Chapter 255

“So, there’s nothing at all about yourself that you want to tell me?” she asks again.
“Ummm, I guess my mother trained me to be a good Luna,” I say.
“Did she? What does that look like?” she asks. She’s a lot like Christian. Even though we’re walking about the packhouse and she’s looking at everything, it still feels like she’s completely involved in our conversation.
“Well, I know how to manage a packhouse.”
“And is that what you want for yourself? To be a Luna?” she asks.
I open my mouth and then close it again.
“I guess I never really thought about it,” I say finally.
“You should think about it. There’s nothing wrong with being a Luna. I’m not saying that, but as an Alpha female myself, I always wanted more. Not everyone does, but I did. If you do, Christian can help you with that.”
“He wants me to go to the Academy,” I say, watching her.
“If you expect me to tell you it’s a bad idea, you’ve got the wrong person. I worked at the Academy for years, first as an assistant, then I took the classes, then I was an instructor. I’ve seen the transformation in countless Alphas at the Academy. No one knows how much it will do for them until you go. There’s only one way to realize it and that’s to attend. Sebastiana may end up being a Luna someday. But I want
her to go to the Academy so that she doesn’t feel like that’s the only path available to her. She, like you, is a beautiful, intelligent, capable woman. All of us should have choices in our lives. Things are a bit different now than they were in my day, but at twenty–six, I hadn’t found my fated mate. I went to the Academy so that I wasn’t a burden on my brother.”
“Where were your parents?” I ask.
“They died when Dane and I were still underage, just like you and Shane. The difference for me was that Dane was older than I was. He looked after me and took care of me. My brother has always been my hero,” she says, smiling. “He teaches at the Academy now. Christian will tell you that he didn’t go easy on him. If anything, he pushed Christian harder because of who he is.”
“How did you do it?” I ask her.
“Do what?” she asks as we walk out back. She leads me to a place where we can sit and talk in private. She turns and looks at me with the same intensity that Christian does, as if there’s no one else in the world but the two of us.
“How did you get past their deaths?” I whisper.
She sighs. “That was not easy, and it’s only been a few weeks for you. You don’t get over something like that quickly. It gets easier with time. Eventually you can look back on your memories and smile about them, but that doesn’t happen for a long time. Dane used to find me crying and he’d hold me while I sobbed my heart out. Then, once I’d cried myself to sleep, he’d put me to bed. I still don’t know how he managed to take such
good care of me while going through the same grief that I was,” she says.
“Christian does that with me,” I say softly.
“Which part?” she asks.
“If I don’t go to him when I start to feel sad, he finds me, holds me, and after I’ve cried myself to sleep, he puts me to bed.”
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