The Vampire's Luna

"I’m not." Damien’s face was pale now. Honest. Shaken in a way that made Kyllian believe him despite himself. "The sage will give me more information when he has it...I need you to do something though."

"What?"

"We need more information if we’re going to help her," Damien said. His hands were moving with each word, slicing through invisible threads of logic as if he could cut a path to the truth. "I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’ll do my damndest to keep her alive."

His voice was painfully sincere, there was no bravado, no charming smirk. Just naked fear and a purpose that seemed to choke him with every syllable. Kyllian swallowed. The seriousness of the situation finally landed on his shoulders.

"What do you need?" Kyllian asked, without a second thought. Whatever bitterness lingered between them had to be bottled up and shelved. Luna was worth more than grudges and pride.

Damien looked Kyllian dead in the eye. "My suspicion is..." He paused, rubbing the back of his neck "...that Luna is the child of a werewolf and a vampire."

"Oh, sure. Why not? This just keeps getting better and better." He rubbed his temples furiously, already hearing the screams echoing through his head. "You think the Queen had an affair? Do you have any idea what that accusation would do to the kingdom?"

Damien lifted a finger. "I said it was a suspicion, not a declaration. And I never said ’affair.’ Maybe Ravena was manipulated. Maybe it happened before her marriage. We don’t know. That’s the point...we need answers." 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Kyllian ran a hand through his hair and groaned. "Goddess help us. If this is true..." He trailed off, imagining the werewolf kingdom crumbling beneath scandal and fury. "...we’re not just talking about saving Luna anymore. There will be a revolution."

"Which is exactly why Luna doesn’t need to know. Not yet," Damien said. "Let us handle this. She’s already on the verge."

*****

Luna was gasping for air. Her back was pressed against the cool stone wall of the castle, hands trembling at her sides.

"No. No-no-no-no-no." The words spilled out of her mouth, as if saying it enough would rewind the entire universe to before her life turned into a supernatural love triangle.

There was no way. How could this be real?

"What did I do to deserve this?"

But no matter how much her brain screamed that this was impossible, her heart kept circling back to Damien’s face. The way his voice shook. The fear behind those annoyingly perfect cheekbones. He wasn’t lying. She’d seen honesty in his eyes.

How could she have the best of both worlds and still be completely powerless? Luna’s thoughts spiraled, whipping through her mind. Her chest was constricted—as though her lungs had been shrink-wrapped. Every breath she tried to take came in short, ragged rasps.

The sheer unfairness of it hit her. She was caught in the most bizarre love geometry ever. Two insanely hot, powerful men wanted her. She had no say in any of it.

She pressed her palm to the stone wall, cool and rough beneath her skin, praying for stability. The universe, however, remained unimpressed. Her knees buckled. Down she went, her legs folding, and she collapsed onto the grass.

"Princess!"

Warm arms scooped her up, holding her close as they both sank to the ground together. His arms tightened around her.

"Hey! Breathe, Luna. Come on, just follow me, listen to my heart, okay?"

And she did. She focused on the steady thump of his heart. Her own breath began to mimic it; inhale, exhale, repeat. But then the sobs came.

Her body shook with the force of it. The unfairness, the loss of control, the soul-deep exhaustion of being everyone’s responsibility but no one’s choice, it all clawed its way to the surface.

"It’s okay, love. Let it out, sweetie. Go on," Kyllian whispered, fingers weaving gently through her hair. He cradled her head against his chest, his cheek resting on her head. "It’s going to be okay. We’ll do everything we can, honey. Everything."

There was a raw tenderness in his voice that made her want to believe him. Made her want to curl up and let someone else take the wheel for once.

But no.

*****

Damien stood alone on the uppermost balcony, leaning heavily against the marble railing. Below, Kyllian held Luna. Damien’s jaw clenched. His chest ached in a way that made breathing feel like a punishment.

