Three weeks of tentative peace, and I should have known it couldn't last.
The morning started with screams—not fear, but rage. Jennifer, the wolf with shadow-scars, had lost control during training. Her partial merger made her unpredictable; one moment calm, the next lashing out as her shadow-self fought for dominance.
"I can't do this!" she snarled, half-transformed, neither wolf nor human. "It's too much! The feelings, the memories, the hunger that never stops!"
Others were backing away, even the successfully merged. Because Jennifer represented their deepest fear—what if the merger went wrong? What if they lost themselves in the process?
"Jennifer, breathe," I approached slowly, gift extended. But her emotional chaos was like touching fire. Pain, self-loathing, and underneath it all, the terrible certainty that she was proving the traditionalists right. Some wolves weren't meant to be whole.
"Stay back!" She slashed wildly, catching my arm. Blood welled, and suddenly the training ground erupted.
Marcus materialized between us, shadows writhing. "Stand down, Jennifer. Now."
"Or what?" She laughed, brittle and broken. "You'll reject me too? Cast out the failed merger who can't control herself?"
The words hit their mark. I felt Marcus flinch, his own shadows responding to the accusation. Around us, the pack held its breath. This was the test we'd all been waiting for—what happened when our inclusive ideals met harsh reality?
"Nobody's casting anyone out," I said firmly, pressing my hand to the bleeding gashes. "Jennifer, you're not failed. You're struggling. There's a difference."
"Is there?" Raymond stepped forward, and I knew he'd been waiting for this moment. "She's dangerous. Unstable. Exactly what happens when we force unnatural mergers."
"Unnatural?" The Winter Alpha's voice cut like ice. "Boy, you wouldn't know natural if it froze you solid. This?"—she gestured to Jennifer—"This is the most natural thing in the world. A soul fighting to become complete."
But Jennifer was beyond reasoning. Her shadow-self surged, and suddenly she wasn't just wolf or human but something between—all teeth and wrong angles and keening hunger.
Luna appeared at my side. When had she woken? "She's scared of being broken forever."
"Baby, stay back—"
But Luna was already moving, small form ducking under Marcus's protective grab. She walked straight to the writhing mass of failed merger, humming that same lullaby.
"You're not broken," she told Jennifer. "You're just stuck. Like when I get my head caught in my shirt. Scary, but not forever."
She reached out, and I stopped breathing. If Jennifer lashed out, if she hurt Luna—
But the moment Luna's tiny hand made contact, everything changed. Through my gift, amplified by my daughter's power, I felt what was really happening. Jennifer's shadow wasn't fighting her—it was trying to protect her. From judgment. From failure. From becoming what everyone feared.
"Oh," Luna said softly. "Your shadow loves you so much it won't let you get hurt. But hiding from hurt means hiding from healing too."
Jennifer's form stabilized slightly, eyes focusing on my daughter. "It... loves me?"
"All shadows love their wolves. That's why the hunger hurt so much. Imagine loving someone for centuries but never being able to touch them." Luna's wisdom, delivered in a child's simple words, destroyed every remaining argument.
The transformation was slow, painful, but real. Jennifer's shadow didn't fully merge—might never fully merge—but it stopped fighting. Stopped hiding. Wolf and shadow, existing in imperfect harmony.
"I'm still broken," Jennifer whispered when it was over.
"We all are," Marcus said, helping her stand. "The question is whether we're broken alone or broken together."
The pack's response was immediate. Wolves surrounded Jennifer—shadow-merged, traditional, and everything between. Offering support, sharing their own struggles, proving she wasn't alone.
But I caught Raymond's expression. And the few who stood with him. They weren't convinced. They were calculating.
That night, while Luna slept between elaborate dream-catchers (her new obsession), Marcus appeared at my door.
"We need to talk. About Raymond. About the resistance building. About—" He paused, shadows flickering with emotion. "About us."
I let him in, knowing this conversation was overdue. Whatever came next, we needed to face it with clear eyes and unified purpose.
Even if unity was the last thing my heart wanted to risk again.