The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 144

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The wolf betert the crown

The wolf before the crown

(Isla)

I stayed quiet for a moment after that.

The room felt different now than it had when we’d first come upstairs. Not because anything around us had changed. Because I’d spent the last hour learning things about Caius that had nothing to do with councils, territory disputes, or old laws.

Just him.

The wolf sitting beside me.

I looked down at our joined hands and thought about everything he’d told me. A younger Caius getting in fights. A patient mother who somehow managed to keep up with him. A father who’d spent years trying to stop him from becoming a problem.

And somewhere in another country, a twenty year old sister who apparently argued with him whenever sh felt like it.

The thought made me smile.

“What?”

Caius’s voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

I looked up at him.

“I was just trying to imagine it.”

“Imagine what?”

“Younger you.”

That earned a look.

I ignored it.

“The fights. The temper. Your father wondering what you’d done now.”

A faint hint of amusement appeared in his eyes.

“It wasn’t that bad.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“I don’t believe that.”

“You don’t?”

“No.”

His hand tightened around mine briefly.

The wolf belent the crewn

The bond warmed in response and I felt myself smile again.

“Did you ever get caught doing something stupid?” I asked.

“Frequently.”

I turned my head immediately.

That answer had arrived much too quickly.

“Frequently?”

Caius sighed.

The sound carried the resignation of someone who already knew he wasn’t getting out of this

conversation.

“One time my father spent three hours looking for me.”

I sat up slightly.

“What happened?”

“I climbed onto the roof of the council building.”

I stared at him.

“The council building?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

His expression remained completely serious.

“I wanted to see if I could.”

For a second I just looked at him.

Then I laughed.

Not a polite laugh. Not a quiet one. A real laugh that escaped before I could stop it.

Caius waited patiently while I laughed at him.

“You climbed onto the roof of the council building because you wanted to see if you could?”

“Yes.”

“That’s the entire reason?”

“Yes.”

I shook my head.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Clear

The wolf befer the crown

“So I’ve been told.”

I laughed again and Caius looked entirely too satisfied with trimself about it.

The worst part was that I could actually see it. Younger Caius sitting on a roof somewhere refusing to come down while his father stood below wondering what he’d done to deserve him.

“You were a nightmare.”

“Probably.”

“Definitely.”

That earned another small smile.

Claim

The bond felt warm between us and I found myself smiling too. It wasn’t really the story that was making me smile. It was getting to see this side of him.

The side that existed before titles and responsibilities.

I rested my head against his shoulder again and listened to the quiet of the room. Voices carried faintly through the walls. Somewhere downstairs a door opened and closed before the sound disappeared again.

The pack house was still moving around us.

For once neither of us felt much interest in joining it.

I looked down at our hands again.

“Do you think you’ll visit them after the High Council leaves?”

Caius was quiet for a moment.

“I’d like to.”

The answer came without hesitation.

I nodded slowly.

“You should.”

His arm tightened slightly around my shoulders.

“Maybe.”

I turned my head enough to look at him.

“That’s not an answer.”

A faint look crossed his face.

“It might be the best answer you’re getting tonight.”

I smiled.

Then I settled back against him and closed my eyes.

The wolf belert the crown

The High Council was still coming. Alpha Voss was still coming. None of that had changed.

But right now I wasn’t thinking about any of it.

Chuim

I was thinking about a younger Caius climbing onto a council building roof because he wanted to see if he could.

That felt like information I should’ve had much sooner.

I opened my eyes again after a moment.

The image refused to leave my head.

“You really stayed up there for three hours?”

Caius looked down at me.

“I stayed up there until my father climbed up after me.”

I stared at him.

“He climbed up there too?”

“Yes.”

“What happened then?”

A faint look crossed his face.

“He sat down.”

I blinked.

“That’s it?”

“That’s it.”

I shook my head.

“I don’t understand your family.”

That earned the smallest hint of amusement.

“My father said the same thing.”

I laughed softly.

The bond warmed between us and settled again.

For a while neither of us spoke.

Then another question occurred to me.

“Does your sister know who you are?”

Caius raised an eyebrow.

The wolf befert the crown

“She knows exactly who I am.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

His expression shifted slightly.

I could tell he’d understood immediately.

I wasn’t asking if she knew he was Alpha King

I was asking if she knew him.

The person sitting here.

The wolf who climbed onto roofs, got into fights, and apparently drove his father insane.

“She does,” he said quietly.

For some reason that answer made me smile.

The room grew quiet again.

Not uncomfortable quiet.

The kind that came when neither of us felt the need to fill every space with words.

Then Caius looked down at me.

“What about you?”

I blinked.

“What about me?”

“What would’ve you been like?”