The packs outcast Luna (Kaia and Theo) novel Chapter 23

Chapter 023

–Theo

I was having trouble getting some sleep.

I tried reading a book but it didn’t help.

My mind was painstakingly spinning. Distracted by some weird thoughts.

The Packhouse had gone still long ago, but sleep never came easily to me.

The room felt too quiet, the air too heavy. I poured a glass of water and let my eyes wander to the window.

Across the courtyard, a single room still burned with light.

Kaia’s.

I could see her standing there in the dimly lit room with her shadow moving about.

Her hair falling forward each time she leaned over.

She hadn’t said much to me since she arrived from my father’s Packhouse.

Just a polite nod then she left.

I told myself it was exhaustion, but a small part of me worried she was angry–with me, with the pack, with all of it.

Before I could think better of it, I stepped outside for air.

The night was cold tonight.

I walked out, the night carrying the scent of pine and distant rain.

When I raised my head, I was surprised.

Kaia, there she was, standing by the railing of the lower balcony, her shawl wrapped tightly around her shoulders, head tipped back to the moon.

“You are out here,couldn’t sleep?,” I said quietly.

She turned, startled, then relaxed when she saw me.

“You should be resting too,” she replied, throwing my own words back at me.

“I could say the same.”

“Well, I tried bit I couldn’t get any sleep” Kaia said.

For a moment, neither of us spoke.

For some reason I couldn’t take my eyes off of her.

She looked smaller than she ever had in daylight, but there was a strength in her silence that pulled at me.

“About earlier,” I began, “you didn’t deserve what they put you through.”

“I’m used to being tested,” she casually said. “In my old pack, I had to earn every bit of trust, every scrap of respect.”

Something in her tone told me not to ask more, but I couldn’t stop myself. “And did you?”

She smiled faintly. “Eventually. Until I didn’t.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I only knew that I wanted to understand her, to ease whatever weight she carried.

“The king wouldn’t be breathing if not for you,” I said. “You know that, right?”

She glanced up at me, the moonlight catching in her eyes. “And you wouldn’t be standing here if not for me either. Twice now.”

That made me laugh, low and unguarded. “Then I suppose I owe you more than I can repay.”

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Chapter 023

“You don’t owe me anything,” she said. “I did what any healer would.”

“No,” I said softly. “You did what you would.”

The words hung between us, a little too close, a little too true.

She looked away first, fingers tightening around the edge of her shawl.

“I wasn’t angry with you,” I said suddenly. “In case you were wondering.”

She blinked. “I wasn’t-”

But her small smile told me she didn’t believe it.

“I was… tired,” she continued. “And maybe afraid that I’d brought more trouble to your doorstep.”

“You didn’t,” I said. “You gave this place a reason to remember what loyalty looks like.”

Her gaze met mine again, steady and unflinching.

“Then you’re one of the few who still sees it.”

We stood there, the air charged and quiet.

A gust of wind blew her hair loose; I reached without thinking to tuck it behind her ear.

She didn’t flinch, but her breath hitched slightly, the smallest sign that she wasn’t made of stone after all.

“Alpha Theo,” Kaia looks at me.“Can I ask you something?”

My head snaps to her face. “You can ask me anything. Go ahead”

“Tell me if you don’t feel comfortable answering. Okay?” Kaia says.

My mind goes wild.

Afraid, she would ask to leave.

“Okay,” I nodded.

“Your father,Alpha Kingley and you. You don’t get along very much, do you?” Kaia asked.

I looked away.

I couldn’t look her in the eyes and lie to her.

I wanted to lie.

To say everything is fine between us.

“No. My father and I are not in bad spirits but we don’t get along very much” I replied.

“Oh,I didn’t know about this. I’m sorry“. She patted my hand.

“It’s nothing to be sorry for,Kaia” I smirked, shaking my head.“He made his choice. He had to live with it”

“What did he do?” Kaia asked. When she met my eyes,she stopped. “I’m sorry,I asked. Nevermind that”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” I said.“But… Listen, you deserve to know who you’re living with right

now”

Kaia’s face shifted.

I saw something unfamiliar in her eyes.

“But now is not the right time to. “After the council’s decision tomorrow, let’s eat out and catch up on ourselves”

I scanned her face.”Only if you want to”

She nods.

“Of course. We should do that” she agreed, nodding.

Then It’s decided.

“What do you think the council will decide” she suddenly asks.

Her hand trembled slightly; I took one before she could pull away.

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Chapter 023

“You shouldn’t have had to prove yourself again.” I said, “Not anymore. Not everything”

Kaia’s mouth curved; half a smile, half disbelief. “You think this will be the last time?”

I didn’t know the answer. And she knew it.

Silence hung between us, heavy and hurtful.

“Id they come for you again,” I said quietly. “They will answer to me first”

Her gaze flicked up. “Thats dangerous talk,Alpha”

“So is saving a king’s life” I retort.

Kaia smiled faintly.

As if trying to hold back her amusement.

When she smiled, she looked like a goddess.

I wanted to hold her close.

I rose before I did something reckless.

“You should get some sleep, Kaia.” I urged. “We have a long day ahead tomorrow”

“So should you, Alpha.”

“Stop calling me Alpha when we are alone. Too formal, I dont like that”

“Okay Alph….Theo”

She turned and started toward her door, then paused. “For what it’s worth… I’m glad you came outside.”

When she was gone, I stood there longer than I should have, the night colder but somehow less empty.

***

The Council Meeting was held in the morning.

I stood before them this time not as the king’s son, but as Alpha of this territory–and I was already tired of my

own restraint.

Councilor Corwin drummed his fingers on the table. “You’re certain the king is getting better”

“Yes,” I said. “Kaia saved him. Without her, the King would be gone.”

Across from him, Daren, grey–haired, sharp–eyed leaned back in his chair. “Convenient. She arrives, the King falls ill, and then she miraculously cures him.”

I bit back my first answer. “You sent her there. Knowing the king was awfully ill and she managed to save him. It was your test, not mine.”

A murmur erupted through the chamber.

Then Lady linda, one of the women among them, lifted her hand for decorum.

“Enough. I was present when the King woke. His pulse steadied the moment after she administered the potion. Whatever else you believe, that is not fact.”

“She’s still an outsider,” Daren snapped. “A healer we know nothing about.”

“An outsider who’s proven more capable than half the pack’s own physicians,” linda countered.

Her calm voice carried more weight than his fury ever could.

“We gain nothing by pushing away someone useful and gain everything by keeping her under our roof.”

Several heads nodded. The vote came down quickly after that.

Four for keeping Kaia, two against.

Daren’s mouth twisted, but even he couldn’t defy the count. “Very well. Keep your stray, Alpha. But don’t expect me to clean up the mess when she turns on you.”

“She won’t,” I said simply.

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Lady linda’s gaze met mine. “Then we agreed. Kaia will remain within the pack as a healer. Maybe, she can join the pack as a member if she wishes to”

Join the pack?

Wait. Why didn’t I think of this?

If Kaia doesn’t join a pack. She will go rogue and worse feral.

I nodded my head. “Understood. ”

The meeting ended.

Daren swept out first, the others trailing.

Only linda lingered, watching me with something that almost resembled pity.

“She’s harmless, you know,” she said quietly. “But not safe. Power never is.”

Before I could answer, she was gone.

Useful, harmless, dangerous.

Whatever they called her, she was mine to protect now.