The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 208

A page out of time

(Caius)

I read the page again.

Then I read it a third time, hoping I’d missed something.

I hadn’t.

The warning was exactly the same. Short. Direct. Written by someone who believed every extra word carried a risk.

“The names don’t belong here,” I said.

Isla looked up.

“What do you mean?”

“This journal is centuries old.” I tapped the page. “Every other name belongs to wolves who died long ag

Her eyes dropped back to the writing.

“Then why are Derek and Helene here?”

“I don’t know.”

The answer tasted bitter.

A king wasn’t expected to know everything, but I’d spent years studying old records. I’d never seen anything like this.

I lifted the page closer to the lantern.

The ink caught my attention immediately.

Most of the writing had faded with time, but the names near the bottom were darker. They weren’t fresh, but they weren’t as old as everything around them either.,

“They weren’t written at the same time,” I said.

Isla frowned.

“You think someone came back and added them?”

“I do.”

Nothing about this page felt random.

୮

Someone had hidden a warning inside an old journal.

Someone had added two names that had no place there.

And someone had gone to great lengths to make sure neither would be found easily.

A page out of time

Hooked at Isla.

“We’re missing part of the story.”

She gave a slow nod.

“I was thinking the same thing.”

“There has to be another record somewhere.”

Neither of us reached for another journal.

The page between us demanded all of our attention.

I studied the names one more time before folding the sheet exactly as we’d found it.

“If those names were added later,” I said, “there’s a reason they were hidden instead of written somewhere

else.”

Isla rested her hands on the table.

“Do you think they wanted someone to find it?”

“Eventually.”

“But not right away?”

I shook my head.

“If they wanted it discovered quickly, they wouldn’t have hidden it.”

She looked at the folded page.

“Then they were waiting for the right person.”

The words settled over us.

“Me,” she said quietly.

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I do know this wasn’t hidden by accident.”

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I walked to the nearest shelf and slid the journą! back into the space where we’d found it.

Something caught my attention.

Dust covered every journal around it, but not this one.

Someone had taken it down before we did.

They’d returned it carelessly, leaving it slightly out of place.

I looked along the row of worn bindings.

“If this one was disturbed,” I said, “there could be more.”

Isla joined me.

<A page outofme

“What are we looking for?”

“The same handwriting.”

She looked at me for a moment.

“You think whoever wrote those names left another clue.”

“I think they knew the truth could disappear.”

I rested my hand against another journal before pulling it free.

“And I think they wanted to make sure it didn’t.”

We searched through one journal after another.

Every page carried the history of our kind.

Old treaties.

Records of alliances.

Harvests.

Ceremonies.

Letters between kings.

Important in their own way, but none of them answered the questions we’d brought with us.

Hours slipped by.

The lanterns burned lower, and another stack of finished journals grew beside us.

I closed the last one in front of me.

“Nothing.”

Isla let out a quiet breath.

“So this is all we have.”

“For now.”

Her eyes found the folded page again.

“It isn’t enough.”

“No,” I said. “But it’s more than we knew this morning.”

She was quiet for a while before speaking again.

“The warning keeps repeating in my head.”

I already knew which words she meant.

A page out of time

The child must never be returned. The bloodline depends on it.‘

“I know.”

She looked down at the journal.

“There has to be more.”

“I believe there is.”

“But we haven’t found it.”

“Not yet.”

I picked up the folded page and slipped it back inside the journal exactly as we’d found it.

“Until we understand what it means,” I said, “this stays between us.

She met my eyes.

“Agreed.”

She didn’t move straight away.

Her eyes remained on the closed journal, and I knew her thoughts hadn’t left the warning.

Questions had a way of growing louder when there were no answers to quiet them.

I rested my hand over hers.

“We don’t have to solve this today.”

She looked at me.

“I know.”

“It doesn’t change who you are.”

A smile appeared on her face.

“No.”

“Good.”

I picked up another journal and placed it on the table between us.

“Let’s keep going.”

She nodded and opened it while I reached for another.

The leather binding cracked as I lifted the cover. The handwriting inside was neat, each line written with care by someone who believed these records would outlive them.

The first pages held nothing we needed.

Trade agreements.

< A page outof me

Seasonal reports.

Messages exchanged between neighboring kings.

I turned another page.

Still nothing.

Across from me, Isla had already worked through several pages of her own journal. Every now and then she paused to read a passage before moving on

“Anything?” I asked.

She shook her head.