Luna. Chapter 27

 (Lyra's POV)

I spent the rest of the evening packing in secret. Just a small backpack with essentials - some clothes, the ultrasound photos, what little money I'd saved from my previous life. Everything had to fit in something I could carry easily without drawing attention.

Sage had been right. Staying at Mountain Cross was putting everyone at risk. The threatening text message proved that Seraphina knew where I was, and it was only a matter of time before she escalated from threats to action.

At midnight, I slipped out of my room and made my way toward the kitchen. The packhouse was quiet except for the usual sounds of a building settling for the night. Most pack members were asleep, trusting in their Alpha's protection.

Protection I was about to abandon.

I was creeping through the main hallway when I heard voices from Magnus's study. The door was slightly ajar, letting a thin line of light escape into the corridor.

"...can't keep this from her much longer," a male voice was saying. I recognized it as Lucian, Magnus's head of security.

"She's not ready to know," Magnus replied, his voice tight with stress.

"But if she finds out on her own, if she discovers what's in that room..."

"She won't. The room stays locked. No one goes in there without my explicit permission."

What room? What were they talking about?

"Magnus, with respect, she's going to start asking questions. Pregnant women are curious about their new homes. What if she wants to explore? What if she accidentally—"

"There will be no accidents. I've made sure of that."

I pressed closer to the door, trying to hear more clearly. What was Magnus hiding? What room was so secret that even his own security chief was concerned about it?

"The resemblance is uncanny," Lucian continued. "Sometimes when I see her in the hallway, for just a moment I think..."

"I know." Magnus's voice was pained. "But she's not Evangeline. She can never be Evangeline."

Evangeline. Magnus's dead wife. The one he'd told me about, the one who'd died in a car accident.

"What happens when she realizes the truth? When she understands why you really offered her the Right of Second Chance?"

What Magnus lie me?

"She won't realize anything if we're careful," Magnus said firmly. "Evangeline is gone. Lyra is here now. That's all that matters."

"But the room—"

"Stays locked. End of discussion."

I heard chair legs scraping against the floor, the sound of someone standing up. They were finishing their conversation. I needed to get away before they discovered me eavesdropping.

But as I turned to leave, my backpack caught on a decorative table in the hallway. A small ceramic vase wobbled, then crashed to the floor with a sound like thunder in the quiet house.

The voices in the study stopped immediately.

"What was that?" Lucian asked.

"Check it out. Quietly."

I abandoned stealth and ran. My escape plan was ruined, but maybe I could still get away before they realized what I'd overheard.

The kitchen door was locked from the inside, That was Magnus' precaution against foreign invasion. I fumbled with the deadbolt, my hands shaking with adrenaline and fear.

"Lyra?" Magnus's voice came from behind me. "What are you doing?"

I turned to face him, backpack still over my shoulder, guilt written across my face.

"I was... I couldn't sleep. I thought maybe some tea..."

His eyes took in the backpack, my guilty expression, the obvious lie I'd just told.

"You were leaving."

"Magnus, I can explain—"

"You don't believe me.." His voice was flat with disappointment and something that might have been hurt.

"I have to. The threats, I'm bringing to your pack—"

"What did you hear?"

The question was quiet but loaded with tension. Magnus knew I'd been listening to his conversation with Lucian.

"I heard enough." I lifted my chin, trying to project confidence I didn't feel. "I heard that there's something you're not telling me. Something about why you really offered me protection."

Magnus and Lucian exchanged a look that confirmed my suspicions.

"We should discuss this privately," Lucian suggested.

"No." I stepped back toward the kitchen door. "I'm leaving tonight. Whatever secrets you're keeping, whatever game you're playing, I don't want to be part of it."

"Lyra, please. Let me explain."

"Explain what? That you've been lying to me since the day we met? "

Magnus moved closer, his hands raised in a placating gesture. "It's not what you think."

"Then what is it?"

"It's about keeping you safe. About making sure what happened to Evangeline doesn't happen to you."

"What happened to Evangeline?"

Magnus was quiet for a long moment, clearly struggling with how much to reveal.