Kyllian was soothing her, stroking her back, brushing stray hairs from her tear-streaked face, whispering words Damien couldn’t hear but didn’t need to. The intimacy was enough. It was all so gentle, so tender, and it made Damien want to hurl something off the balcony.

He watched as Kyllian pressed a soft kiss to Luna’s temple, and the sight ignited spite in his gut. Jealousy twisted through him, curling its claws into the softest parts of his soul. But he knew he had no right. Not when Kyllian was just as caught in this celestial joke as he was. They were two puzzle pieces cut from the same tragic mold, fated to orbit the same sun.

Luna needed them both. That much was excruciatingly, terrifyingly clear.

This wasn’t about conquest. This wasn’t a contest of abs. This wasn’t even about who got to ride off into the sunset with the girl. No, this was about survival. Her survival.

Still, that did little to comfort him when he saw Kyllian wipe away one of Luna’s tears like he had been born to touch her.

Damien had shared women before. Casual, nameless things that involved more noise than emotion. But this? This was not that.

This was Luna.

This was his mate.

How the hell was he supposed to just... let someone else love her? Let someone else hold her, heal her, protect her? Touch her?

It was like being told to share his own heart and smile while doing it. And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to look away. Something in him was anchored to her. He watched as Kyllian murmured one last thing in her ear, something that made her smile faintly through the tears. That smile gutted him. Still, he stayed frozen on the balcony, trying to stitch his own feelings back together.

*****

"I have to go now," Kyllian said softly, pulling away from Luna with obvious reluctance.

Her arms didn’t let go immediately. She clung for a moment longer, fingers curling around his shirt.

"If Talon doesn’t hear from me soon, he might send a search party," Kyllian added, attempting a half-hearted smile. "And you know how dramatic he gets when left unsupervised."

Luna gave a weak chuckle, sniffing. "He’d probably bring a battering ram."

Kyllian grinned. "I’m sure there will be a ’Missing Alpha’ poster by now and to piss me off, he would use a baby picture of me."

Luna sniffed and hastily wiped the back of her hand across her face. She glanced up at Kyllian and grimaced. "I’m sorry. I’ve basically turned you into a walking, talking tissue. I’ve been weeping all over you."

Kyllian smiled, his eyes softening as he brushed a tear from her cheek with a knuckle. "It’s fine. But I also owe you an apology, Luna. I’ve been acting like a complete ass since this whole marriage mate-bond disaster decided to implode on our lives."

Luna tilted her head, a teasing smirk twitching at the corners of her lips. "You think that’s bad? If our positions were reversed, I think I would’ve gone full rabid she-wolf. Like, actual claws-out crazy. I’ve never squeezed a man’s family jewels before, but I’m sure it’s deeply satisfying. Therapeutic, even."

They both laughed, the tension in the air melting away. In that moment, they weren’t star-crossed lovers or doomed soulmates, they were just two people trying not to drown in a fate that seemed determined to slap them both repeatedly with cosmic irony.

"You’re going to be fine, Luna," Kyllian said finally. "Especially with the Bloodsucker watching your back."

Luna narrowed her eyes. "Bloodsucker? Really? You say it like he’s a tick."

Kyllian shrugged with a guilty smile. "Hey, old habits die hard. I’m still adjusting to the whole ’working with vampires’ idea."

"I’m not some damsel in distress waiting for two grumpy men to put me back together. I’m not a broken toy, Kyllian. I will do whatever it takes to fix myself. I will be the one to save me."

He looked at her for a long beat, eyes filled with admiration and heartbreak. "You don’t have to do it alone, though," he said quietly. "Even the strongest alphas ask for help sometimes."

Luna smiled. "I appreciate you. Both of you."

"Let’s also be honest, the vampires are more equipped to help. Immortality has perks. It makes you good with history... but you’ll be okay, Luna. One way or another, we’ll figure this out."

"Yeah, you are right. Do you think you could buy me some time with my father? Just enough to hear back from the Sage and find a path forward through all of these." Luna begged.