I felt my mouth opening and shutting, but there was no sound. Rowan scoffed and took a step, but it was my mom who answered. “Was this the first time someone called you Luna since you died?”
I whirled and grabbed her hands. “Yes.” I choked out. The panic inside me made no sense. “I don’t…” I trailed off because I couldn’t explain it myself.
Rowan turned, and he stared at my face. “Why does it matter?”
My dad stepped closer to me, and I met his eyes. I saw understanding there. “When I first came back, for years after, I would call for your mother. And then panicked when she wasn’t answering. I had spent one and a half lifetimes loving her, and then she was gone. Inside, inside I knew why she was gone. But…it didn’t remove the emotions attached to it. Whenever anyone asked if I was going to get a new Luna, I lost my mind.” He grabbed my mom when she gasped.
“Gav.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and he held her close, but turned to Rowan.
“Her reaction had nothing to do with you.”
Everyone turned to me, and I took a deep breath, because at least Rowan wasn’t walking away anymore. “When she called me Luna…I was back on the table.” I shuddered. “I haven’t had a flashback in so long, I wasn’t prepared for it.” I closed my eyes. “The pain, the smell hit me all at once, and I felt like I was going to throw up.” I reached for Rowan’s hand. “I love being your mate, being your Luna. I just haven’t been called that since my first life, and I panicked.” I pulled him back, and thankfully hedidn’t resist. “My dad was right. My reaction had nothing to do with you, but everything that happened the first time around.”
Rowan searched my face, and he must have seen I was telling the truth because he pulled me to him. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have acted like that.”
My mom furrowed her brows. “Why did you act that way?” We all turned to her, and she grimaced. “Amy, you have had years to process everything that happened, and I have never seen you react so viscerally, even when you first woke up you handled it better than today.”
My dad tilted his head and turned to Rowan. “And you usually are more understanding, and don’t take things as personal attacks when something happens.” He closed his eyes and muttered a few words. Then he waved his hand and everything disappeared.
“What the fuck?” I took the first clear breath since Trina had called me Luna. “What’s going on?”
Rowan furrowed his brows. “I feel better. Less defensive.” He looked at my dad. “What did you do?”
My dad dusted off his hands. “I cleared the spell attacking your bond.”
Both Rowan and I turned to my dad. “A spell attacking our bond?” Rowan’s voice was soft. “Who is still alive with magic?”
I shook my head. “Everyone I have known so far is dead.” I blew out a breath. “Looks like we aren’t out of the woods yet.”
My dad snorted. “We are never out of the woods, pup.” He nodded towards the bowl still in my hands. “Are you ready?”
I nodded. “Can you give us a minute?” I asked my parents to go ahead.
“Of course, baby.” My mom kissed my cheek as she skirted past us down the stairs, and my father clapped Rowan on the shoulder as he stepped past us.
I snapped a barrier into place. Rowan lifted one brow, and I shrugged. “I don’t want anyone to hear what we have to say, and I don’t know who we should trust.” He bobbed his head, agreeing with me. “Are we okay?” I hated how insecure I sounded.
He stared at me for a second and blew out a breath. “Was it truly magic? Or do you secretly not want to be my Luna?”
I panicked and dropped the bowl, reaching for him. Rowan, thankfully, was fast enough to catch it before it hit the ground and my arms ended up around the neck. I pulled him towards me, causing him to stumble. “I love you. I know I probably don’t say it enough, but I do. I have loved you since before my first heat. I have spent the last few years hating how much I loved you. I want to spend every day for the rest of my life loving you.” He looked at me, and I could see a small ember of worry still there. “I will be your Luna from now until the end of time. No one else’s in this life or any that come after. I’m sorry I made you doubt it.”
His eyes searched my face, as if he were searching for the truth, and then his eyes closed and panic jumped up my throat again. But he took a deep breath. “I’m sorry.” He shook his head. “The spell seems to cling.” His eyes opened, and the devotion I saw there settled my nerves. “I love you too, rabbit.” He kissed me. “Now…let’s go down there and figure this out. We can worry about who is using magic against us after.”
I nodded. “Let’s go.” I grabbed the bowl from him and turned to head down the stairs, but stopped at the secret room with the weapons. I pushed in and grabbed a few things.
“Silver?” I thought he was going to question why I would need it, but he just grabbed a needle and a bottle of liquid.
I tilted my head. “Yeah, I figured I would start with regular torture before moving on with magic.” He snorted and pulled off the top of the bottle he grabbed. He gave it a sniff before hejerked his head back and sneezed. I laughed. “That’s wolfsbane, you fool.”
Rowan rubbed his nose and put the cap back on the wolfsbane. “I read it, but I wanted to see how strong it was.” He looked at me with a curious stare. “Why does your father have pure wolfsbane here?”
I grabbed a few more things and nodded toward the door. “Because he doses my food with it.”
“The fuck? What do you mean he dosed your food with it?” He growled as he stormed out the door, leaving me to follow.
“I mean, he took the time to build up my resistance to it gently so that no one could use it against me.” I bumped his shoulder as I passed him. “Calm down, butthead. It saved me more than you can imagine.” I headed down the stairs to the secret cells, bypassing the regular cells filled with the guards.
Rowan paused at the top of the hidden staircase and looked down the other corridor. “Aren’t we going that way?” He pointed towards the screams coming from the other cells.
