The packs outcast Luna (Kaia and Theo) novel Chapter 51

Chapter 51

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The northern packhouse felt colder than I remembered.

Maybe it was just me.

Walking through the halls with a weight in my chest I couldn’t shake.

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Every warrior bowed, and the elders smiled at me but I didn’t bother,none of it mattered right now..

I returned to the northern pack to see my father.

To show him how his promises are affecting me now.

Father was waiting in his private office, standing instead of sitting.

His hands braced on the table like he’d been replaying something in his mind over and over.

“Theodore,” he said quietly when I entered.

No Alpha voice.

Just… my father…

I shut the door behind me. “You sent for me. What’s going on?”

He exhaled slowly. “Sit.”

I didn’t. “Father.”

The look he gave me was enough to tell me everything was bad.

He scrubbed a hand over his beard, shoulders sagging. Finally he said it:

“You’re being cornered into marrying Elara.”

My jaw clenched. “I know. Her father sent delegates.”

“It’s more than just them now.”

He lifted his eyes to mine, tired and full of guilt.

“The Circle of Alphas has intervened.”

My stomach dropped.

The Circle didn’t interfere unless the matter was grave. Or unless someone powerful pushed hard enough.

“… Because of your promise,” I said.

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Chapter 51

My father closed his eyes for a bit. “Yes.”

Silence thickened between us.

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He sank into his chair, looking older than the last time I saw him.

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“I made that promise years ago,” he murmured. “Back when your life was on the line and Alpha Varkon saved the entire northern border for us. It was a desperate moment, Theo.”

He looked at me, sadness clung to his eyes. “I wasn’t thinking straight. I didn’t imagine he would enforce it or that his daughter would push for it even after everything she’s done.”

I haven’t seen my father like that since my mother died.

My fists tightened at my sides. “And now?”

“And now,” he said, voice cracking, “he’s calling in the favor. Using the Council to back him.”

Of course he was.

My father looked up, his eyes filled with regret he’d never shown to anyone else.

“I’m sorry, son. I put you in this position. I never meant for my mistake to become your burden.”

A harsh breath left me. “So what? I just… give in? Marry her?”

“No.” He shook his head immediately. “You deserve to choose your Luna. Not be forced into one.”

The words hit harder than I expected.

“But the Circle won’t back down,” he continued. “And Alpha Varkon is threatening war if you stall.”

War. For a woman I didn’t want.

Against a girl I….

I stopped myself. Refuse to finish that thought.

“This isn’t fair to you,” Father whispered. “If I could undo it, I would.”

For a moment the room was quiet, the only sound was the sound of our heartbeats.

Then he stepped forward and gripped my shoulder-firm, fatherly.

“We will find a way out of this. Together.”

I nodded, but my chest tightened painfully.

Because all I could think of was Kaia.

Her face when I’d seen her the last time.

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Chapter 51

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That look in her eyes that I was trying so hard to understand.

And now this.

I was in a corner. Bound by a promise I never made.

Pushed toward a future I didn’t want.

But the worst part wasn’t the Circle, or Elara, nor her father.

The worst part was knowing….

Kaia would hear about this. And she’d think I chose Elara over her.

And that thought alone hurt more than the entire damned Circle.

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I didn’t return to Shadowclaw immediately.

I was too much of a coward to face Kaia with the news of me taking Elara as my Luna.

Even though I had assured her just a night before.

That I wouldn’t. That she meant nothing to me.

I could hear myself breathing loudly when I stepped into the forest, trying to clear my head.

I shifted into my wolf, ran until my muscles burned, then shifted back and sat on a fallen log.

The cold air bit into my lungs, but it grounded me.

Elara. Her father. And the Circle of Alphas.

They were all closing around me like a trap.

And somehow, every damn memory I’d buried clawed its way back to the surface.

I closed my eyes.

I must’ve been fifteen the first time Elara showed up at our pack borders.

Her father stood tall and terrifying beside her, and she… she smiled at me like I was something interesting.

We became friends easily.

We were almost the same age. So, we had the same training sessions.

Same future expectations hanging over our heads. Something we didn’t ask for.

When our fathers arranged our “future union,” we didn’t complain.

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Chapter 51

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We were young and liked each other.

And I thought we were growing into… something.

At twenty-three, we decided to try dating.

Everyone said we looked perfect together.

She was the golden girl. And me, the future Alpha.

But the thing no one said out loud, the one I felt deep in my bones, was that I wasn’t perfect.

Not with a failing heart.

