Thank you! I was definitely going for some of my own emotional buttons along the way--it's good to hear I was mashing them for other people, too. :D

I was trying hard to find a voice for Alina, as someone who has a family history, too--not as a hunter, but as a healer, and who had a little pride in being able to make things right. And then at the end, I thought about them only having The Talk, but since they'd already had sex for the spell, it felt necessary that they'd need to go there again, for each other. I'm glad it worked for you, too.