The packs outcast Luna (Kaia and Theo) novel Chapter 17

Chapter 017

It’s been days after the Council hearing and verdict.

I didn’t speak much, and no one wanted me to anyway.

I spent my mornings in the infirmary, sleeves rolled high, hands moving over bandages and blood like I’d done this my whole life.

The soldiers I treated avoided eye contact at first, but wounds didn’t heal without touch–and I was the only one fast enough to stop the bleeding.

So,they had no choice but to deal with me.

With the stray,everyone was whispering about.

“Hold still,” muttered to one soldier as he winced under my stitching.

He grunted. “Didn’t think traitors had steady hands.”

I looked him in the eye, expression unreadable. “Didn’t think soldiers bled so easily.”

The soldier was shocked by my audacity.

He wanted to scream, to yell at me for talking back to a respected soldier.

But he couldn’t.

He was stunned and silent.

A beat of silence, then Amelia, the healer supervising me, snorted despite herself. “You’re lucky she’s got patience, boy. The other trainees would’ve left you leaking.”

When the soldier left, I turned to Amelia.

“You didn’t have to do that. But,thank you,Amelia for looking out for me” I said, smiling a bit.

“You’ve got skills, girl. But,that’s not enough to erase suspicions. Keep your head down and work to earn our trusts”

By the week’s end, my quiet persistence seemed to earn me a cautious respect.

Amelia didn’t smile, but she no longer flinched when I reached for her herbs.

Still, I could feel the eyes on me wherever I went–watching, weighing, waiting for me to stumble.

Every whispered word felt sharp enough to draw blood.

I didn’t care. Not anymore. I’d lived through worse.

“I’m willing to stay here. Just long enough to repay Theo for giving me a chance without judgment”

~Theo~

~~

“Your mercy is becoming weakness, Alpha,” Elder Daren said, voice slicing through the chamber’s echo.

I sat rigid in my chair, jaw locked. “You’re mistaking restraint for mercy.”

“Restraint,” Daren scoffed. “You brought a stranger into your stronghold. Yet, you keep shielding her. What’s going on,Alpha Theo? Is there something you’re not telling us?”

My hand flexed against the armrest. “There’s nothing going on.”

“Then prove it.”

The word hung heavy between us.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, frowning.

Daren’s gaze gleamed like cold steel. “A test.”

“How many more tests before you realise she’s not the enemy?” I questioned,my jaw clenched.“She has passed every test the council gave her. She has won over the Pack members and soldiers. What more do you want?”

1/4

Successfully unlocked!

Chapter 017

“For all we know she could be pretending. This is what most infiltrators do” Elder Marcus chimed in.“Pretend and have their way”

“Fine. But this is the last time. The last test,I will let you indulge her.” I warned,my jaw clenching.

“If you trusted that stray so much. You shouldn’t have to worry, Alpha Theo” Corwin said.

“True,Councilor. If the girl is as he says then I wouldn’t worry about her failing any of the council’s tests”

I knew the council wouldn’t let go of a chance to shamelessly abuse and out me.

But this is getting out of hands. I won’t be able to control myself if they don’t stop soon.

“Fine,” I said at last, the word tasting like rust. “But I choose who goes with her.”

Daren inclined his head, victory smug. “Choose all you want, Alpha. Just be ready to live with the results.”

“What’s the test about this time?,” I asked.

“The Old Alpha…”

“No. You can’t be serious, council. This is not possible

Rowan stood up, grimly.

“We are dead serious. This is our final decision”

”

After the meeting, I went to see Kaia at the Healer Chambers.

She was still sorting herbs when she felt me behind her.

She didn’t turn. “You walk too quietly for someone your size.”

“Occupational hazard,” I said, stepping into the lamplight.

The glow traced the sharp lines of my face, “You’re working late again,Kaia.”

“I’m used to it.” She tied a bundle of arnica, her movements precise. “You didn’t come here to check on herbs nor the soldiers. Did you?”

I hesitated. “The Council… approved a mission for you.”

Her hands stilled. “A mission.”

“A sick patient. Routine checkup,“I lied. “You’ll go with Zane’s team.”

“Routine checkups.” She turned now, eyes dark with disbelief. “Is that what they’re calling it? I can smell a trap

even without a wolf.”

My expression flickered. She wasn’t supposed to know that much.

“You don’t have to go,” I said, voice low. “You’re not bound to this pack.”

