The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 21

She is my mate–1

(Caius)

I finished with Drace and Hadoc and Dolin in under an hour.

Drace gave me the most. Not willingly, not at first, but he was a practical man and practical men understood quickly when the calculation had shifted past the point where protecting themselves meant protecting the people above them. He talked about the chain order, about the whipping schedule, about the pack hierarchy meetings where Isla’s situation had been discussed and decided and maintained year after year. He kept his voice flat and his eyes on the table and he gave me names and dates and specific incidents and I let him give them without interrupting.

Hadoc gave me less but what he gave me confirmed what Drace had said. Dolin gave me almost nothing useful but his silence on certain questions was its own kind of answer.

Maren said nothing for the entire hour. She sat where she was with her hands folded and her face the color of ash and she didn’t speak unless directly asked and when she was directly asked she gave me the shortest possible answer and stopped.

When I was done I dismissed them and told them to remain available and not to speak to each other about what had been discussed in this room. They filed out. Maren last, without looking at Isla as she passed her.

I looked at Isla.

She was still in the chair where Zeron had put her. She’d been there through the entire meeting, in the corner of the room, not at the table, and she’d been so still for so long that some of the hierarchy members had seemed to forget she was there. I’d been aware of her the entire time. Vorak had made sure of that.

“The healer’s coming,” I said. “She’ll see to your ankle before we do anything else.”

Isla looked at me. She nodded.

“After that,” I said, “I need to speak to the full pack again.”

Something moved across her face. Not fear exactly. The particular watchfulness she had when she was trying to work out what a thing was going to cost her.

“You don’t have to be there,” I said. “Zeron can stay with you.”

She thought about it for a moment. Then she said, “I want to be there.”

She is my mate–1

+25 Points

I looked at her. She held my gaze and I could see the decision in her face, not impulsive, not emotional, considered. She’d thought about it and she’d decided and she wanted me to know

it was her choice.

“Alright,” I said.

The Ashcrest healer came and went in thirty minutes. She was efficient and she kept her face carefully neutral while she treated Isla’s ankle and I watched her work and noted the particular kind of neutrality that came from a person who had known something was wrong for a long time and had made the choice not to do anything about it. That name was going on my list too.

When she finished I gave Isla a few minutes and then Zeron brought the pack back to the

main hall.

They filled the room standing, all sixty members, the hierarchy at the front and the general pack behind them. Rodan was there too, brought in by two of my warriors, his face still marked from the wall. He stood at the side of the room and didn’t look at anyone.

I stood at the front.

Isla was to my right, a few feet away, standing on her own. She’d refused the chair Zeron had offered her for this. She was standing with her back straight and her eyes forward and she

looked like someone who had decided something about themselves in the last few hours that they were not going to walk back.

I looked at the room.

“I have one thing to say to this pack before my investigation continues,” I said. “After I’ve said it there’ll be no discussion, no questions, and no responses. You’ll hear it and you’ll understand it and we’ll move forward.”

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