The packs outcast Luna (Kaia and Theo) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

–Kaia–

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Five Days Later

I arrived at the Great Hall.

Cara practically forced me to attend the Luna selection announcement.

I didn’t want to be here but I had no choice.

Rumours of me seducing the Alpha were raging through the pack already.

Not attending after Cara herself invited me in front of everyone would put a face to the rumours.

After all, nobody wants their ladders to be snatched in front of them.

I stood at the corner, watching Elara grin from ear to ear.

However, I could feel tension in the hall.

Every Elite wolf in the territory stood gathered, dressed in formal attire.

The gold banners of the Shadowclaw Pack hung from the walls, and at the center podium stood Alpha Kingsley, pale and anxious.

“Today,” he announced, forcing his voice to steady, “Alpha Theo will declare the Luna he has chosen… as is tradition.”

Murmurs rippled through the hall.

I stood somewhere in the back, trying to breathe normally, even though my chest felt tight.

I knew what today was.

I knew Elara was the obvious choice.

And I had no reason…no right to feel anything.

Still… I still had hopes. Just a little.

While battling my internal struggles, Cara walked up to me.

“Kaia, I see you took my invite and came” Cara said, her voice sweet. “You are not nursing any hopes are you?”

Cara turned to look at Elara, standing close to Theo in her beautiful dress.

“I hope you know your place after this. You are just a stray. Elara will become the Luna of this pack” Cara smirked gleefully. “Then, she will kick you to the curb. Your days are numbered here”

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Chapter 53

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“Queen Cara,” I muttered. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to enjoy the ceremony undisturbed,” I said.

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“Sure,” Cara chuckled. “Enjoy as much as you can, Kaia. This might be your last entertainment before you go feral”

I looked at Cara abruptly.

I can’t believe she was already planning to kick me out of the pack.

“What?” Cara asked, seeing my expression. “You didn’t think you’ll stay in Shadowclaw once Elara is crowned, did you?”

“Queen Cara, it’s time for the ceremony. Please, decorum. Shhh” I put a finger over my lips, shutting her.

Cara huffed and left me alone.

My eyes burned with unshed tears when Theo stepped forward.

Tall. Calm. His expressions were hard to read.

My stomach twisted.

Theo scanned the room once, and for the briefest moment, his gaze touched mine.

Just a second.

Just enough to make my heartbeat stumble.

Then he looked away and inhaled deeply.

–Theo–

I caught sight of Kaia in the corner.

My heart pounded like drums.

Afraid I’d stop breathing right there and then.

Zane stood by my left, tense. My father stood behind me, silently praying.

Elara waited smugly to the right, smiling like she already wore the Luna crown.

And then….When the circle Alpha King called me to make the announcement.

I hesitated.

A hush swept across the room.

I felt every eye on me but I didn’t care.

I felt Kaia’s quiet presence in the back, fragile and steady all at once.

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Chapter 53

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“Alpha Theo, who has been chosen as your Luna?” The Circle Alpha king asked me.”please announce her name in front of everyone”

Everyone looked at me intensely. But I hesitated.

I couldn’t bring myself to say Elara’s name.

My throat was painful from the lump pressing against it.

“Everyone is waiting, Alpha Theo. Please make the announcement”

And then I said it.

“Kaia.”

The hall exploded.

Gasps. Everyone looked at me with shock and disbelief.

Someone dropped a glass. Another choked on their drink.

“Holy shit,” Zane muttered under his breath.

Kaia froze like she’d turned to stone.

But nothing. Absolutely nothing compared to the horrified look on Elara’s face.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!” Elara shoved forward, her voice shilling.

The crowd fell silent as she stormed toward me, her eyes blazing with fury.

“You chose her? That-” she jabbed a finger toward Kaia “….Powerless little nobody? Are you insane?!”

The hall buzzed with tension.

Elara’s face turned red with rage.

“My father will NEVER allow this! Do you hear me? NEVER! The Circle will rip you apart for breaking your promise!”

My lips curled, amused.

“Funny. Because last I checked… the agreement wasn’t a promise of me to you, Elara.”

She froze. And looked at me as if I had gone insane.

Even the pack members gasped.

Probably wondering what was running through my head.

I lifted my chin. “The agreement was that Alpha Kingsley’s son would marry you.”

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Chapter 53

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I let the words sink in under everyone’s watchful eyes.

