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**Paige’s POV **
The small corridor outside the treatment room is quiet and dimly lit. I make it halfway to the door that leads outside before my legs give out, and I slide down the wall, burying my face in my hands.
It’s only when I’m alone that the tears really come. Not deep, painful sobs this time, but quiet, shaking relief. I cry for everything I almost lost, for every moment I thought I’d never get back. For Ryder’s heartbeat that stuttered under my hands, for Callen’s fear, for the helplessness that almost broke me.
“Hey.”
Poppy’s voice comes softly from behind me. I look up to see her leaning against the opposite wall, a small smile tugging at her lips. She slides down until she’s sitting beside me, handing over a tissue.
“You did well in there,” she says gently.
I laugh weakly, wiping my face. “I didn’t even know I could do that.”
“Me either,” she says, resting her head back against the wall. “Though if I’m honest, I think we both could’ve done with a little warning before you decided to announce to the universe that you’re a literal
descendant of the Moon Goddess.”
I blink, startled. “What?”
She turns her head to look at me, eyes glinting with amusement despite the exhaustion written across her face. “A Moon Child, Paige. That’s what Ronnie called it, right? You could’ve at least mentioned that part before pulling off divine-level healing.”
Heat creeps up my neck. “I… I wasn’t sure yet,” I admit softly. “And you already had so much to deal with when we first started figuring it out. I didn’t want to add another earth-shattering revelation until I had something more concrete than a maybe. It didn’t feel fair to throw another impossible thing at you when you were already trying to hold everything together.”
Ronnie’s footsteps echo down the hall before I can say more. He stops beside us, raising a brow. “Well, it’s definitely not a maybe anymore,” he says with a grin, crouching down to our level. “Pretty sure what you just pulled off qualifies as divine intervention.”
Poppy laughs under her breath, glancing up at him. “He’s got you there, Paige.”
I groan quietly, scrubbing at my face with my sleeve. “Okay, fine. Maybe I should’ve said something. But it didn’t feel real. It still doesn’t.”
Poppy reaches over, curling her hand around mine. Her touch is warm against my clammy skin. “Hey,” she says gently. “I get it. Honestly, I think I would’ve done the same. You’ve got good instincts, and I trust you. You’ve looked after me all these years, and you’ve never done me wrong yet. You knew what I could handle, and that I wasn’t ready to hear anything else so soon. You don’t need to apologise for that.”
I lean into her, resting my head on her shoulder, so glad that she’s not upset I kept this from her.
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“Besides,” she continues, “it wasn’t a massive shock. I already figured something was different about us. I
know how rare it is for a human to be fated to a wolf, never mind multiple of them. It’s too much of a
coincidence for all of this to be chance.”
Ronnie hums in agreement. “Yeah, I’ve been around a while, and I’ve never seen anything quite like it. We
get the occasional human mate here and there but not anything like this.”
Poppy nods. “Exactly, and Leo and Jake have been telling me about old legends lately. About divine bonds
and gifts from the Goddess. When they mentioned the Moon Goddess and her chosen children,
something about it just… clicked. The term Moon Child felt right. Like I already knew it somehow. So, when
you glowed like a freaking sunrise in there, I can’t say I was completely shocked.”
Ronnie chuckles, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck. “You were both glowing. It scared the hell out
of me for a second.”
I let out a weak laugh, wiping at my eyes again. “You’re making it sound like some kind of myth. It’s not like
you’ve not seen it before, Jake glows too.”
Ronnie tilts his head, eyes widening. “No, he doesn’t.”
I frown and look at Poppy, who shakes her head slowly.
“I’ve seen it,” I insist. “When he is trying to heal, his hands get this faint glow. I’m not imagining it.” This text is hosted at find⸺novel.net
“I believe you,” Ronnie says with a reassuring smile. “If anyone had the ability to see a gift that comes
directly from the Goddess, it would be one of her Moon Children. When things calm down here, I’d love to
work with you both to see just how gifted you are, because after what I saw you two do today. I think
we’ve only just scratched the surface of what you are capable of.”
“I’m in,” Poppy grins. “But for now, let’s just be grateful for the miracle my sister just pulled off, because
honestly, I was about 70% sure Ryder wasn’t coming back from that.”
