The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 105

Practice and instinct–1

(Caius)

The wolves of Ashcrest were beginning to understand that she would never belong beneath them again. I watched the realization move through the territory little by little while we crossed the courtyard together. Nobody looked through her anymore. Nobody acted like she could be pushed aside or forgotten. Good. That was how it should’ve been from the beginning.

Isla stayed quiet beside me for several more moments before finally speaking. “I want to practice shifting.”

My attention shifted toward her fully. “Practice?”

She nodded once. “I don’t want it to hurt every time.”

“It won’t,” I said quietly.

Her eyes searched mine for a moment. “I know the first time was hard,” I continued. “But your wolf’s awake now.” I held her gaze calmly. “It’ll get easier.”

Some of the tension left her body after that. “Come with me,” I said.

She followed without hesitation.

We left the main grounds behind slowly after that, moving past the lower paths and toward the eastern side of Ashcrest where the forest stretched thicker beyond the territory. Royal guards noticed us leaving immediately, but none followed. The farther we walked, the quieter everything became. Voices disappeared first. Then footsteps. Soon the only sounds left were the trees moving around us and the stream running somewhere deeper through the forest

ahead.

Isla stayed beside me the entire walk. Not tense anymore. Thinking. The afternoon air carried cold beneath the trees while sunlight broke through branches overhead in scattered pieces. The pack house felt farther away out here. Good. She needed that right now.

“This used to be part of the training grounds?” she asked quietly once the clearing came into

view.

“Yes.”

The clearing sat near the stream with enough space between the trees for shifting safely. The forest stretched wider there, leaving enough open ground between the trees for wolves to run without crashing through heavy brush. From the lack of scent and disturbed earth it

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Practice and instinct–1

was clear the area hadn’t been used much recently.

Isla looked around slowly before turning back toward me. “No one comes here?”

“Not often.”

+25 Points

Relief crossed her face briefly. I stepped closer toward her. “You don’t need to force the shift.”

“I know.”

“Just let your wolf come forward naturally.”

She nodded once. Then she closed her eyes.

The air changed almost immediately afterward. Power moved beneath her skin while silver passed through her eyes for a brief moment. I watched her breathing slow little by little until the shift finally happened naturally. No scream. No collapse. No pain. One second Isla stood

in front of me. The next her wolf stood there instead.

Pale fur caught the sunlight breaking through the trees, somewhere between moonlight and ash. Silver eyes stayed fixed directly on me while cold air moved through the thick fur around her neck. She was something I had no adequate words for standing there in the clearing

light.

Vorak stirred heavily beneath my skin.

‘Mate.‘

I shifted seconds later.

The forest sharpened around us after that. Water. Pine. Earth. Isla. Her wolf moved first, fast, darting deeper between the trees before circling back toward Vorak again, almost playful despite herself. I followed immediately while the two wolves disappeared further into the forest together. Branches cracked beneath us while we ran.

This version of Isla felt different. Out here she wasn’t trapped inside fear or survival. She was free. And she was beginning to understand what that freedom felt like. The difference was visible in every movement she made, the way she pushed ahead without hesitating, the way she turned back toward me not out of fear but out of choice.

We ran deeper through the forest for what felt like hours. Her wolf grew more confident with every turn through the trees. Faster too. Sometimes she pushed ahead before circling back toward Vorak again like she wanted reassurance he was still there beside her. He always was. By the time we returned toward the clearing, the sun had shifted lower through the branches overhead and Isla’s wolf looked calmer than before. Happier.

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