ile calm of Elara's sleep. Her stepfather's voice trembled, low and urgent

soft, almost swallowed by his own grief. "..

r pillow soaked her face in tears she didn't even know had started,

, though she already knew it was true. Every instinct in her body screamed it. Her mother, the on

, Elara. I... I tried, but there was nothing..." His voice crack

the warmth of the room. When she arrived at the hospital, it was as if the building itself mourned with he

om, everything felt unreal. The bright fluorescent lights, the sterile smell of antiseptic,

in her chest. She touched the cold hand lying on the sheet and whispered her name. The tear

pologizing for never understanding fully, for all the questions she had left unasked,

down his face. He reached out, and they held each other, two f

happened. But the only sound that emerged was a quiet, broken sob. The grief wasn't just sadn

soft and steady, always telling her that the world was bigger than she could see, that there were mys

ts. "There's... something I need to tell you, E

cion and curiosity mixing

r... your real father... he's-he's not from our world. He's.

of the bed for support. The grief, already a storm inside her, now tangled with co

an?" Her voice was bare

never accept a human Luna. That's why she ran, that's why she married me. She want

olf with golden eyes-everything was suddenly making sense. She remembered the scratches on her arms she had never been able t

sbelief, but beneath it, something in her chest began to stir

your family, Elara. But he doesn't know about you yet. You have... a choice. You can find him. You

or her mother was overwhelming, a heavy tide pulling her under. But mixed wi

el part of, the people who seemed oblivious to the way she experienced the world,

d she face a pack of creatures who might reject her?

ut she also wanted... everything her mother had promised. A life beyond human limitations,

ugh she knew time was slipping through

g hair from her wet face. "But you can't ignore this forever. The pack..

wirled, mixing grief with fear, with longing, with a strange, fluttering excitement she

ight of evening. The shadows seemed sharper somehow, and the air smelled faintly of rain, like the

ind: "There are mysteries, Elara..

e unde

or at least, sh

d her would take her far from everything she had known

ated bond she couldn't yet comprehend would p

hing bigger than herself-something wild, something powerful, som