Chapter 32

Mira

The next few days went by in a blur, and I tried to distract myself from thoughts of Dominic by immersing myself fully in preparation for the upcoming Luna trials.

My research and historical digging gave me a lot of information about past Lunas, but I couldn’t seem to find details about what was actually being tested in the trails. Everything was just vague and mysterious, as if it belonged more to legend than fiction.

I took my investigation to the hospital with me. Sometimes the best way to learn anything about the rituals of a Pack, is through the oldest oral tradition, known as gossip.

My moment came while a few of us were in the break room in the morning, and I wasn’t subtle about studying Luna history.

“Are you nervous?”

It was Cinda, and I heard myself sigh as I took a breath.

“Of course,” I pitched my voice a little louder to reach the others in the room. “I feel like I have no idea what I’m doing, or what I’m even preparing for. I can’t find any hard evidence that these trials even exist, or they happen, let alone how one should study or train or anything!”

It was partially an act, but I tapped into some real frustration that I’d been carrying.

“Mira, you know you can’t ‘study’ yourself into everything, right?” her eyes were warm but her voice still had some sass to it. “Some things are deeper than memorizing words or formulas or symptoms from a book.”

“Well, yes, I know that,” I whined slightly, seeming a little more pitiful. “But then how can I be sure I won’t immediately fail? If it comes down to bloodlines and innate power and aura, I’m screwed! I’m from nowhere, a nobody, hardly a Pack to speak of before I came here.”

This sounded a bit rude to my previous family, but I had to keep ingratiating myself to my new Pack, always earning their trust.

“That won’t matter,” Cinda comforted me, “as long as you are pure of heart and mind, you can prevail. The gods look out for the under-dog, once in a blue moon.”

“Great, I’ll just leave it to the gods I guess!” I threw my hands in the air in mock desperation. “Who knew it would be so simple?”

“Hush, girl,” Cinda said with a chuckle. “Now, Doctor, I have to get back to my rounds. Don’t fill your head with too much from those old books— leave a little space for the light to get in.”

I sunk back into my chair and my reading, feeling a little lighter from even just a brief bit of banter with Cinda.

“Can I sit?”

Lila.

I didn’t say anything, but with clear eyes I signaled for her to take the seat across from me. I kept my face neutral and waited for her to speak.

“I know we’ve had a sort of…rough go of it,” she said, seeming to have prepared a speech. “And I just hope that there’s a world in which we can get along, not even friends or anything, just can co-exist and work together and you know, see each other around.”

I watched her, trying to figure out if she was sincere or just well-rehearsed. Her intentions were still unclear to me, but I knew it meant something to Dominic that I not fight with his childhood friend.

“I think there is a world like that,” I said gently. It felt like heavy-lifting to keep things light with her. “I know you're close to… the family.”

“Yeah, so close, I’ve known them my whole life,” her eyes were big when she spoke of them. “I’ve watched that family go through a lot, Dominic especially.”

“Right,” I said warily, not wanting to seem in the dark on Dominic’s past.

“He was really such a goofy kid,” Lila mused, “before her grew up and became such a stick-in-the-mud.”

“I don’t think I would ever imagine Dominic being described as ‘goofy,’ but I agree with that second part.”

I gave her a conspiratorial look, as if we were suddenly just two girls dishing about boys. She met my gaze and recognized that I was opening up to her.

“Did puberty hit the Alpha too hard,” I joked, “turning him into a man of stone and standard operating procedures?”

Lila let out an uncomfortable laugh.

“Hah, maybe,” she said softly. “I think it was the other stuff that really got to him though.”

“Other stuff?”

“Well, you know…” Lila trailed off for a moment. “I just know that after his mother died, suddenly, it hit him really hard. It was like the world had stolen her from him, and he raged at everything in retaliation.”

I thought of a young Dominic, going through one of the episodes I had witnessed. My heart broke for how scared that boy must have been.

“And I think his father remarrying was hard, so quick too,” Lila went on. I don’t know when she started whispering. “Irene seems to do her best with him, but she knows he’s always resented her.”

“She does seem…persistent,” I replied, not really knowing what to say about icy Irene.

“Yeah, I think she imagined a very different life as Luna, one without a complicated blended family,” Lila went on.

“Of course, family can be so tough,” I said, not actually knowing much about family dynamics since I never really had one.

“Totally, totally,” Lila agreed, “and so lucky that Dominic has found a new Mate, seriously. I think you will make a great Luna, someday.”

I was stunned by her kind words, and managed to nod awkwardly in her direction. Maybe things were turning around between us, after all.

“I really appreciate that, Lila,” I said leaning towards her. “It means a lot to have your support in this.”

“The Luna Trials are meant mysterious but not impossible,” Lila said, placing her hand on mine

on the table. “Even for someone wolfless, like you.”

She was smiling, but her words were sharp. She gave my hand a squeeze then started to stand.

“Well, I’ll leave you to your little books,” Lila said. “See you around!”

I was left at the table, wondering what had just happened.

The Pack

The Graveyard shift. Some time after midnight.

The lights in the lab emit a soft hum that one only hears when the rest of the world becomes still. When patients do their best to rest, and staff members lower their voices and reboot and refresh for whatever task arises next.

In the research and teaching wing, the late shift earns its name.

It is as quiet as a graveyard. Only the humming lights overhead are any sign of life.

Though, tonight, there is more alive in this lab than just the samples and cultures being tested and trialed.

Tonight, a medical intern is very busy at a workstation, trying and testing to create some secret concoction.

Poring over pharmaceutical books alongside an ancient looking Book of Spells, she is scribbling notes and checking the bottles around her.

A drop of this clear liquid, a pinch of that powdered root, combining elements both natural and chemical.

A sheen of sweat forms on Lila’s brow, despite the cool temperature in the lab space. She has one chance to get this right, and lives are dependent on her success.

A phone buzzes on the counter.

Lila looks at it, but does not respond. She returns to her work, muttering to herself.

Her eyes are red, dry, and she seems to be fighting to keep them open as she works. Nothing good comes from the crazed mind of the extremely tired.

Another buzz from the phone, and another quickly afterwards.

Lila stays focused on the bottle in front of her, placing it barely into a vessel of boiling water.

“One minute,” she whispers to no one.

The contents of the bottle turn a deep purple then back to clear again. Lila smiles.

Following safety protocol, she turns on burners and cleans up the space, tucking the small bottle in a deep pocket in her bag.

She picks up the phone, reading carefully through the messages she’s received.

Fingers tracing over the small keys, she responds.

“I’m all set for tomorrow. He’ll be mine by midnight.”