Kaia’s lips curved in something like a half–smile. “You saved my life, Alpha. If they want proof of loyalty, they’ll have it. I’m done running.”

When she brushed past me, her shoulder grazed my arm–small, fleeting contact that burned far longer than it should.

I caught her wrist, almost without meaning to. “You’ve got nothing to prove to them. Kaia.”

“Maybe not to them,” she whispered. “But I do to myself.”

I let her go.

Kaia walked aside.

She turned to look at me with a faint smile.

The smile framed her pretty face, I caught myself staring.

“You don’t look like a man giving orders. You look like one handing down a sentence”

My breath caught. “It’s not a sentence…. It’s a chance”

Kaia chuckled. Shaking her head. “Funny. That’s what people said before they tried to kill me”

2/4

Chapter 017

I crossed my heart to show my sincerity.

“Trust me,I wouldn’t do that to you. I will die but I won’t betray you. Even if betraying you would save my life”

Kaia stopped.

Staring at me with disbelief.

But it’s true.

I don’t know why but I feel without Kaia,my life is incomplete.

~~Kaia~~

I got ready to head to North Packhouse, where Theo’s dad and his new mate lives.

This is my mission.

Theo’s father, Council King Kingsley Ashford, the leader of the kingdoms council is quite ill.

And for some reason, they think a cursed stray from the wild is the right person to run a check up on him.

I know this is a trap.

They are setting me up for failure. I can see right through their plans.

But,I can’t stop it.

Hopefully, I evade it somehow.

Zane, Theo’s Beta, gave me a curt nod. “Orders are simple. Stay in sight. Follow command.”

I met his stare evenly. “I don’t follow, Beta. I contribute.”

That earned me the faintest smirk. “We’ll see.”

Theo stood at the gates as we left, his eyes cold with frustration.

He didn’t trust the Council’s plan–but if this was what it took to silence them, so be it.

Seira, beside him, muttered, “She’ll come back trusted… or not at all.”

Theo’s gaze lingered on the horizon. “She’ll come back.”

He wasn’t sure if it was faith or fear talking.

We left the Packhouse soon.

Hours passed before I noticed wrong.

“Stop,” I ordered softly.

Zane frowned. “What-”

“Listen.”

Silence stretched. Then–the faint shuffle of boots, too synchronized to be random.

Ambush.

“Down!” I hissed, diving as arrows hissed past.

I rolled behind a fallen trunk, heart hammering.

The attack was quick–too quick. Someone had led us straight here.

When it ended, one man was down.

The injured one, clutched his side, gasping.

I slid to his side on instinct.

“Hold on,” I murmured, tearing open his shirt to reveal a shallow but ugly wound–dark veins spidering from it.

Zane approached warily. “Can you save him?”

I didn’t answer immediately. My breath caught–the smell hit me llike lightning.

I’d seen this before. Not in Silvermoon. Not in battlefields.

3/4

பட

Chapter 017

But in memory–My grandmother’s notes, her training, the whispers of an illness that killed like time itself.

Blackbane toxin.

Rare. Slow. Meant for kings, not soldiers.

My vision tilted.

This wasn’t random. This was deliberate.

Theo’s father’s illness… the same spreading veins. The same decay.

“Someone poisoned him,” I said quietly. “The same someone poisoning your council King.”

Zane froze. “What? What are you talking about?”

I pressed her fingers to the man’s pulse–it fluttered, fading. “This wasn’t a rogue ambush. It was a setup.”

“By who?”

My gaze lifted to the darkening trees. Pulse thundered. “By someone inside your Council.”

Silence sipped through the rest of the ride with the injured soldier riding with Beta Zane.

Before sun down, we finally arrived at the North Pack.

We laid the injured soldier on a bed while I crouched by his side.

Sucking out the poison from his veins. My lips were swollen from this.

But,I kept going, afraid stopping would cost him his life.

After being outcasted, I thought there wasn’t a reason for me to live but now I see the truth clearer than ever.

Now I want to live.

To fish out the people behind the conspiracy, targeting Theo and his father,Kingsley Ashford.

And this poison… this was only the beginning.

After stabilizing the soldier, I was about to head out for some fresh air when Beta Zane stepped in my way.

Grimly, he asked. “What did you say ealier, Kaia. About the attack”

“Someone in your council wants both your Alpha and your Alpha King–dead-,” I whispered, my voice trembling with fury.

Zane shook his head in disbelief.

“What…That’s impossible”