"She didn't die in a car accident," he said finally. "She was murdered. By people working for someone who saw her as a threat."

"What kind of threat?"

"She didn't die in a car accident," he said finally. "She died in childbirth. Along with our baby."

The words surprised me."Magnus, I'm so sorry."

"None of us thought of it. Postpartum hemorrhage， doctors can’t solve it in time.

" His voice was barely above a whisper. "I lost them both in one night."

"That's why you've been so protective of me. Because I'm pregnant."

"Because I couldn't save Evangeline and our child. Because I failed them when they needed me most." Magnus looked at me with eyes full of old pain. "I won't fail again."

"And the room Lucian mentioned?"

Magnus was quiet for a long moment. "It's where I kept everything of hers. Her paintings, her clothes, photos of our life together. I couldn't... I couldn't let go."

"You want to show me a shrine to your dead wife?"

"I want to show you why I offered you protection. Why I understand what it means to lose everything that matters." He paused. "And why I need you to understand that part of me will always belong to her."

"You mean I'm not just your Luna. I'm your way of trying to save someone you couldn't save before."

"Maybe. At first." Magnus met my eyes directly. "But it's become more complicated than that."

"How?"

"Because you're not Evangeline. You're stronger, braver, more willing to fight. And that scares me."

"Why does it scare you?"

“Because I caring about you means risking that kind of loss again. And I'm not sure I could survive it twice."

"Lyra—"

"Show me the room, or I leave right now. Your choice."

Magnus looked at Lucian, who shrugged helplessly.

"Show her," Lucian said. "She's going to find out eventually anyway."

Magnus sighed heavily. "Okay. But you have to promise me that when you find out the truth，you must control your emotions. Even for the baby."

Chapter 0028 

(Lyra's POV)

Magnus led me through corridors I'd never seen before, deeper into the mountain than I'd known the packhouse extended. The walls here were natural stone, carved out of the mountain itself, lit by sconces that cast dancing shadows.

"Where are we going?"

"To the room Lucian and I were discussing." His voice was strained. "The one I should have told you about weeks ago."

We walked in silence for several minutes. The escape plan was forgotten now, replaced by a desperate need to understand what Magnus had been hiding.

"How long have you been keeping this secret?"

"Since the day you arrived."

"Why?"

"Because I wasn't ready to face it myself. Having you here, it brought back everything I'd been trying to forget."

We stopped in front of a heavy wooden door. Magnus pulled out an old-fashioned key and turned it in the lock. His hands were shaking slightly.

"Magnus, you're scaring me."

"I'm not trying to scare you. I just need you to understand why I offered you protection and quickly to help someone I barely knew."

The door swung open with a groan of hinges that hadn't been used in years. The scent that emerged was stale and sad. Like flowers left too long in a vase.

Magnus reached inside and turned on a light switch. Soft illumination filled a room that made my breath catch.

It was a bedroom. A woman's bedroom, perfectly preserved as if the occupant had just stepped out for a moment. The bed was made with lavender sheets. A book lay open on the nightstand. Clothes hung neatly in an open wardrobe.

But what drew my attention were the photographs. Dozens of them, covering every available surface. All of the same woman.

She had long silver hair and pale eyes. A heart-shaped face and delicate features. She was beautiful in an ethereal way that seemed almost otherworldly.

And she looked exactly like me.

"That's Evangeline," Magnus said quietly.

I moved closer to one of the photographs, my mind struggling to process what I was seeing. The resemblance wasn't just close. It was exact. We could have been twins.

"This is why you offered me the Right of Second Chance."

"At first, yes."

"Because I look like your dead wife."

"Because seeing you at that rejection ceremony was like watching Evangeline come back to life."

I felt sick. All this time, I'd thought Magnus was being kind. Generous. Treating me with respect and care because he saw value in me as a person.

Instead, he'd been playing out some twisted fantasy of bringing his dead wife back.

"Is that what this has been about? Me being your Luna, you offering to raise my baby - is it all about replacing Evangeline?"

