The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 318

Someone of my own to protect

(Isla)

Claim

The letter was shorter than expected. Darius had written my name at the top, followed by words I had to read twice. He said if I was holding this letter, then Orin had decided the time had come. That meant my life had become about protecting someone besides myself.

I looked at Lyrienne before continuing. Her eyes were already on the page, but she hadn’t seen this letter before. Caius remained beside me, close enough that our arms touched. I began reading the rest aloud.

“My little Isla, if Orin has given you this, then you have someone you would give everything to protect.” My voice caught on the words. “I hope that means you have found a life filled with people you love.” I stopped there for a moment.

Darius wrote that becoming my father had changed the way he understood fear. Before me, he’d believed courage meant facing danger without allowing fear to control him. After I was born, he learned there were things worth being afraid of losing. Loving someone meant accepting that fear and protecting them.

anyway.

I thought about the baby growing inside me. I already understood more of what Darius meant than I had before I knew I was pregnant. The thought of someone trying to hurt my child brought out something in me I couldn’t explain. Vaela felt it too.

‘Our pup will be safe, Vaela said. There was no doubt in her words. ‘We will protect our pup.‘ I believed her.

I continued with the letter. Darius warned me not to let fear become the only thing guiding how I protected someone. He wrote that there was a difference between keeping someone safe and stopping them from living. That sounded like something Caius needed to hear too.

I glanced at him. Caius knew exactly why I was looking at him. He didn’t need the mate bond to A understand it. I raised my eyebrows before returning to the letter.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Caius said. He looked at the page in my hands. “Your father doesn’t know our situation.” He already sounded defensive.

“He knew enough.” I couldn’t resist smiling. “Maybe you should listen to him.” I went back to reading.

Lyrienne covered a laugh with her hand. Darius’s next words were about trust. He hoped whoever I loved would be strong enough to stand beside me instead of expecting me to stand behind them. My smile disappeared as I read that part.

I thought about everything Caius and I had faced together. He worried and sometimes tried to protect me more than I wanted, but he’d never asked me to become less than I was. He’d stood beside me before the Council and every territory that questioned me. Darius would have known his daughter hadn’t chosen someone who wanted her hidden away.

The next part was written differently. Darius said he didn’t know whether the person I was protecting would be my mate, a child, or someone else I loved. He only knew there might come a day when I understood why he’d made the choices he did. He hoped I would forgive him for the ones that had gone

wrong.

Someone piny own to protect

Clas

My eyes moved to Lyrlenne. She was crying again, but she didn’t look away. Darius had written the letter before he knew how badly things would end. He couldn’t have known I would read it centuries later.

“I don’t know what he wanted forgiveness for,” I said. There were still parts of Darius’s story we hadn’t learned. “He was trying to save me.” I couldn’t blame him for that.

“He blamed himself for trusting the wrong people,” Lyrienne said. She wiped her face. “Even before you disappeared, he questioned every choice he’d made.” She wished he’d understood that Varen’s actions weren’t his fault.

I read the last part silently before deciding I wanted them to hear it too. Darius wrote that if I had a child someday, he hoped I’d tell that child about him. Not because he wanted to be remembered as someone important. He simply wanted his grandchild to know there had once been a man who would have loved them without ever meeting them.

I couldn’t read the final sentence aloud. My hand went to my mouth as tears came again. Caius took the letter before it slipped from my fingers. Lyrienne pulled me against her.

For several moments, none of us spoke. My father had written about a grandchild he could never know. Now I was carrying that child while reading his words. Somehow he’d thought far enough ahead to leave a place for himself in a future he would never see.

I placed my hand over my stomach without thinking. There was no change I could feel yet, but I knew our baby was there. Darius would never hold this child. But his grandchild would know who he was.

“I’ll tell our baby about him,” I said. I looked at Lyrienne and then Caius. “Everything we know.” I meant it.

“We will.” Caius handed the letter back to me. “Your father will be part of our child’s family.” He didn’t

hesitate.

Lyrienne reached for the letter after I folded it. She ran her fingers over Darius’s name before giving it back. I could see how much his words had affected her. This wasn’t only something he’d left for me anymore.

We returned the letter to the chest with the others. I wasn’t reading another one today. There was enough in this letter to think about without adding anything else. I wanted to remember every part of it.

Later, we found Orin in the library with Pryor. He had several Keeper records spread across the table while Pryor compared names from different pages. Zeron hadn’t returned yet from speaking with one of his contacts. Caius joined Pryor while Lyrienne stayed with me.

I watched Orin explain something from a record written centuries ago. He didn’t speak as someone who’d studied that time. He remembered it because he’d lived through it. For some reason, I’d never really stopped to think about what that meant.

Orin had known Darius. He’d known Varen and Maelor too. He’d carried memories of those people for centuries while almost everyone else from that time had died. Yet Orin was still here.

“Orin,” I said. He looked up from the records. “There’s something I should have asked you a long time ago.” The question suddenly seemed obvious.

“What is it?” Orin asked. He set the record down. “You can ask me anything.” His attention remained on

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