🐕 S19 Galaxy Dynasty Luma Drama

A Dog, Not a Baby

Luma had been pacing the balcony when Cipher finally walked in, his hands wrapped around the collar of something huge.

Not the dainty, soft-eyed puppy she had imagined.

Not the delicate, wing-feathered little companion she had already picked out a name for in her head.

No.

This was a dog built like Cipher himself — lean, muscled, intelligent eyes glowing faintly with resonance patterns along its fur. Male. Of course it was male.

“Cipher,” she said, her voice clipped, “what is that?”

He grinned, too proud of himself, patting the creature’s shoulder as though it were an equal. “A guardian. A real one. Not some prissy lap-hound that hides in the drapes when the auroras flare. This one thinks.”

Luma folded her arms, feeling the sting of betrayal in the stupidest way. She had wanted him to have a dog. She had imagined how he’d soften, how the little thing would nestle in his lap until he finally broke and admitted he wanted a child too.

Instead, he had brought home… this.

Something that was his.

The dog looked at her then — head tilted, eyes searching. Not hostile, but steady.

It unnerved her.

“You got yourself a dog,” she muttered, sinking into one of the curved couches, her gown pooling like spilled light. “Not our dog.”

Cipher laughed, dropping into the seat across from her, the beast curling loyally at his feet. “Luma, this isn’t about me. He’ll guard you. Guard us. You’ll see. He’s sharper than most men I’ve ever known. And one day, when we do have a child—” his voice dropped, softer, “—this one will already know who he’s protecting.”

She hated him for saying it that way, hated that he knew exactly how to pull at her longing.

Still, when the dog rested its heavy head on her knee a moment later, she didn’t move it away.

Not yet