The Luna is a Witch

Chapter 18: Claire

The apartment feels too quiet. Not peaceful-quiet. Not morning-quiet. The quiet before a truth you don’t want but can’t run from. Draven is still sitting on the floor, Carter asleep in his arms. The light coming through the broken roof paints them both in soft gold. It should look wrong.

A massive alpha wolf holding a two-year-old like he’s something precious. I swallow hard and pull my knees tighter against my chest.

“Draven?” I whisper.

He lifts his head immediately, silver eyes soft but alert. “Yes?”

I hesitate. He waits. Patient. Steady. And that is what finally breaks me.

“Yesterday…” I swallow again.“You kept calling me Luna. And the creature did too.”He nods, slow, careful. Like he’s afraid the truth might injure me. I take a shaky breath. “What does it actually mean?” My voice cracks on the last word. “Really. Not the myth. Not the title. Tell me what it means for me.”

Draven exhales, long and heavy, like he knew this question was coming and dreaded it. He shifts Carter a little so he can sit straighter, his back brushing the ruined wall.Then he looks at me— really looks— like he’s memorizing my face in case I run.

“Luna,” he begins softly, “isn’t a title.”My stomach drops.“It’s a role,” he continues. “A magic. A force. You don’t get appointed a Luna. You are born one.”

I stare at him. “That doesn’t tell me anything.”

His lips twitch—not a smile, more like he understands the fear underneath my words all too well.“Okay,” he says quietly. “Then I’ll tell you what my pack teaches. What the old wolves believe.” He adjusts Carter again, holding him tighter like the topic alone is dangerous. “A Luna is the moon’s chosen leader. She carries magic that balances the wolf. Guides it. Grounds it. Strengthens it. Without her, the Alpha is just strength and rage. All packs need a Luna just as much as they need an Alpha.”

I blink. “That sounds more like a mate bond.”

He shakes his head. “Every Alpha might find a mate,” he says, “but not every Alpha finds a Luna.”

My breath stutters.Because that implies—

“Lunas aren’t romantic roles,” he adds quickly. “They can be. But they don’t have to be. A Luna is born when magic chooses her. Not when a wolf does.”

I exhale shakily. “Okay,” I say quietly. “Then what does that have to do with me?”

Draven’s eyes flicker—silver, warm, pained. “Everything.” He lowers his voice. “Claire… you don’t just have Hecate’s magic. Or witch magic. Or demigod magic.” A chill runs through me.

“You have moon magic.”

My stomach churns.“No—I—Carter does, not me.”

“Claire,” Draven says gently. “You summoned a goddess yesterday without meaning to. You threw up wards strong enough to hold an Alpha in place. You sensed danger before I did. And Carter’s blast didn’t just hit me. It pulled your magic too.”

I stare at him. He gives me a small, almost apologetic smile.“There are only three signs of a Luna,” he says. He raises one finger. “One: she commands moon-charged magic without training. Which you are currently in school for, but still don’t have the proper training.” He raises another. “Two: creatures of shadow are drawn to her. Exhibit A: the shadow creature.And three…”He glances down at my sleeping son, his voice softening into something reverent. “Her child recognizes his wolf.”

I suck in a breath. “No,” I whisper. “Draven, that can’t—this can’t be real. This can’t be—”

“It is,” he says gently. “I wish it wasn’t happening so fast for you. You deserve more time. You deserve a normal life. But magic doesn’t care about what we deserve.”

I shake my head again, tears burning my eyes.“But I don’t want this,” I whisper. “I didn’t ask to be anything.”

Draven’s expression breaks and when he speaks again, it’s barely a whisper. “Most Lunas don’t.”

I look down at my trembling hands. “Then why me?” I ask. “Why us? Why Carter?”

Draven hesitates. Then he meets my eyes—honest and devastating. “Because power chose you before you were born.”

I close my eyes .A tear slips free. I wish my mom was still here. She would know what to do, but then again, if she were here we wouldn’t be in this situation.

“Claire… being Luna doesn’t mean being chained to wolves. It means being chosen by fate.”

My voice shakes. “What if I don’t want fate?”

He gives me a small, heartbreaking smile. “Then fate will follow you anyway.”

I break into full on sobs.