Page 65 of The Barren Luna

Patient no. 49675: “No, completely new. I woke up in a house I’d never seen before. There was a lot of yellow, soft light. I started wandering around, and I heard voices, so I went towards them. I soon recognized the wolves talking, they were Elizabeth, Adeline, and John, and they were talking about me.”

Dr. Jackson: “What were they saying?”

Patient no. 49675: “Can’t you guess?”

Dr. Jackson: “I’d rather hear it from you.”

Patient no. 49675: “They were pitying David for having a damaged second-hand mate like me. They were wondering whether he’s in danger from me, since I killed the last one.”

Dr. Jackson: “Did you feel any different towards them when you woke up?”

Patient no. 49675: “For a few hours, I did. I was totally paranoid.”

Dr. Jackson: “Do you have any idea what could have caused the nightmare?”

Patient no. 49675: “One hundred percent David’s mom coming back. You remember how on edge I was that day?”

Dr. Jackson: “I do. Have you spent any more time with her?”

Patient no. 49675: “I have, a few dinners, a shopping trip. Always with others around.”

Dr. Jackson: “Is there reason why you're emphasizing that?”

Patient no. 49675: “I just... I worry that it’s all for show. The nice, kind, accepting persona. I keep waiting for her to turn into Catherine.”

Dr. Jackson: “Based on your previous mother-in-law experience, that is a logical fear to have.”

Patient no. 49675: “I know, but I’m so tired of being afraid.”

Dr. Jackson: “Sometimes the primitive response to trauma is the need to be hyper-vigilant so that it never happens again, so you never feel safe and never let yourself relax; that’s your defense mechanism kind of working against you.”

Patient no. 49675: “That's exactly how I feel. If I let my guard down for even a second, all I can think is,Remember what happened before? Don’t be stupid.It’s exhausting.”

Dr. Jackson: “How is Adeline’s relationship to Elizabeth?”

Patient no. 49675: “It’s great, but she -”

Pause.

Dr. Jackson: “She what?”

Patient no. 49675: “She has pups.”

Dr. Jackson: “Would you think less of her if she didn’t?”

Patient no. 49675: “Of course not.”

Dr. Jackson: “Would David?”

Patient no. 49675: “I don’t think he would.”

Dr. Jackson: “Why do you think that?”

Patient no. 49675: “Well, he told me once he didn’t care and sounded like he meant it. And the other day, I was talking to Elizabeth about him when we were at the park with Thomas and Jane, and she told me stories about them growing up together. While talking, we got to the topic of pups, and she told me that over the years, she’s heard him say many times how frustrated he was about not having met his mate yet, and others wouldtease him about being eager for an heir or pups, and she said that he’d always stress how you can have pups with anybody, but you can only have one mate. And that kind of settled in my heart nicely.”

Dr. Jackson: “That is one of the fundamental truths of our kind. Why do you think your former mate wasn’t able to see it?”

Patient no. 49675: “You wouldn’t believe how many times I’d asked myself that in the last year. The only answer I could come up with was that for him, having an heir was tied to his masculinity, his power as an Alpha, and his sense of self-worth. It had nothing to do with me or love or even wanting to be a father. ”

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