"It started that way." Magnus moved to stand beside the bed, his hand touching the lavender sheets. "I won't lie to you about that."

"But?"

"But you're not Evangeline. You're nothing like her, actually."

"What do you mean?"

"Evangeline was gentle. Quiet. She liked to paint and read poetry. She never raised her voice or challenged anyone." Magnus looked at me directly. "You work in the kitchen with the staff. You stand up to people who question your authority. YYou put yourself in danger instead of putting others in trouble."

"So I'm the inferior copy?"

"You're the stronger woman. You brave than herself."

I glanced at him, trying to understand. "Then why keep this shrine and preserve her room like a museum?"

"Because I felt guilty. About moving on, caring for you else." Magnus sat heavily on the edge of the bed. "Evangeline died because of me. Because I wasn't there when she needed me most."

"You said she died in childbirth."

"She did. But there were warning details I missed. Symptoms I dismissed as normal pregnancy discomfort." His voice cracked slightly. "If I'd been more attentive, if I'd insisted on better medical care..."

"Magnus, you can't blame yourself for medical complications."

"Can't I? I was so focused on pack business, so determined to be the perfect Alpha, that I failed to be a good husband."

I looked around the preserved bedroom, understanding dawning. This wasn't just a shrine to his dead wife. It was a monument to his guilt.

"How long ago did she die?"

"Three years. Three years of keeping this room exactly as she left it. Three years of telling myself I didn't deserve to be happy again."

"And then I showed up."

"And then you showed up, looking exactly like her, and I thought maybe..." Magnus shrugged helplessly. "Maybe it was a sign. A second chance to get it right."

"But I'm not Evangeline."

"No, you're not. You're Lyra. And that terrifies me."

"Why?"

"Because caring about you, the reality you means letting go of Evangeline and accepting that she's gone and I need to build a life without her."

I moved to the wardrobe and looked at the clothes hanging there. Dresses in soft colors, cardigans, practical shoes. Nothing like what I preferred to wear.

"Have you been in here since I arrived?"

"Every night. After you went to bed, I'd come here and try to figure out what I was doing. Whether I was helping you or using you."

"And what did you decide?"

"I decided I'm probably doing both."

At least he was being honest now.

"Magnus, I can't compete with a ghost. I can't spend my life wondering if you love me or just love the memory of someone who looked like me."

"I know."

"Then why are you showing me this now?"

"Because you need to know the truth before you make any decisions about your future. Staying here or accepting protection somewhere else."

"Somewhere else?"

"I contacted Alpha Adrian yesterday. Before your attempted escape. He's offered to provide security and medical care for you and the baby."

"Kael's cousin?"

"The Alpha King. He has resources I don't. Better doctors, more sophisticated security systems." Magnus stood up from the bed. "And no emotional baggage involving women who look like his dead wife."

I feel my heart ache, I don’t know why."You're sending me away."

"I'm giving you a choice. You can stay here, knowing that part of me will always see Evangeline when I look at you. Or you can accept Adrian's offer and figure out what you really want without that complication."

"What do you want?"

"I want you to be happy. I want your baby to be healthy. And I want to learn how to love someone without trying to resurrect the past."

"Can you do that?"

"I don't know. But I'd like to try."

We stood in silence for a moment, surrounded by the preserved remnants of a life that had ended too soon. I understood now why Magnus had been so protective, so quick to offer help. I also understood why he'd seemed distant sometimes, distracted.

He'd been living with a ghost.

"I need time to think about this."

"Of course."

"And I need you to do something for me."

"What?"

"Close this room. Pack away Evangeline's things. Not because you're forgetting her, but because you're ready to live in the present instead of the past."

Magnus looked around the bedroom with eyes full of pain and longing. "I don't know if I'm ready for that."

"Then you're not ready for me. Not the real me."

It was harsh but true. If he couldn't let go of Evangeline's ghost, he'd never be able to see me as anything more than a convenient substitute.

"Will you stay until Adrian's people arrive?"

"Yes. But not because I'm your replacement wife. Because I'm your Luna, and this pack deserves that much from me."