The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 161

Nothing left to hold at–1

(Isla)

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If someone had told me a year ago that I would wake one morning looking forward to mating the Alpha King, I would’ve assumed they’d mistaken me for someone else.

I turned and looked at his sleeping form and thanked the goddess for giving him to me.

I wouldn’t have been ready to claim another life back then.

I’d barely known how to hold on to my own.

Meeting Caius hadn’t changed everything overnight. He hadn’t rescued me with grand promises or impossible declarations. He’d simply stayed. Day after day. Choice after choice. He’d given me space when I needed it, stood beside me when I couldn’t stand alone, and believed in me long before I knew how to believe in myself.

Somewhere along the way, without either of us noticing exactly when, he’d become my home.

He stirred a little before opening his eyes. I didn’t look away from him, I simply stared at what was mine. Fully mine.

His eyes met mine almost instantly.

For a moment neither of us spoke.

We simply looked at each other.

The bond was calm again, warm and familiar, the unbearable ache from the night before finally gone.

“Good morning,” he said softly.

“Good morning.”

“You look happy.”

“I am.”

His thumb brushed lightly across my hand.

“I like seeing that.”

“So do I.”

“Today is the day, are you still ready?” he asked.

I smiled.

“I’ve never been more ready.”

His gaze searched mine, not because he doubted me, but because he wanted to be absolutely certain.

“You know we don’t have to,” he said quietly. “Not today. Not because of last night.”

Nothing left to held at–1

“know.”

“If you’ve changed your mind…”

“I haven’t.”

I squeezed his hand gently.

“I told you yesterday that today would be our day.”

“You did.”

“And I meant every word.”

The tension I’d missed until then left his face, replaced by the small smile I loved seeing.

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“Let’s get ready then. Shower first, then food. You have to eat a lot to keep your energy up because mating and marking each other might take longer than either of us expects.”

I laughed.

“You’ve thought about this.”

“I’ve had time.”

“Should I be worried?”

A quiet laugh escaped him.

“No.”

“That didn’t sound convincing.”

“It wasn’t meant to.”

I rolled my eyes and pushed lightly against his shoulder.

“I was beginning to think you were trying to calm me down.”

“I am.”

“It’s not working.”

He smiled.

“Are you nervous?”

“A little.”

“Good.”

I frowned.

“Good?”

“It means this still matters.”

ľ

Nothing left to hold at–1

couldn’t argue with that.

We showered separately.

I dressed simply and went out.

Claim

Caius was already at the small table near the window with food waiting. He looked up when I came out and something moved through his expression that he didn’t try to contain.

We ate.

Not quickly. Not with the particular focused efficiency of two people trying to get through a meal to reach something else. We ate the way we’d learned to eat together, without needing to fill every silence. He gave me the last of the bread without asking if I wanted it. I took it without thanking him because we were past the point where small things required acknowledgment.

When we were done he looked at me across the table.

I looked back.

Neither of us said anything for a moment. The bond was warm between us, present and easy, nothing reaching in it, nothing straining. Just there.

I stood up first.

He stood with me.

I crossed to him and stopped in front of him and looked up at him the way I’d looked at him that first morning when I’d asked him what sex with the Alpha King would feel like and watched something behind his eyes go very careful very quickly. He wasn’t being careful now. He was just looking at me. All of him present and none of it managed.

I reached for the front of his shirt.

He let me.

I walked him back toward the bed without hurry, without agenda, just moving because that was the direction we were going and the direction felt right. When the backs of his knees found the edge of the bed he sat and I stood between his knees and looked at him from above for once, which was new, and something about the newness of it settled something in me.

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