Vengeance Reborn

Chapter 8 ~ Training begins

Alpha Sebastian POV

The sun has barely cleared the eastern mountains when Leona steps onto the training field.

She looks tired.

Not physically.

Her posture is straight, her auburn hair with blue highlights is pulled back into a tight ponytail, and her golden-hazel eyes are alert.

But I know my daughter.

There is exhaustion buried behind them that sleep cannot fix.

Eight years of memories now live inside a seventeen-year-old body.

A mate.

A marriage.

Children.

Betrayal.

Death.

And after last night's visit to the Moon Temple, she now carries knowledge that even Sophia and I were never permitted to receive at her age.

I hate it.

Not because I doubt her strength.

But I would give anything for her not to need it.

Leona rolls her shoulders and looks across the training circle at me.

“So what's different?”

“Everything.”

Her eyebrows rise. “That sounds unnecessarily dramatic.”

“It isn't.”

I remove my training jacket and toss it onto the bench.

Her eyes narrow immediately.

Smart girl.

Normally, when I train Leona, I moderate everything: speed, defense, strength, aura, instinct. Even when she believes I'm pushing her, I'm still holding back enough to make certain she learns without being overwhelmed.

That ends today.

But not completely. She's still my daughter, and I have no intention of breaking every bone in her body before breakfast. But the child I trained yesterday no longer exists.

The woman standing before me remembers dying at twenty-five. She remembers fighting for her life and losing. I will not allow her to lose again.

“Your mother tells me Selene confirmed your Soul Sight awakened.”

Leona sighs.

“She also confirmed divine beings enjoy being cryptic.”

My mouth twitches.

“That appears hereditary.”

“Don't start.”

I almost laugh.

Instead, I gesture toward the center of the field.

“Position.”

Leona moves immediately.

Feet apart.

Knees loose.

Hands raised.

Good.

“Your future memories give you experience,” I tell her, circling slowly. “But experience can become a weakness if you trust it too much.”

Her gaze tracks me.

“I survived until twenty-five.”

“You died at twenty-five.”

Her expression hardens.

Good.

Anger sharpens her.

Used correctly.

“You fought according to what you knew then,” I continue. “Now your enemies may behave differently because you've already altered the timeline.”

“So I can't rely on memory.”

“You can use it. You cannot worship it.”

She gives me a small nod.

Then I move.

Fast.

Leona barely blocks my first strike.

My second catches her shoulder.

She spins, recovers, and kicks toward my ribs.

I catch her ankle.

Her eyes widen.

I sweep her standing leg.

She hits the ground.

Hard.

“Dad!”

“Get up.”

She glares at me.

I feel Sophia's disapproval through our mate bond from somewhere near the mansion.

I ignore it.

Mostly.

Leona rises.

Again.

This time, I release a fraction of my Alpha aura.

Her body stiffens.

Tempest snarls beneath her skin.

Snow pushes back.

Then something else flickers in Leona's eyes.

Silver.

Soul Sight.

For half a heartbeat, she stops watching my body.

She watches me.

My intent.

My balance.

The direction my next strike will come from.

She ducks before I move.

Then drives her elbow into my side.

I grunt.

She freezes.

I slowly turn toward her.

A grin spreads across my daughter's face.

“Oh.”

I straighten.

Her grin widens.

“I felt that.”

I c***k my neck.

“Yes, little one.”

Then I smile.

“Now do it again.”

---

Luna Sophia’s POV

From the large window overlooking the training grounds, I watch my mate and daughter circle one another beneath the morning sun. Sebastian attacks, and Leona barely dodges before his leg sweeps beneath hers and sends her crashing onto her back.

“Sebastian,” I growl under my breath. His amusement brushes against our mate bond.

She's fine, Sophia.

You threw our baby onto the ground.

Our baby elbowed me in the ribs thirty seconds ago.

Good.

His laughter rolls through our bond. I take an irritated sip of tea.

Men.

I remain at the window, watching Leona climb back to her feet. Yesterday morning, my greatest concerns were whether my seventeen-year-old daughter was sleeping enough, keeping up with university, focusing during training, and staying out of whatever trouble Gabrielle and Dominick inevitably found. Then she told us she remembers dying at twenty-five. In those eight missing years, my daughter found her mate, married, became pregnant, and prepared to become a mother.

Then someone murdered her and my grandchildren.

My fingers tighten around the porcelain cup.

I never knew those babies existed. I never felt them kick beneath Leona's stomach or held them after they were born. Sebastian and I never got the chance to argue over which of us would spoil them more.

Yet I mourn them because Leona loved them.

That's enough.

I set my tea down before my grip cracks the cup.

On the field, Sebastian catches Leona's fist and redirects her momentum, sending her stumbling past him. This time, she catches herself. She says something I can't hear.

Sebastian responds. Leona rolls her eyes.

A smile slips across my face.

There she is.

My stubborn little girl who used to crawl into our bed during thunderstorms. The child who once hid an injured fox in her bedroom because she was convinced Sebastian wouldn't let her keep it. The teenager who thinks throwing her curls into a messy bun somehow counts as getting ready.

Except she's not only that girl anymore.

She's seventeen and twenty-five at once, carrying experiences I wasn't there to help her through.

