The Alpha King And His Chosen Luna novel Chapter 80

What they buried rises–2

Sera nodded once. “Take her somewhère enclosed. Quiet. Keep contact if she seeks it. Don’t force anything. If bones start to move, don’t restrain her.”

I almost smiled despite the moment.

“I know how shifting works.”

“This isn’t ordinary shifting,” Sera said. “She’s been blocked for years.”

Fair correction.

Isla made another sound and doubled over harder.

I gathered her fully then, one arm behind her back, the other under her knees. She gasped as I lifted her, then clutched at me with immediate instinct.

The hall murmured despite itself.

I turned my head toward them once.

Silence returned so fast it was almost violent.

Rodan stood chained at the front, face drained, watching with naked disbelief. Maren looked as if the floor had opened under her. Derek had gone white. Brent looked ready to bolt though there was nowhere to go.

Let them watch this much.

Let them understand the wolf they had buried was rising while they stood accused.

Then no more.

I carried Isla toward the side door.

Her face was against my throat now. Heat poured from her skin. The shaking hadn’t stopped, but it had rhythm now, deeper and more internal, as if her body was answering an old command at last.

“You’re alright,” I said.

She gave a broken laugh that was nearly a cry. “Doesn’t feel like it.”

“It will.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve shifted before.”

୮

That earned the smallest breath that might have been a laugh if pain hadn’t stolen it halfway through.

Good.

Keep her with me. Keep her in the moment.

Wat they went on

Clan

We reached the side chamber beside the hall, amold council room now empty except for a long table and chairs. I kicked the door shut behind us and set her on the cleared tabletop because it was the nearest solid surface high enough to support her if her legs failed.

She caught my wrist before I could step back.

“Stay.”

“I wasn’t leaving.”

Her eyes burned brighter now, amber swallowing more of the brown. She looked half feral and wholly magnificent.

Vorak went silent in awe.

Interesting.

I stepped between her knees and braced my hands on either side of her hips, close enough to hold if needed, far enough not to cage.

“Breathe,” I said.

She obeyed once, then another wave tore through her.

This time I heard it.

The small crack of bone adjusting in her hand where it gripped mine. She stared at it in horror.

“Caius.”

“Normal.”

“That is not normal.”

“For shifting, it is.”

She glared at me through pain.

Good. Anger was easier to survive than terror.

Another crack sounded, this time in her other wrist. She cried out and bent forward into my chest. I caught her at once, one hand at the back of her head, the other across her spine.

“You’re safe,” I said into her hair.

“It hurts.”

“I know.”

“Make it stop.”

“Can’t.”

She cursed me.

Also good.

What they be ++

Clam

Sera knocked once and entered when I gave permission. She carried water and cloths, nothing more. She set them down quietly and assessed Isla with one sharp glance.

“Eyes fully changed,” she said. “Good sign.”

“Doesn’t feel good,” Isla said through clenched teeth.

Sera almost smiled. “No one’s first shift does.”

“It’s not my first.”

“No,” Sera said. “It’s your stolen first returned late.”

That silenced the room for a moment.

Even Isla stilled enough to look at her.

Sera stepped back again. “Alpha King, keep her grounded. She’ll follow your voice easier than mine.”

“Understood.”

She withdrew, closing the door behind her.

Isla’s hands were changing now.

Nails lengthening into claws, then drawing back halfway, then pushing again as her body fought for pattern. Fur traced briefly along her forearms in pale lines before receding.

She stared.

I did not.

I kept my eyes on her face.

“Stay with me,” I said.

“Trying.”

“Good.”

“I hate this.”

“You’ll hate it less in an hour.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know many things.”

She almost bit me then, and I respected the effort.

Another wave came harder than the others.

Her spine arched. A cry tore from her throat and shifted halfway through into something deeper, rougher, wolf beneath woman. Vorak answered with a growl I barely contained.

‘Easy!‘

What they be sen

‘She calls.

“She suffers.’

‘She survives.

That quieted him.

Isla sagged against me afterward, panting.

“It stopped.”

“For now.”

Her eyes narrowed. “I dislike your experience.”

“Noted.”

I offered water. She drank greedily, then grimaced as another tremor ran through her.

This one was smaller.

Then another, smaller still.

The body often learned once it committed.

I brushed damp hair back from her face. “You’re doing well.”

“I look terrible.”

“You look dangerous.”

That earned a real laugh, brief and strained but real.

Good.

Claim

Outside the door I could sense the held tension of the hall waiting under Zeron’s command. Proceedings paused. Judgment delayed. Let them wait.

Nothing in that room mattered more than this.

Isla’s breathing eased by degrees. The shaking lessened. Her claws retracted, though not fully. Her eyes remained amber, watching me with new awareness and old exhaustion mixed together.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“Now,” I said, resting my forehead briefly to hers, “you finish becoming what they failed to destroy.”

And outside, Ashcrest waited while its future changed in the room beside it.

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