The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 138

What comes after

(Isla)

Ironfield wasn’t going to be a problem.

That didn’t mean nobody else would be.

Caden leaned back in his chair and looked between Caius and me.

“I didn’t come here to decide whether I believe the reports,” he said.

The room stayed quiet.

His beta glanced at him once before looking away again.

Caden folded his hands on the table.

“I came because the High Council is already dividing itself into camps.”

That got my attention.

Beside me, Caius’s expression didn’t change.

“What camps?” he asked.

“The wolves who think the old laws should be honored.” Caden paused. “And the wolves who think they should never have been invoked in the first place.”

The fire cracked softly behind him.

I felt Vaela lift her head.

“They want to challenge them?” I asked.

“No.”

His answer came immediately.

“Not publicly.”

That was somehow worse.

Caden’s eyes settled on me.

“Publicly, they’ll discuss procedure. They’ll discuss precedent. They’ll discuss historical interpretation.” His mouth flattened slightly. “Privately, some of them are afraid.”

1/7

What comes after

“Of me.”

“Of what you represent.”

The distinction mattered.

I could tell by the way he said it.

Caden wasn’t looking at me like I was a threat.

He was looking at me like I was a change.

And changes made people nervous.

“You support the laws,” Caius said.

“I support reality.”

The answer came without hesitation.

Caden looked at me.

+25 Points

“The bond exists. The wolf exists. The old laws exist. Pretending otherwise because it makes some council members uncomfortable isn’t governance. It’s stupidity.”

His beta looked like he’d heard the speech before.

The head of counsel didn’t even glance up from his notes.

Caden sighed.

“They’re coming to evaluate the situation.”

His eyes stayed on mine.

“They think they’re evaluating you.”

Something in his expression shifted.

“They’re not.”

The room went still.

“What are they evaluating?” I asked.

Caden looked directly at Caius.

“The future.”

What comes after

Silence settled over the table.

I looked at Caden for a moment.

“The future,” I repeated.

“Yes.”

He didn’t elaborate immediately.

+25 Points

That told me he wanted to see whether we’d ask the next question or whether we’d assume

we already understood the answer.

Caius sat beside me without moving.

“What future?” he asked.

Caden nodded once.

“The one that follows this.”

He gestured vaguely between us.

“The bond. The old laws. A Celestial wolf returning after three centuries. Most of the

territories aren’t worried about today. They’re worried about what happens after.”

I folded my hands on the table.

“What do they think happens?”

“They don’t know,” Caden said. “That’s the problem.”

The honesty caught my attention.

Most leaders preferred certainty. Caden seemed comfortable admitting when certainty didn’t

exist.

“They don’t know what a Celestial wolf changes,” he continued. “They don’t know what authority the old laws will carry now that they’ve been invoked. They don’t know what role you’ll take in Wraithbone or whether your influence will remain inside Wraithbone’s borders.”

Vaela stirred inside me.

Not angry.

Listening.

“They’re making assumptions,” I said.

<What comes after

“Yes.”

“And some of those assumptions are wrong.”

“Most of them are.”

The head of counsel finally looked up from his notes.

“Fear fills empty spaces.”

It was the first thing he’d said since we’d entered the room.

Caden nodded once.

“Exactly.”

+25 Points

I thought about everything that had happened since Ashcrest. The hearing. The return to Wraithbone. The preparation sessions. Everything Caius had spent the last few days teaching

1. me.

People who hadn’t seen any of that only had reports.

Reports never told the whole story.

“What do they think I want?” I asked.

Caden studied me for a moment.

“Power.”

I wasn’t surprised.

“Control.”

That didn’t surprise me either.

“Influence over other territories.”

I held his gaze.

“And what do you think?”

Caden didn’t answer immediately.

“I think if power was your goal, Ashcrest would’ve ended differently.”

The room went quiet.

“You had opportunities to make examples of people,” he continued. “You didn’t.”

4.7

What comes after

I remembered the hearing.

+25 Points

I remembered standing in front of wolves who had watched my suffering for years and

realizing revenge wasn’t what I wanted.

“I wanted accountability.”

“Yes.”

The answer came immediately.

“And that’s different.”

Something settled between us.

Not agreement.

Understanding.

Caden wasn’t trying to decide whether I was dangerous.

He was trying to decide what kind of leader I would become.

“The High Council won’t understand that immediately,” he said.

“No,” Caius said. “They won’t.”

Caden looked at him.

“They’ll think they understand.”

“They’ll think they do,” Caius corrected.

A faint smile crossed Caden’s face.

“Fair.”

Caden looked back at me.

“When the High Council arrives, they’ll ask questions. Some will be direct. Some won’t.”

I nodded.

“I know.”

“They’ll hide questions inside other questions. They’ll test your answers without appearing to test them.”

I thought about the preparation sessions.

547

What comes after

The reports.

The conversations.

Everything we’d been working toward.

“They’ll want me to make mistakes.”

“Yes.”

“And if I don’t?”