Chapter 330 - 64: Tender Hearts

By the time Destiny reached her parents’ apartment, it was nearly ten at night. Four hours had passed since Dane’s recovery at the temple, hours filled with frantic debriefs, checks by the pack healers, and settling the immediate chaos.

The BloodMoon Estate had quieted for the evening. Outside the gates, the broader territory remained active with its usual sprawl of shops and residential streets, but the core estate was tranquil.

Her parents’ place was a modest apartment tucked into one of the residential blocks. Her father had initially insisted on living quietly in the small guest house they had been given upon arrival, but Destiny had quickly overridden him, landing them in a comfortable home that struck the right balance between space and familiarity.

She had barely stepped through the doorway when her mother looked up.

"Destiny!"

Her mother abandoned the napkin she had been folding at the dining table and crossed the small room before Destiny could even close the door.

"What happened to your hand?" she demanded, immediately reaching for Destiny’s bandaged palm. "We haven’t seen you or Dane since the funeral, and now you walk in here wrapped in gauze?"

"It’s just a cut, Mama," Destiny said, taking a seat at the table. "We’ve been... busy."

Her father had been standing by the counter, drinking a bottle of water. He lowered it slowly, his eyes narrowing at the bandage.

"Busy doing what?"

Destiny glanced between them.

She knew that look.

There was no point trying to give them half the story. They would only keep asking questions until she gave them the rest.

So she told them everything.

She explained the hunt, Dane getting bitten and cursed, the Heart Stone, the discovery at the temple, and finally the moment she had cut her palm and let her blood touch the stone.

By the time she finished, her father had heaved a long sigh. His expression had grown darker with every sentence.

"You went after a pack of cursed werewolves who are after your life without informing any of us?"

"When you phrase it like that, it sounds reckless."

"Because it was reckless," he said, his voice dropping into a low, stern register. "You were told they needed your heart. You were being hunted, yet you endangered yourself."

Destiny sighed softly.

"We just wanted justice for the dead werewolves," she replied. "And our actions let us discover something useful. I didn’t have to die to cure Dane. I wasn’t going to stand there and watch him die. My blood touched the Heart Stone, and it cured him."

Her mother sat beside her and carefully cradled Destiny’s bandaged palm in both of hers.

"So your blood and the curse are truly connected?"

"It seems like it."

Destiny looked down at the bandage.

"But I didn’t have to die for it to work. The priestess thinks Garron was driven mad by the curse, believing old legends or hallucinations."

"Or," her father interjected, stepping over to lean against the table, "it worked easily because Dane isn’t a true member of that cursed bloodline."

Destiny looked up.

"We don’t know what it takes to cure someone who has carried it for several years," he continued. "What if a full cure requires draining you of your blood completely? Until we know, you are still a target."

"I know, Dad."

She understood his fear beneath the anger. Her father wasn’t simply upset that she had taken a risk. He had nearly lost his daughter without even knowing she was in danger.

"I’m not playing the hero. We aren’t touching the stone again until we figure out who cursed them and why."

Her father studied her for a long moment before giving a small, reluctant nod.

"And until then?"

"Until then, I stay guarded. But I’m the Luna now. If the Moon Goddess put me here, I was never going to live a completely quiet life anyway."

Her mother offered a small, approving smile.

"She has a point, dear. If our daughter spent her days hiding indoors, she’d go mad."

"I’m outnumbered in my own home," her father muttered.

The tension in his shoulders had finally eased, though.

Destiny smiled. She had missed this.

For all the danger surrounding her lately, sitting here with her parents felt strangely normal. No priestess. No cursed werewolves. No Heart Stone. Just her mother fussing over her hand and her father pretending he wasn’t worried.

Her mother patted Destiny’s uninjured hand and gestured toward a stack of bags resting on the couch.

"Enough talk of curses. Look at what arrived today."

Destiny followed her over to the sitting area as her mother pulled out a neatly folded dress.

"The shop received a new collection yesterday and sent these over."

"We already have clothes," her father remarked from the kitchen doorway.

"He means he has clothes," her mother said to Destiny, holding the fabric up. "Apparently, that doesn’t stop him from complaining about the closet space."

"I was perfectly fine in our old place," he grumbled, though a faint smile tugged at his mouth.

"You complained about the leaking tap," her mother countered without missing a beat, gathering the fresh clothes into her arms. "And the kitchen couldn’t fit two people."

"I don’t cook."

"Which is why you didn’t notice."

Destiny laughed.

The familiar banter pulled away the remaining chill of the temple, and for the first time since the afternoon, she felt her body begin to relax.

Her mother showed her the rest of the clothes, commenting on which ones she thought Destiny would like while her father occasionally added an unnecessary complaint from the other room.

Destiny helped her mother put everything away in the back bedroom. She stayed another hour, not because she had anything important left to discuss, but because she wasn’t quite ready to leave.

There was something comforting about being here.

For a few minutes, she didn’t have to be the Luna or the woman whose blood might hold the answer to a centuries-old curse.

She could simply be their daughter.

When she finally stood to leave, her father opened the front door for her.

He pulled her into a quick, firm embrace.

"Tell Dane he isn’t allowed to scare us like that again."

Destiny smiled against his shoulder.

"I will."

She stepped back and looked between her parents.

"Goodnight, Papi. Goodnight, Mama."

"Goodnight, sweetheart," her mother said.

"Get some rest," her father added.

"I’ll try."

The walk back to her and Dane’s shared quarters was short and silent.

The night air was cooler now, and the estate was considerably quieter than it had been earlier. Destiny found herself replaying the afternoon as she walked, especially the moment Dane had collapsed and the fear that had gone through her when she realized what the curse was doing to him.

She pushed the thought away before it could settle too deeply.

He was alive.

That was what mattered.

When she unlocked the door and stepped into their living area, the faint sound of running water was just winding down from the master bathroom down the hall.

A moment later, Dane stepped into the doorway of the bedroom, drying his hair with a towel.

Water still glinted on his shoulders, trailing down his chest. The dark, vein-like rot was completely gone, leaving his skin clear and his posture effortless and strong.

Destiny stopped.

After everything that had happened, seeing him standing there like this still felt almost unreal.

He caught her looking and paused, a slow, lazy smirk spreading across his face.

"You’re staring."

"I’m allowed to," Destiny said, closing the front door behind her and tossing her jacket onto the entry chair. "Considering you were practically half-dead four hours ago, you recover remarkably well."

Dane hung the towel over his shoulder and leaned against the doorframe, his eyes dark and intent as she walked toward him.

"I feel more alive than I have in weeks."

Destiny stopped right in front of him and looked up into his face.

"Good. Because after the day I’ve had, you owe me."

His grin softened into something warmer, hungrier.

He reached out, his hand settling firmly against her waist to pull her flush against him.

"Is that so?"

"Yes," Destiny whispered, reaching up to cup the back of his neck, feeling the heat of his skin beneath her fingers.

The exhaustion of the day seemed to disappear between them. There had been too much fear, too much uncertainty, and too many moments when neither of them had known what would happen next.

Now he was standing in front of her, alive and whole.

Dane didn’t give her a chance to say anything else. He leaned down and captured her mouth in a kiss that was sudden, heavy, and full of the raw relief they had both suppressed in the cavern.

Destiny held onto him, letting herself breathe for the first time in hours without worrying about what might happen next.

He pulled back just a fraction, his breath warm against her lips, his hand resting steady over her hip.

"Still tired?"

"Not even a little," Destiny murmured against his mouth.

His smile returned.

He tightened his grip, pulling her fully into the room and shutting the door behind them before kissing her again.