardly. “I’m glad he’s okay.”
Another servant came forward, then another. A few thanked me quietly. But not everyone was kind. Two women near the wall whispered while looking at my collarbone. An older man walked past me without greeting Damien, which was bold and also very dumb.
Then the little girl from the safe room ran up with folded paper in her hands. Her hair was in two messy braids, and she looked nervous.
I crouched down. “Hey, you.”
11:48 Thu, May 21 ♫
Chapter 100
She held the paper out. “I made this.”
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I opened it slowly. It was a drawing of me standing in front of a big black wolf with children behind us. She had drawn a crooked moon above my head and written thank you Luna.
My throat closed so fast I had to look away. I pressed the paper to my chest and blinked hard.
Damien crouched beside me. “What is it?”
I showed him without speaking.
His face softened. “They are starting to see what I saw.”
I looked at him, eyes burning. “And what did you see?”
He tucked a loose strand of hair behind my ear. “Someone who protects even when she is scared.”
My lips parted, but before I could answer, Marcus’s voice cut across the hall. “If she wishes to be accepted as Luna, sentiment is not enough.”
Damien stood so fast the little girl ran back to her mother. “Careful.”
Marcus walked in with Clara and two elders behind him. “The pack requires certainty. Saving children once does not prove control.”
I rose slowly, folding the drawing carefully so my fingers would not crush it. “Here we go.”
Clara lifted her chin. “A Luna trial will prove control, courage, and restraint.”
Damien’s voice was immediate. “No.”
Marcus looked at him. “Alpha.”
“I said no.”
I touched Damien’s arm. “What is the trial?”
He turned to me, eyes hard. “It does not matter.”
“It matters to me.”
Clara watched us closely. “Three parts. You face fear without shifting. You defend without killing. You stand before the pack without hiding behind the Alpha.”
Damien stepped in front of me. “Absolutely not.”
I moved around him. “I accept.”
His head snapped toward me. “Sienna.”
I looked at him, keeping my voice steady. “I’m tired, Damien. I’m tired of waiting for people to decide what I
11:48 Thu, May 21
Chapter 100
am.”
“This is dangerous.”
“So is breathing in this house.”
His jaw clenched. “You do not have to prove yourself to them.”
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“I know.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “But I need to prove to myself that I am not just surviving whatever people do to me.”
His eyes searched my face. He was angry, but I could see the fear under it. His hand lifted like he wanted to grab my wrist, then stopped.
“You are scared,” I said softly.
“Yes,” he said. “I am.”
I swallowed. “Then stand beside me.”
“I want to stand in front of you.”
“You can stand beside me, but you can’t stand in my way.”
The healer appeared near the doorway, face tense. “Alpha, Sienna, you need to understand something.”
Damien did not look away from me. “What?”
The healer stepped closer, clutching her bag strap. “If Sienna loses control during the trial, the pack may demand she be locked away.”
11:49 Thu, May 21 ♫
