The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 130

Hard questions

(Caius)

+25 Points

I cleared my schedule for the morning.

Pryor looked at the items I moved without commenting, which meant he approved, and by the time Isla appeared at my office door everything that could wait had been pushed to the

afternoon.

She came in and sat across from me and looked at me directly.

“Start from the beginning,” she said.

“The High Council was established two centuries ago as a neutral body to mediate disputes

between territorial packs. Seven members elected from the major territories every ten years.”

“Are any of them from packs that would want to challenge Wraithbone?” she said.

That was a good first question.

“Two of them,” I said. “Elder Sorin of the northern territories and Councillor Halvon of the

western pack alliance. Both have interests that a Celestial wolf complicates.”

“How?” she said.

“Sorin controls the northern bloc,” I said. “Four of the seven council votes follow his lead. If

he decides to push for the mark formally the numbers are there to make it an official council position.”

“Can they force it?” she said.

“No,” I said. “The High Council has no authority over the mark itself. But they can make the political cost of refusing high enough that other packs start applying their own pressure.”

“And Halvon?”

“He wants Wraithbone’s attention divided,” I said. “A Celestial wolf and an unmarked mate bond is exactly the kind of thing that keeps a king occupied.”

She was quiet for a moment.

“So Sorin wants to settle things on his terms,” she said. “And Halvon wants things to stay unsettled.”

“Yes,” I said.

Hard questions

“They’ll work against each other,” she said.

I looked at her.

+25 Points

“If Sorin pushes too hard for the mark Halvon will push back,” she said. “Because a settled

situation doesn’t serve him.”

“Yes,” I said.

She looked at the documents on the table. “What do the other five want?”

“Mostly what councils always want,” I said. “To appear neutral while protecting their own

interests.”

She almost smiled at that. “So the same as everyone.”

“Yes,” I said.

“And Sorin specifically,” she said. “What does he look like? How does he move in a room?”

I looked at her.

“You’re already thinking about reading him,” I said.

“I want to know what I’m walking into,” she said. “Tell me.”

“Older,” I said. “Deliberate. He speaks slowly and chooses every word carefully. If he asks you something twice it means your first answer didn’t satisfy him.”

“And Halvon?”

“Younger. Less patient. He’ll push harder and faster than Sorin and he’ll make it look like reasonable questions.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Questions about the mark,” I said. “About the timeline. About what formal recognition of a Celestial wolf means for territorial law. He’ll frame everything as procedural concern.”

“But it won’t be,” she said.

“No,” I said. “It’ll be pressure dressed as process.”

She nodded slowly and looked at the documents again.

“Can I read those?” she said.

“Yes,” I said. “That’s why they’re there.”

Hard questions

+25 Points

She reached for the nearest document and I watched her settle into it with the particular focused attention she gave things that mattered and I thought that whoever the High Council sent in thirty days was going to walk into a room they hadn’t fully prepared for.

She read through the first document without speaking.

I watched her from across the table. Not obviously. The way I watched most things, present and aware without making it into something that required acknowledgment. She turned the pages carefully, the same focus she gave everything that mattered, and the room was quiet around us except for the fire and the distant sounds of the pack house going about its morning.

After a while she set the document down.

“They’re going to push hard,” she said.

“Yes,” I said.

“Sorin especially.”

“Yes.”

She looked at the table for a moment. Then she looked at me directly.

“What if it comes to that?” she said.

I waited.

“What if the political cost becomes too high,” she said. “What if not marking me creates problems for Wraithbone that can’t be managed any other way.” She held my gaze. “I’m not saying that’s where we are. I’m asking what happens if we get there.”

“It won’t come to that,” I said.

“You don’t know that,” she said.

She was right. I didn’t know that with certainty and she knew I didn’t and saying otherwise would have been the wrong kind of answer. I held her gaze and said nothing for a moment.

“No,” I said. “I don’t know that.”

She nodded once. Then she said, “If it does. If it comes to the point where it has to happen regardless of everything else.” She paused. “Can we do it properly? Not because the High Council pushed for it. Not because thirty packs are watching. Because we chose it.”

The room went very quiet.

Hard questions

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