The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 185

Quiet paths

(Isla)

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Walking beside Caius felt different.

Maybe it was because neither of us was in a hurry. Maybe it was because I’d chosen to stay in my human form. Either way, I was glad we hadn’t shifted.

I looked over at him.

His eyes were on the path ahead, but his hand never left mine. There had been a time when I thought simple things like this belonged to other people.

“You’ve gone quiet,” he said.

“I was thinking.”

“About?”

“How different everything feels.”

He glanced at me.

“In a good way?”

“The best way.”

He smiled, and we kept walking.

For a while neither of us said anything.

I didn’t mind the silence. It wasn’t the uncomfortable kind I’d grown up with, where silence meant someone was angry or waiting for me to make a mistake. This silence was easy. It gave me room

to think.

“I’ve been wondering something,” I said.

“What?”

“Did you ever imagine any of this?”

He looked at me.

“What part?”

“You and me.”

He smiled.

<Quiet paths

“No.”

“Not even once?”

“I hoped I’d find my mate one day,” he said. “I never imagined who she’d be.”

I looked down at our hands.

“I used to hope I wouldn’t have a mate.”

He frowned slightly.

“Why?”

“Because I thought whoever it was would reject me the moment they realized I didn’t have a wolf

He stopped walking.

I looked up at him.

“I’m sorry you ever had to believe that,” he said.

I shrugged.

“It seemed like the most likely outcome.”

He lifted our joined hands and kissed the back of mine.

“It was never going to happen with me.”

I smiled.

“I know.”

We started walking again, our hands still linked.

After another few minutes he slowed.

“Come here.”

I looked at him curiously as he led me a few steps off the trail.

“What is it?”

He pointed toward a large oak.

“I carved my initials into that tree when I was fifteen.”

I laughed.

“You?”

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<Quiet paths

“I regretted it as soon as my father found it.”

“What did he do?”

“He made me spend the afternoon planting new trees.”

I smiled.

“I think that was a fair punishment.”

He laughed.

“So did he.”

I walked over to the tree and found the carving.

It had faded with time, but it was still there. I ran my fingers over the letters before looking back at

him.

“You never came back to remove it?”

He shook his head.

“My father told me to leave it.”

“Why?”

“So I’d remember that every choice leaves something behind.”

His answer stayed with me for a moment.

“He sounds like he taught through everything.”

“He did.”

I looked at the carving for another moment.

It wasn’t much. Just a few letters in an old tree. But somehow it made him seem younger to me, easier to picture as the boy he had once been before the crown, before the responsibility, before everyone had looked to him for answers.

I was still learning new things about him, and I hoped I never stopped.

I took one last look before stepping away.

It made me wonder how many memories this mountain was holding for him. Some were probably happy. Others probably weren’t, I wanted to know them all one day, not because they changed who he was, but because they had helped make him the man I loved.

I slipped my hand back into his.

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Quiet paths

“Ready?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Ready.”

We walked for another few minutes without speaking.

I realized I wasn’t trying to fill the silence anymore. Being beside him was enough. Somehow, it always was.

I looked down at our hands.

Not so long ago I’d believed nobody would ever want to hold mine. Now Caius reached for it without thinking.

The thought stayed with me as we continued down the trail, and I couldn’t help feeling grateful for everything that had brought us here together.

After a while, the trees began to thin again.

I could see more of the familiar paths ahead, and I knew we were getting closer. Part of me

wanted to keep walking anyway, just to make this morning last a little longer.

“You’ve done that twice now,” Caius said.

“What?”

“You looked ahead and sighed.”

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