h4Chapter 204: Luna’s New Role/h4

    strongLUNA POV/strong

    I threw myself between Shadow-Aiden and baby Hope just as his dark energy st tore through the air where the infant had been seconds before.

    The attack hit me square in the chest, sending pain like ice through my veins. But I didn’t fall. Five years of foreign training had taught me to stand strong even when everything hurt.

    "You always were too slow, Luna," Shadow-Aiden sneered, preparing another attack. "In my reality, I killed you years ago for being weak."

    "Good thing this isn’t your reality," I shot back, wiping blood from my mouth. Around me, the arena filled with more shadow versions spilling through dimensional cracks. Shadow-Brock flexed muscles that looked wrong somehow. Shadow-Elder Iris cackled with knowledge turned cruel. Shadow-Dr. Sarah carried medical tools like weapons.

    But what scared me most was seeing Shadow-Luna step through a portal, wearing the same face as mine but with eyes full of hate.

    "Hello, failure," Shadow-Luna said with my voice twisted by hate. "I’m what you could have been if you hadn’t gotten soft."

    I tried to think of a clever answer, but honestly, I was scared. Five years ago, I would have run away or hidden behind Aiden. But now I had duties. As Silver Peak’s negotiator, I’d sworn to protect the pack. As Aiden’s mate, I’d promised to stand by his family. And as Hope’s future godmother, I would die before letting anyone hurt that baby.

    "Lily, Caleb!" I shouted without taking my eyes off the shadow forms. "Whatever you’re nning with that family bond thing, do it faster!"

    "We’re trying," Caleb yelled back, his golden form burning brighter as he held baby Hope. "But something’s wrong. Every time we start to connect, the shadows get stronger too."

    I dodged another st from Shadow-Aiden and suddenly understood what was happening. "They’re feeding off your bond," I realized. "The stronger your family connection gets, the more power they steal from it."

    "That’s impossible," Dr. Sarah said, but her voice shook with uncertainty.

    "Is it?" Shadow-Lunaughed, circling me like an animal. "You stupid girl. You think love makes you stronger? Love is weakness. It gives your enemies something to target, something to steal, something to ruin."

    She was wrong. I knew she was wrong because I’d lived both ways. Five years ago, I had been like her - driven, selfish, caring only about my own power. But love had changed me. Not made me weak, but given me something worth being strong for.

    "You’re the one who’s wrong," I said, surprising myself with how confident I sounded. "Love doesn’t make you weak. It makes you willing to be stronger than you ever thought possible."

    To prove my point, I did something crazy. Instead of fighting Shadow-Luna, I turned my back on her and ran toward Lily, Caleb, and Hope. I heard Shadow-Luna’s attacking up behind me, but I didn’t look back.

    "Luna, what are you doing?" Aiden shouted from somewhere behind me.

    "Something I should have done five years ago," I called back. "I’m choosing my family over my fear."

    I reached Lily just as Shadow-Luna’s st was about to hit me in the back. But instead of killing me, the attack stopped in mid-air. Baby Hope had raised one tiny hand, forming a shield of golden light that protected all of us.

    "She saved me," I whispered in wonder, looking down at the glowing infant.

    Hope looked up at me with those gxy-filled eyes and made a soft sound. Somehow, I understood what she was trying to say. She wasn’t just protecting me - she was asking me to join the family bond.

    "I’m not family," I said, shaking my head. "I’m not even rted to you."

    But Hope gurgled insistently, and suddenly I felt her thoughts in my mind. Family wasn’t about blood or gics. It was about choice. About people who would protect each other no matter what. And Hope was picking me.

    "Luna," Lily said weakly from where shey resting from the birth. "If you join our bond, you’ll be connected to us forever. Are you sure?"

    I looked around at the shadow versions closing in on us. Shadow-Aiden was nning a massive attack. Shadow-Brock was flexing for a deadly charge. Shadow-Elder Iris was saying something that made the air itself feel sick.

    But more than that, I looked at the people I’d sworn to protect. Lily, tired but still trying to help her baby. Caleb, zing with power but clearly suffering. Hope, tiny and perfect and holding back an army of evil with nothing but love and drive.

    These weren’t just my duties anymore. They were my family.

    "I’m sure," I said, reaching out to take Caleb’s free hand while Lily grabbed my other one.

    The moment our circle finished, power exploded through all of us. Not just Hope’s Order energy or Lily’s Bnce skills or Caleb’s dimensional knowledge. Something totally new - a force thatbined diplomatic wisdom, omega intuition, Order structure, and Bnce harmony into one incredible power.

    Through the link, I felt Hope’s n clearly for the first time. She wasn’t trying to fight the shadow forms. She was trying to help them. To show them what they could have been if they’d chosen love instead of hate.

    "Brilliant," I breathed. "She’s not going to kill them. She’s going to give them a chance to change."

    But as our united power reached out toward the shadow army, something went horribly wrong. Instead of mending them, our love seemed to make them angrier and more powerful.

    "You fools," Shadow-Elder Iris cackled. "Did you think we wanted to be healed? We picked darkness because darkness is honest. We picked hate because hate is pure. Your weak love just makes us stronger in our convictions."

    Shadow-Aiden raised his hands, and every other shadow form did the same. "Thank you for showing us exactly how disgusting goodness really is. Now we know we were right to ept evil."

    Their united attack built like a storm of pure malice. But worse than that, I felt something through our family link that made my blood freeze.

    Hope was crying.

    Not because she was hurt or scared, but because she was sad. She’d wanted so badly to save everyone, even the evil versions. But her first effort to heal the world had failedpletely.

    "Lily, Caleb," I said quickly as the shadow attack prepared to destroy us all. "Hope’s losing hope. If she gives up on trying to save people, what happens to her power?"

    Through the bond, I felt their horrified awareness. Hope’s skills came from her desire to make things better. If she stopped believing that people could change, if she lost faith in the possibility of salvation...

    "She’ll be just as dark as they are," Caleb whispered.

    The shadow versions’ attack shot toward us like a wave of liquid night. But as it approached, I felt Hope’s power beginning to shift. The golden light around her flickered toward silver, then gray.

    My godchild was about to fall to darkness, and it would be all our fault for failing to protect her naive heart.

    "Everyone hold on," I yelled as Hope’s light began to dim. "We’re about to find out what happens when the universe’s greatest force for good decides that evil was right all along."

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