The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 209

First light–1

(Rodan)

The sound of the lock woke me before the guard spoke. I opened my eyes and found three royal guards waiting outside the bars. The lanterns behind them were still burning, but the sky beyond the prison had begun to brighten. First light had come.

I sat up and placed both feet on the floor. My body felt heavier than it had the night before, but I didn’t allow it to show. One of the royal guards unlocked the cell while the other two watched me. None of the

reached for their weapons.

“Stand,” the guard ordered.

I rose without answering and held my hands in front of me. He fastened iron restraints around my wrists and checked each one before stepping back. The chains were heavy, but they weren’t tight enough to

cause pain.

“Do you have any final requests?” he asked.

I looked past him at the empty corridor. There was nothing I wanted from Caius and no one I wished to

see.

“No.”

He nodded as though he’d expected that answer. The guards formed around me, one in front and two behind. I stepped out of the cell without looking back. There was no reason to remember a place I’d occupied for only one night.

We walked through the prison in silence. The corridor seemed longer than it had when I’d been brought in though I knew that wasn’t possible. Locked doors lined both sides, but no voices came from behind them Either the other prisoners were asleep or they’d learned not to speak when a condemned wolf passed.

The guard ahead of me stopped at a set of iron doors. He removed a key from his belt and unlocked them while the others remained close behind me. Cold morning air entered the corridor as the doors opened. I breathed it in without meaning to.

The prison yard was larger than I’d expected. Stone walls surrounded it, with royal guards posted above and along the ground. A wooden platform stood in the centre, built high enough for everyone present to see. There weren’t many witnesses.

A royal official waited beside the platform with the same sealed order he’d read the night before. Two council representatives stood with him, both wearing ceremonial robes. A healer remained several steps away with a small leather case. Everything had been prepared to carry out Alpha King Caius‘ sentence.

I was led across the yard. Gravel shifted beneath my boots while the guards kept pace around me. No crowd shouted my name or demanded my death. The silence suited the moment better than celebration ever could.

At the bottom of the platform, the guard removed the chain connecting my wrists. The restraints remained, but I could lift my hands without dragging the weight between them.

<First light–1

He pointed toward the steps.

Up

I climbed without hesitation. Each step brought the yard into clearer view. Beyond the prison walls, the had begun to change from grey to pale gold. Somewhere beyond those walls, Ashcrest was waking.

The wolves at Ashcrest would know the moment it happened. The bond every pack shared with its Alp would break, and another would take its place. Life inside the pack house would continue, even if my

name didn’t.

The royal official stepped forward once I reached the centre of the platform. Ple unrolled the order and faced the witnesses below. His voice carried across the yard as he read my name, rank, crimes, and sentence. I listened without lowering my head.

“Rodan of Ashcrest,” he said when the list was complete. “By the judgment of Alpha King Caius, you hav been found guilty of unlawful imprisonment, abuse of power, cruelty against a member of your pack, an defiance of royal law.”

He paused before speaking the final words.

“The sentence passed against you is death.”

The words didn’t surprise me. I’d heard them before, first at the hearing and again inside the prison. Hearing them beneath the morning sky made them feel more final. There was no wall between the sentence and its fulfilment now.

“Do you understand the judgment passed against you?” the official asked.

“I understand.”

My voice carried clearly across the yard. No one could claim I hadn’t heard or accepted what came next.

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First light 2

First light–2

“Do you wish to speak before the sentence is carried out?”

I looked at the wolves gathered below. None of them belonged to Ashcrest, and none of them knew me beyond the crimes written on the scroll. Anything I said would become part of the official record. I had n interest in offering them regret I didn’t feel.

“I’ve already said what I needed to say,” I answered.

The royal official watched me for another moment before rolling the scroll closed. He handed it to one o the council representatives. The executioner stepped onto the platform.

He wore no mask. I respected that more than I would’ve respected a wolf who hid his face. His clothes were plain, and a long sword rested at his side. He stopped several feet away and waited for the official’s command.

A guard came behind me and removed the restraints from my wrists. For one brief moment, my hands were free again. I rubbed the marks left by the iron before letting my arms fall. The guard pointed toward wooden block at the centre of the platform.

I walked to it and stopped. The block was worn from years of use, though someone had cleaned it before morning. Everything had been prepared to carry out Alpha King Caius‘ judgment. That made it easier to understand.

“Kneel,” the executioner said.

I lowered myself onto both knees. The gravel pressed through the fabric of my trousers. I placed my hand on my thighs and looked toward the eastern wall.

The sky beyond the walls was growing brighter. Morning had arrived whether I was there to see it or not. The wolves at Ashcrest would be seeing the same sunrise.

For years, I’d believed a pack carried the mark of its Alpha. I’d thought my strength had shaped Ashcrest and my decisions had kept it alive. The truth was less flattering. The territory had existed before me and would continue after me.

Caius would change it. He’d remove those loyal to my ways and replace them with woWes who believed in his. He’d speak of fairness, old laws, and his duty as Alpha King to protect ever the weakest member of a pack. Ashcrest would learn to obey him as it had once obeyed me.

Isla would stand beside him. The woif I’d kept chained would walk freely through the territory I’d once ruled. Wolves who’d ignored her suffering would bow when she passed. There was meaning in that, though

I didn’t care to name it.

I hadn’t expected her to survive. I’d believed five years of wolfsbane and hunger would’ve broken any wolf. Instead, she’d become something none of us had understood. A Celestial had risen from the shack where I’d allowed her to be treated as less than nothing.

Perhaps that was why Caius had shown no mercy. My crime hadn’t only been what I’d done to her. I’d nearly destroyed a bloodline that the old laws placed above every Alpha. The same act I’d considered unimportant had become the reason my name would end here.

<First light-

The royal official stepped beside me.

“The sentence will now be carried out.”

His words were meant for the witnesses, not for me. I kept my eyes on the growing light. The morning ha become warmer in colour.

I heard the executioner remove the sword from its sheath. The sound travelled across the platform and ended quickly. He moved behind me without speaking. I didn’t turn to look.

Fear would’ve changed nothing. Begging would’ve changed even less. I’d spent my life telling others that weakness invited defeat. I wouldn’t abandon that belief simply because defeat had finally found me.

My father had said every Alpha ruled for only a time. I’d rejected the lesson because I thought he was preparing me to accept failure. Now I understood he’d only been telling me the truth. No throne belonged to one wolf forever.

Ashcrest had been mine. Then I’d lost it. Caius had taken control, and no wolf had the strength to challenge his right to rule. There was nothing left to argue.

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