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Those sorts of material things would probably freak her out, considering how she reacted to the things Chase bought her on a normal shopping trip.

“Thank you guys for the gift,” Luna says, her fingertips brushing the worn spines of her old books. “I’m going to cherish these. I never thought I’d see them again.”

“We’re glad you like them,” Kane says.

“You have a skill, it seems,” Archer murmurs. “A skill to find something good in everything, even if it’s a hellhole.”

Her smile goes a bit tight at the corners with Archer’s reminder of where she grew up, but she shrugs, glancing down at her books.

“I mean, what else was I supposed to do? Hope can sometimes be hard when it seems like nothing is ever going to change, so sometimes all I could do was focus on the small things I did have in front of me.”

“Well, you’re going to have a lot of big things in front of you from now on,” Chase says, taking a sip of his drink.

“I—I appreciate that,” Luna says, her smile returning.

“How have you been doing?” Archer asks her. “You look like you’ve been doing well.”

I assume he felt the same thing I did when she hugged him. She does look a lot healthier. I don’t know if it’s the makeup, but it almost looks like her skin is glowing.

“Yeah, I got a new doctor here that’s been working with Charlotte and taking in her recommendations to help me with my diet and stuff,” Luna nods. “They say it’s really important since I’ve been pretty malnourished.”

“Has that been contributing to some of the hormone issues you were experiencing?” Kane asks

“Yeah, that’s what they’re thinking. The last time they tested me a couple of weeks ago, they said I was making a lot of progress, which is good!” Her tone is bright and cheery.

It makes something inside of me twist. I remember how she was when we first picked her up. How terrified. How uncertain. How unconfident.

‘That’s wonderful,” Kane says.

She preens at his words, her smile brightening up our entire section of the room.

“What else have you been up to recently?” Chase asks. “Hopefully, they’re not locking you away in some castle tower.”

“No, no towers,” she giggles. “I’ve been taking a lot of classes like Charlotte recommended a while back. Those have been so cool!”

“Which ones do you like the most so far?” I ask her.

“And which ones do you hate?” Chase jumps in.

“Well, the one I dislike the most is probably the bookkeeping class. Taxes are weird and math makes me feel a little stupid,” she says, making a face.

“Oh yeah, screw math,” Chase says. “I’ve never been good at it either. It’s why I’m the guy who schmoozes with people out of the four of us.”

“Yeah,” Luna laughs. “But I really like the cooking classes and the art classes. The omegas in those classes have all been really nice. They’re usually older omegas that’re already bonded with kids of their own who come to the center for a break.”

“What kind of art?” Kane asks Luna.

“Oh, well, the normal kinds, I guess. Like painting and drawing, that sort of thing.”

Kane looks at Archer who leans back in his chair, a rare smile on his face.

“Looks like it’s time to finally renovate one of the rooms we never go into,” Archer says. “Tell me, Luna, would you prefer an art studio with a view of the sunrise or the sunset?”

Luna stares at him, her hands coming up to cover her mouth. She starts blinking quickly again and lets out a little laugh.

“Oh my god, you’re going to make me cry again. I can’t cry right now!”

“There is one room with a view of both,” Kane says softly.