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The war left scars.

On the land.

On the pack.

On me.

But there was something else stirring now-beneath the bruises, under the grief. Something I had never felt before.

It wasn't rage.

It wasn't revenge.

It was power.

?

I first felt it during the healing circle.

Kael and I had gathered with Mira and the wounded warriors to channel energy, to mourn the fallen, to honor the strength that held the border.

I stood between them all-no longer outsider, no longer omega-just Luna.

And when the elder began to chant the old tongue, asking for the Moon's blessing on the pack, something deep inside me responded.

A pulse.

A hum.

A calling.

My wolf stirred. My bones ached. My skin shimmered faintly beneath the moonlight.

Then one of the injured wolves collapsed mid-chant, his wound reopening, blood pouring from his side.

Everyone froze.

Except me.

I didn't think-I moved.

I dropped to my knees beside him and placed my hands over his wound.

"Luna, don't-" Mira started, but her voice trailed off as a soft glow lit beneath my palms.

White-gold. Gentle. Warm. Like moonlight poured into skin.

The bleeding stopped.

The gash sealed.

And the air went silent.

I stumbled back, breathless. "What... what was that?"

Kael's voice was hushed. "You healed him."

"I don't know how."

Mira stepped closer, studying me. "There were whispers... ancient ones. That long ago, some omegas were gifted. Not weak. Not lesser. Just different."

"What kind of different?"

"The kind that could channel the Moon itself."

?

That night, Kael sat with me in our den, eyes still wide with wonder. "You're not just bonded," he said. "You're blessed."

I laughed, though my hands were still trembling. "I'm still trying to believe that's even real."

"Luna," he said softly. "You healed a wolf who would've died. That's not luck. That's legacy."

And suddenly, I remembered something my mother once told me, long before she was gone:

"You don't have to be fierce to be strong. You just have to know who you are."

Maybe... I was finally starting to.

?

The next day, word spread.

Not just through Crescent Fang, but across the forest.

The Ashmoon omega had healed a dying warrior.

The rejected girl had saved the pack.

The weak one wasn't weak at all.

And I knew then-

Jace would return.

Not for love.

But for fear of what I'd become.

Because I wasn't just his past anymore.

I was his reckoning.