Loving Luna

What the Bond Revealed

The windows blew inward.

Glass tore through the clinic in a violent wave, scattering across the floor like ice.

Darius pulled Luna into his chest, shielding her as shards hit his back. He didn’t flinch, only tightened his hold as the air filled with dust and the sharp scent of broken glass.

Mara protected a patient, throwing her body over them. Evelyn dragged a child down behind a counter. Mason shifted instantly, claws breaking through as he moved toward Lydia with lethal intent.

“Don’t touch her,” Darius ordered, voice low and absolute.

Mason stopped mid-step, frozen by the command.

Lydia sat unnaturally still, black eyes fixed on Luna. Blood ran from her nose in thin streams. Dark veins spread under her skin like ink bleeding through paper.

Then a voice came from her that didn’t belong.

“Protective as ever.”

Darius stepped back but stayed directly in front of Luna, every muscle coiled.

“Get out of her.”

“You talk like I entered without permission.”

“She would never allow this,” Mara said sharply, anger and fear tightening her voice.

The voice laughed—soft, amused, wrong. “Desperation opens doors. Even the strongest ones.”

Luna saw Lydia’s clenched hands trembling at her sides. She was still in there. Still fighting.

“Who are you?” Luna asked, voice steady despite the cold crawling up her spine.

“Don’t engage,” Darius warned immediately.

“It already feels you,” Luna said quietly, eyes locked on Lydia.

“Good,” the voice replied. “Then you understand I’ve waited centuries for this bond.”

Darius went still.

Not calm—dangerously still.

Luna reached out and held his wrist when he moved, grounding him.

“It wants you angry,” she said.

“I am.”

“I know.”

The thing inside Lydia smiled through her face. “The thread between you is beautiful.”

Luna felt Darius through the bond—rage barely contained, sharp enough to cut. She took his hand fully this time. His fury steadied, not gone, but controlled.

“You want the bond,” she said.

“To understand it.”

“You already do.”

“Not enough.”

The voice sharpened, losing its amusement. “I need him.”

Lydia’s real voice broke through for a second, thin and desperate. “Don’t—”

Then darkness swallowed her again.

Mara stepped forward, urgency breaking through her restraint. “We can’t sedate her safely. Not with that inside her.”

Darius’s claws lengthened, involuntary. “If she dies, it leaves.”

Mara snapped, “You’d kill her?”

“If it protects Luna.”

The words landed like a blade.

“No,” Luna said immediately.

Darius turned to her. “You don’t know what it is.”

“Neither do you.”

“I know it came through the bond.”

“And killing her won’t fix it,” Luna said, firmer now.

Silence hit him—heavy, conflicted.

The creature watched them all, amused again. “He would burn the world for you.”

“I wouldn’t forgive him,” Luna said.

Darius looked at her sharply.

“Because he wouldn’t forgive himself,” she added.

The creature faltered for the first time.

A crack split the wall behind them. Cold air poured in, unnatural and biting.

Mara urged, “Now. We don’t have time.”

Luna reached for Darius. “Help me.”

He hesitated—just a fraction—then nodded once.

He pressed his forehead to hers.

The world faded.

The bond opened—warm, steady, vast.

“Ready?” he whispered.

“No.”

“Good.”

Power moved through them like a current finding its path.

Luna reached Lydia, touching the darkness instead of the body, slipping past skin and bone into something deeper.

Cold hit her instantly. Images flashed—war, betrayal, a broken queen kneeling in ash, endless loneliness stretching across centuries.

The creature struck back violently. Luna cried out, nearly losing her grip.

“I’ve got you,” Darius said, voice anchored through the bond.

She pushed through anyway. “Lydia, listen.”

Light spread through the veins in Lydia’s skin, pushing back the dark.

The creature screamed. Glass lifted from the floor, trembling, then shattered outward in a burst of force.

A shadow formed above them—towering, unstable, crimson eyes opening like wounds in the air.

“You don’t remember what love made you do,” it said.

Darius pulled Luna into him as the Shadow King surged forward.

Light exploded between them.

The shadow shattered.

Silence fell like a dropped curtain.

Lydia collapsed.

Mara rushed forward, checking her pulse. “She’s alive.”

Alden appeared in the doorway as if he had been there the entire time. “It withdrew.”

“Can it return?” Darius asked immediately.

“Not directly,” Alden said.

That wasn’t comfort. Not even close.

Luna collapsed from exhaustion. Darius caught her before she hit the ground.

“I can walk,” she muttered weakly.

“No.”

He carried her out without another word.

Later, the estate parted for them in silence, as if even the walls understood not to speak.

“You can put me down,” Luna said, resting her head against his shoulder.

“No.”

“You’re impossible.”

“I learned from you.”

That earned the faintest breath of a laugh from her.

He carried her all the way to her room and set her down gently, but he didn’t leave. Not even when he should have.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, scanning her carefully.

“Just tired.”

He checked her anyway, hands precise, careful. The mark on her wrist still glowed—steady, clean, alive.

“You were scared,” she said softly.

“I still am.”

That surprised her more than anything else.

“Of him?”

“Of losing you.”

The words settled between them, heavy and honest.

Luna touched his face, tracing the tension there. “He said I don’t remember what love made you do.”

“I heard him.”

“What if it’s true?”

“I don’t care about a ghost from the past.”

“You should.”

“I care about you.”

She studied him for a long moment. “What am I to you?”

Darius hesitated, something raw flickering behind his eyes.

“The only person who looks at my worst and stays.”

Her breath caught.

“And you?” she asked.

“You’re the only thing I want that I’m afraid to take.”

Luna stepped closer, closing the space between them. “Then don’t take it.”

His eyes darkened slightly. “What do I do instead?”

“Ask.”

His voice dropped, rougher now. “Can I kiss you?”

“Yes.”

He kissed her—slow, careful, real, like he was afraid she might disappear if he moved too fast.

The bond softened between them, no longer fighting, just feeling—warm, open, alive.

Luna broke it slightly, resting her forehead against his. “I don’t regret it.”

“Good,” he murmured.

He kissed her again, deeper this time, until—

A knock hit the door.

Darius closed his eyes, exhaling through his nose like he was restraining something far more dangerous than the Shadow King.

Luna laughed softly against his lips. “We’re not done.”