I have no idea how to mother that version of my daughter.

Maybe I don't need to know yet. Maybe I simply need to listen when she tells me who she has become.

Selene confirmed that the future Leona remembers is no longer guaranteed. That means Michael's role could change. It means the people who betrayed Leona might make different choices, and those who were manipulated may never fall into the same traps. It also means there are questions about my grandchildren that none of us can answer.

I refuse to let uncertainty consume the time I still have with my daughter.

On the field, Leona's eyes suddenly flash silver.

I straighten.

Soul Sight.

Sebastian feints left, but Leona doesn't react to his body. Her attention shifts somewhere deeper, as though she's reading the intention behind the movement.

She ducks beneath his arm and drives a sharp kick into his thigh.

Sebastian stares at her.

Leona grins.

Then my mate grins back.

“Oh, Goddess.”

This is about to become a competition.

Twenty minutes later, they return to the mansion drenched in sweat, dirt and GODDESS only knows what else...

Leona sees me waiting near the doors.

“Mom, your mate is crazy.”

Sebastian snorts. “Your daughter is dramatic.”

“My shoulder is going to bruise!”

“You heal quickly.”

“That's not the point.”

I cross my arms and glare at Sebastian.

His confidence disappears.

Leona smiles triumphantly. “See?”

“Don't encourage her,” he mutters.

“I don't have to.”

I take Leona's face between my hands and examine her.

“Mom.”

“Hold still.”

“I'm fine.”

“You said that yesterday before passing out for seven hours.”

“That was divine-realm stuff.”

“I don't care.”

She sighs but allows me to finish checking her. Once I'm satisfied that my overenthusiastic mate hasn't broken anything important, I kiss her forehead.

“Go wash up. Both of you smell terrible.”

Leona gasps.

Sebastian looks equally offended.

I turn toward the hallway.

“I said what I said.”

____________________________________________

Half an hour later, we're clean, dressed, and heading toward the dining hall together.

Leona has changed into jeans and a soft blue sweater, her damp curls falling around her shoulders. Sebastian walks beside us in dark trousers and a fitted red shirt with his long black hair tied neatly back. My soft purple sweater dress feels wonderfully comfortable after standing outside in the morning chill.

I walk between them for approximately ten seconds before Leona squeezes herself into the middle. She hooks one arm through mine and the other through Sebastian's.

Neither of us comments.

We don't need to.

The dining hall is already alive when we enter. Dozens of conversations overlap beneath the high ceiling. Children laugh while warriors debate their morning training. Plates clatter, chairs scrape across the floor, and the scents of bacon, eggs, pancakes, sausage, fresh bread, fruit, coffee, and cinnamon mingle together.

Whenever schedules allow, our pack eats together.

Some Alphas prefer private family meals, but Sebastian and I have never wanted that kind of distance. Leadership shouldn't mean appearing only when orders need to be given. These people trust us with their homes, children, safety, and futures. We should know them well enough to deserve that trust.

“Bestie!”

Gabrielle's voice carries halfway across the dining hall.

Leona immediately turns.

Gabrielle waves wildly from a nearby table while Dominick sits beside her, staring suspiciously at a piece of sausage as though it has personally offended him.

Leona laughs and heads toward them.

Gabrielle launches into a story before Leona even reaches the table. Dominick makes some comment that earns him a smack upside the head from my daughter.

I smile.

No visions of what might happen tomorrow.

No comparisons to what happened in another timeline.

Just Leona laughing with her friends at breakfast.

Sebastian's hand settles briefly against my lower back.

You all right?

I glance at him.

I am.

This time, I mean it.

Liam calls Sebastian toward the head table, apparently needing his attention for something. My mate kisses my temple before reluctantly heading toward his Beta & Gamma.

I start after him until Leona calls across the room.

“Mom!”

I turn.

She points toward the empty chair beside her.

“You coming or what?”

I smile. “Of course, sweetheart.”

I change direction and join her instead.

Leona immediately steals a piece of fruit from my plate.

I stare at her.

She chews innocently.

“You have your own.”

“Yours looked better.”

“They came from the same bowl.”

“Still better.”

Dominick nods solemnly. “Food stolen from someone else's plate scientifically tastes superior.”

“Thank you!” Leona says.

Gabrielle looks at me. “Please don't encourage them, Luna Sophia.”

“I'm surrounded by thieves.”

Leona leans against my shoulder for half a second before reaching for her orange tea.

It's such a small gesture that no one else at the table seems to notice.

But I do.

Yesterday changed our family. There is no pretending otherwise. Leona knows things she shouldn't know yet, and Sebastian and I are preparing for an enemy we can't identify. The Moon Temple has awakened, divine gifts are emerging, and somewhere ahead of us waits the beginning of a future that has already ended once.

But none of that needs to own this moment.

Right now, my daughter is sitting beside me stealing my breakfast while her friends argue about whether that counts as theft.

I can work with that. I can't erase Leona's first future, and I won't waste her second one mourning every moment before it happens. Whatever comes next, we'll face it when it arrives.

Together.

And if someone decides to come for this family again, they'll learn very quickly that Sebastian isn't the only person they need to fear.

He may be the Alpha.

But I am the Luna.

And anyone who comes for my family will have to survive me first.