The lump in my throat grows thicker, and I squeeze her hand. “We saved him,” I whisper. “All of us. I
couldn’t have done it alone.”
Ronnie’s expression softens. “You might be right about that,” he says, glancing down the hall toward the closed door of Ryder’s room. “An alpha is only as strong as his pack, and tonight his strength grew in that
room.”
We all sit quietly for a moment, letting the gravity of everything that happened settle.
Poppy stands and offers me a hand up, brushing dust from her jeans. “Get some air, then go back in to him. You’ve earned a breather, Moon Child.”
I snort softly at the new nickname, but she’s smiling as she says it, and somehow it doesn’t feel like a label; it feels like belonging. Ronnie follows after her, leaving me alone.
I sit there a little longer, listening to the rain. I close my eyes and let the memories of that first time I saw
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Ryder wash through me again, his dark hoodie, the music spilling from his headphones, the way he looked at me like I was something good in a world that had only shown him bad.
Sixteen-year-old me never could’ve imagined how this would all turn out. She didn’t believe in magic and wolves and bonds and miracles, but she would’ve understood this part: love. The way it can break you, heal you, bring you back from the edge.
When I finally push myself up, I take one last steadying breath and head back toward Ryder’s room. I may
have saved him tonight, but he’s been saving me since the day we met; it’s just taken me a while to realise
Back in the treatment room, I find Ryder still sleeping. His heartbeat is still steady, and his colour is still
good. Across the room, Callen is finally in a bed. He’s propped up, pale but awake. The second he spots
me looking at him, that familiar crooked grin spreads across his face.
“Look who finally decided to check in,” he says, patting the bed beside him. “Come here, miracle girl.”
I roll my eyes but go to him anyway, sinking down on the edge of the mattress. “You’re supposed to be
resting.”
“I am,” he says innocently, and then, before I can stop him, he tugs me into his lap. “Though if you’re
handing out healing sessions, I might put my name on the list.”
I laugh, leaning against his chest. “You’re impossible.”
“I’m charming,” he corrects, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “And grateful. Tonight scared the hell
out of me, Paige. My brother might be a grumpy ass sometimes, but I can’t lose him, not when I’ve only
just got him back.”
Before I can answer, Parker steps into the room, arms folded and expression somewhere between
amusement and warning. “Put her down, Callen. As acting Alpha, I order you to get some sleep.”
Callen groans but releases me reluctantly. “Fine, ruin my fun, but tomorrow when I take back my title, I’m
going to spend the day bossing you around.”
Parker rolls his eyes and comes closer, his hand resting gently on my shoulder. “You look exhausted,” he
murmurs. “Let me take you home. You need sleep.”
“I can’t,” I say quickly, glancing toward Ryder. “I’m not ready to leave him yet. Or Callen. Not after…”
Parker’s expression softens instantly. He nods. “Then stay. I’ll go home, check in with Remy, and swap with him, so one of us is always here. I’ll stay with Jax and then, if everyone is up to it, I’ll bring him here to visit
on the way to school.”
The ache in my chest eases just a little. “Thank you.”
He leans in, pressing a soft kiss to my temple. “Get some rest if you can. You’ve done enough for one night.”
I look up at him and smile. “I love you, Parker.”
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He leans in and kisses me. It’s soft and exactly what I need.
“I love you too,” he breathes when he finally pulls back.
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As he heads for the door, Callen calls after him with a smirk. “I love you too, Parker. Try not to scare my
nephew with your grumpy morning face.”
Parker flips him off without looking back, and I laugh softly.
When the room quiets again, I look at Ryder and Callen and feel the last of the tension drain from my
body.
“Come here,” Callen says softly, shifting over on the narrow bed so there’s space for me to crawl in next to
him.
I go to him, letting him hold me while I rest my head on his chest. He kisses the top of my head and whispers soft words of gratitude and pride as I drift off, completely drained from the rollercoaster of a
night, or maybe it’s from the new power I used.
I know there’s still so much to talk about, so much we need to figure out, but for now, we all need rest.
Everything else can wait until tomorrow.
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