My biggest secret.

Something my father and I had to shamefully hide from everyone.

Everyone except a few people, including Elara.

The reason I trained twice as hard as every warrior just to keep up.

Elara knew. And at first, she pretended it didn’t matter.

Until the day it did.

I remember the exact moment she walked into my office, dressed immaculately, eyes cold.

“Theo,” she said flatly. “I think we should end this.”

I blinked. “Elara? What-why?”

She didn’t hesitate. Not even for a second.

“You’re too weak to be an Alpha worth standing beside.”

Those words sliced painfully through me.

“Elara…” My lips quivered.

She actually laughed. She looked amused at most.

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“I hoped you’d find your mate someday,” she said. “Maybe she’ll be patient with your… condition.”

She said ‘condition’ as if it disgusted her.

Maybe it does, because of the way she looked at me.

Then she packed up her things and left with another Alpha-one of immense power, someone she said was worthy of standing beside her

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Chapter 51

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And she didn’t look back. Not once.

I didn’t sleep for weeks. Didn’t shift for months.

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I threw myself into training until my lungs nearly collapsed.

And the worst part?

It still took me two damn years to get over her.

Two years of trying to forget the girl who looked at my heart like it was a flaw.

I drag a hand through my hair and let out a harsh breath.

And now she’s back.

Back with her father’s threats.

With the Circle of Alphas dancing behind her and her father.

She seeks to claim a place she abandoned when she decided I wasn’t strong enough.

I lean back against the tree, staring up through the leaves.

How the hell do I tell Kaia any of this?

How do I explain that the woman from my past who made life miserable for me is back.

Trying to suffocate the future I’m just starting to care about?

I close my eyes again.

The truth is simple, and it terrifies me; I don’t want Elara.

Not now. Not ever again.

But everyone around me is trying to force her into my life…

…right when I’m finally starting to breathe again because of Kaia.

I didn’t even hear Zane approach.

One moment I was staring at the dirt, hating my life, and the next a branch snapped behind me.

“You look like shit,” Zane said casually, stepping into the clearing.

“Atleast I know that much” I huffed. “Thanks”

He didn’t joke after that. He just studied me quietly, eyes sharp.

One good thing about Zane is that he always knew when to drop the sarcasm.

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“What are you going to do now?” he asked.

My jaw tightened. “I don’t know yet.”

“Because you do realize,” he continued, stepping closer, “if you refuse the Circle of Alphas… they’ll drag Shadowclaw straight into a political nightmare. Maybe even war.”

I closed my eyes. The truth sat heavy in my chest.

“I know.”

Zane crouched down beside me, elbows resting on his knees.

“You can’t fight the entire Alpha circle, Theo. You can’t let your father take the fall either. Since he made that promise, they’ll use it as leverage until you break.”

“I said I know,” I snapped, but not at him.

At the situation. At myself.

Zane didn’t flinch. He just waited.

“Elara hasn’t changed,” I muttered, my fingers digging into the dirt at my sides. “She’s still that cunning and manipulative girl who’ll do anything to get her way.”

“… She knows how to use her father. And she knows exactly how to box me in.”

Zane exhaled slowly. “So what-you marry her to prevent war?”

My throat tightened.

The answer was already there, even if I hated it.

“I’ll do anything to protect this pack,” I said quietly. “Even if it destroys me.”

Silence stretched between us.

Then Zane asked the one question I’d been trying not to think about;

“What about Kaia?”

My heart stuttered.

A sharp, painful sting hit my chest. One I didn’t want to admit had anything to do with her.

What about Kaia?

What about the girl who looked at me like I wasn’t a broken Alpha?

The girl who ran into fire for kids she doesn’t even know?

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Chapter 51

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The girl who challenged me, who fought me, who made me feel something I thought I’d buried years ago?

I swallowed hard.

“She deserves better than… this,” I muttered.

Zane raised a brow. “Better than what? An Alpha who actually gives a damn? Or better than watching you sacrifice your life for a woman who abandoned you?”

“That’s not the point.” I looked away, my jaw clenched tight.

“That’s exactly the point.” Zane’s voice dropped low. “Do you really think when she finds out, she won’t think you chose Elara over her?”

The thought punched me straight in my gut.

I dragged a hand down my face. “I don’t know what to do, Zane.”

“Liar,” he said quietly. “You know exactly what you want to do. You just don’t think you’re allowed to want it.”

I opened my mouth, then closed it.

I had nothing to say. Because he was right.

And that was the worst part.

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