FIA
A laugh bubbled up from . It ca out half-choked with crying. "I don’t know if this is in my head or you’re actually here from another ti."
She stepped forward. Her hand reached out to touch my face, but a mbrane stopped her. The barrier shimred between us, marking the boundary between past and present.
"Ah... so this is real, and you are visiting from another ti."
She nodded.
"So we can peek into the future physically," I said.
"If you beg the goddess enough." Mother smiled. The expression looked exactly as I rembered it. Warm, knowing, and full of love. "You look so good."
More tears ford. They felt different now. Lighter sohow. "I guess I got one of my wishes. So it’s only smooth sailing from here."
She nodded.
"I’m so happy you’re here."
"I’m more than elated that I got this opportunity." Her voice carried the weight of certainty. "To see with my own eyes that all the risks I took worked out in the end. Happy birthday, baby."
I smiled through the tears. "Thank you."
"You should cry happy tears. Not sad ones." She moved closer, but the mbrane held firm. "This is a ti for you to be happy."
"I am happy." I nodded frantically. The motion made more tears spill free. "I am."
"I’m glad to hear that."
She leaned in. Her lips ca within an inch of my cheek before the barrier stopped her. "Have the life you deserve, baby."
Her gaze shifted to my phone. "You’re allowed to be angry for however long you want. What he made you go through was horrible. But you’re also allowed to let him try if you want. If enough ti has passed for you to want to try again."
I nodded.
"That includes my father, too."
Another nod ca from because my throat had closed up too tightly for speech.
"My ti is almost up." She started to fade. The edges of her form blurred and dissolved. "But know I love you, Fia."
"I do know."
She smiled. The expression lingered even as the rest of her disappeared entirely. Then she was gone, and I stood alone in my room with tear-stained cheeks and a heart that felt too full to fit inside my chest.
I moved on autopilot. Bath first. The hot water soothed muscles I hadn’t realized were tense. I scrubbed my skin until it turned pink, then stood under the spray until the steam made it hard to breathe. When I finally stepped out, I brushed my teeth twice and stared at my reflection until I could et my own eyes without flinching.
The closet yielded a dress I didn’t even rember getting. Deep green fabric that brought out the gold in my eyes. I pulled it on and did sothing with my hair that approximated presentable. Makeup went on in quick, practiced strokes.
By the ti I finished, music drifted up from the ballroom. The sound pulled forward. I followed it down the stairs and through the corridors until I reached the doorway.
Light spilled out into the hallway. Bodies moved inside, dancing, laughing, and celebrating. The sight made my chest tighten with sothing that felt dangerously close to contentnt.
Cian spotted imdiately. He crossed the room in long strides that ate up the distance between us. When he reached , his eyes tracked over my face like he was cataloging every detail.
"You look beautiful."
Heat crept up my neck. "I just put random things together."
"Then you’re naturally gifted at putting random things together." He held out his hand. "Dance with ."
I placed my palm against his. The familiar warmth of his skin grounded , pulling fully into the mont. He led onto the floor. The music swelled around us as his arm ca around my waist and pulled close.
We moved together. The steps ca easily now, after all the practice I had gotten. My head fit perfectly against his shoulder. The world narrowed to just this. Just us. Just the way his heartbeat thrumd steady beneath my ear.
"Alpha Cian."
Garrett materialized beside us. His expression was apologetic but determined.
Cian’s gaze turned sharp. The protective fury I’d co to recognize flickered across his features. "What, Beta?"
"We have what I believe is a Sentinel from Nocturne." Garrett shifted his weight. "He cos bearing gifts. For the Luna."
"Send him back."
"It’s fine." I looked up at Cian. "It’s just a gift. I can allow that."
"Are you sure?"
I nodded.
He turned back to Garrett. The tension in his shoulders remained visible. "Let them in then."
"Happy birthday, Luna." Garrett bowed slightly.
"Thank you, Garrett," I said, and then he disappeared back into the crowd.
Cian’s attention returned to , and we resud dancing.
"What did you wish for?"
I laughed. The sound felt lighter than it had any right to be. "If I say it, there’s a chance it might not co true."
"Superstitious?"
"I’m tempted to keep it an even bigger secret now because one just ca true. Plus... I think my greatest wish already ca true."
He chuckled. The sound rumbled through his chest and into mine, where we pressed together. "I’m glad I could make your wish co true."
I laughed imdiately at that, tilting my head back to look at him. "I did not say anything about that."
He pulled a fake-wounded expression, his hand pressed dramatically against his chest. "Ouch. That hurts."
"It should," I teased. "Maybe stop assuming every sweet thing I say is about you."
"But they usually are."
"That confidence is dangerous."
"It’s earned."
I rolled my eyes even as my smile widened. "You’re impossible."
"And yet," he murmured, pulling a little closer, "you’re still here."
"Well... you’ve given more than wishes." The words ca out softer than I intended. "You’ve given a ho. You have given community."
His hand ca up to cup my face. The touch was gentle despite the calluses on his palm.
"You gave that to yourself, too," he said quietly. "You walked into a place full of strangers and sohow made people care about you within days."
I snorted softly. "So of them were terrified of at first."
"So of them are still terrified of you."
"That is not comforting."
"It’s a little impressive, though."
I shook my head, laughing under my breath before the sound faded into sothing softer. "You know what I an."
His expression shifted then. The teasing eased out of it completely, leaving sothing warm enough to make my chest ache.
"Yeah," he murmured. "I do."
The song shifted into sothing slower. More intimate. Bodies around us paired off or drifted toward the edges of the ballroom, giving space to those who wanted to sway in the dimd lights.
I rested my head against his chest. His heart thrumd steady and strong beneath my ear. The rhythm matched my own. Two separate pulses finding harmony.
I had everything I could ever want. This man. This pack. This life we’d carved out of tragedy and pain and impossible odds. Mother had been right. All the risks had worked out in the end.
And for the first ti since she’d died, I let myself believe that maybe smooth sailing wasn’t just a wish. Maybe it was a promise the universe intended to keep.
That the goddess intended to keep.
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