“Alpha Kingsley has two sons.”

Elara blinked.

My gaze flicked toward where Lucien stood, bored and leaning against a column.

“One son is mateless,” I continued calmly. “And the other already has a mate.”

A ripple of realisation shot through the hall.

Several elders turned to Lucien.

Lucien raised a brow lazily.

“Don’t drag me into your stupid mess,” he muttered.

Elara’s mother, Susan, stepped forward sharply.

“Theo,” she snapped, “my daughter was promised to-”

I cut her off. Turning to Cara.

“Cara,” I said with a polite, icy smile, “you adore Elara, don’t you? You spoil her. Praise her. Worship the ground she walks on.”

Cara stiffened, looking at me suspiciously.

My smile widened.

“Then how perfect would it be for you to have her as a daughter-in-law? Lucien is right there.”

Cara’s mouth fell open.

The hall started buzzing again, even harder now.

Elara whipped around and glared at her mother, who was whispering something to her.

“MOM, DON’T YOU DARE-”

She stepped closer to me, trembling with rage.

“Don’t try to be smart with me, Theo. You were promised to me. You were supposed to be mine. My Luna coronation was set for today. Everything is ready.”

I let out a harsh, bitter-sweet laugh.

“Oh, Elara. You forgot one small detail.”

I leaned in just enough for my voice to carry across the hall.

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Chapter 53

“I found my mate.”

Silence.

Shock. Every wolf stiffened at once.

Elara went pale, I enjoyed seeing all the colour drained from her face.

My voice softened, but the words hurt. At least not as much as it did when Elara said it to me.

“A mate who accepts me-with my weak heart.”

Elara’s face twisted.

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I didn’t stop. “A mate who doesn’t mock my illness, or call me unfit, or leave me for a stronger Alpha.”

Her jaw dropped. The crowd whispered viciously.

I straightened, steady and commanding.

“Kaia is my choice. My Luna. My mate.”

I glanced across the hall at her.

Kaia, trembling and overwhelmed. Her eyes wide with disbelief and something else… something fragile

“And I will stand by her. Only she can become my luna.”

Elara screamed. “Theo, you are bewitched. You don’t know what you’re saying!”

Lucien stood there silently. Maybe he didn’t know how to react.

Zane grinned like he’d been waiting for chaos to happen.

My father, Council King Kingsley exhaled like he might cry…

And Kaia…

She looked like her world had just tilted off its path.

The moment the word mate left my mouth, the hall went wild-voices overlapping.

Everyone looked shocked, while some were outraged.

But Elara didn’t move.

For three full seconds, she stood completely still, her eyes wide, chest rising and falling too fast.

Then everything snapped.

“NO!”

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Chapter 53

Her scream tore through the room.

She shoved aside two elders, stormed toward Kaia with murder in her eyes.

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“You little nobody!” she hissed. “You think you can steal the life I worked for? You think you can stand beside him and call yourself Luna? I will ruin you, do you hear me? I will—”

I stepped in front of Kaia so fast the crowd gasped.

“Finish that sentence,” I warned quietly, “and see how fast I remove you from this pack myself.”

Elara’s lip curled.

“You don’t scare me,” she spat. “Your weak little heart—”

A thunderous voice cut her off. “That is enough.”

The entire hall froze.

The Circle delegation had stepped forward-three elders draped in silver insignias, representing the Alpha Circle.

Elder Sylvester, the oldest of them, fixed Elara with a cold stare.

“Alpha Theo is correct,” he said. His voice carried with the authority of six kingdoms. “The ancient agreement between your father and Alpha Kingsley was dependent solely on whether a marriage occurred before the Alpha heir found his mate.”

He glanced around the hall, checking if anyone had an objection.

“Thats not true. It did not.”

Whispers erupted.

Elder Sylvester continued, unwavering;

“Elara left this pack. She broke the arrangement by choice. She abandoned her position and severed the preliminary bond.”

Elara’s face went paper pale.

“But…but my father—”

“Your father,” Sylvester interrupted, his voice sharp like a whip, “does not outrank the Moon’s decree. And Alpha Theo cannot reject his mate without risking severe physical decline.”

He looked at me then, calm, but firm.

“A wolf who rejects a destined mate becomes significantly weaker. You know this.”

The hall murmured in agreement.

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“Therefore,” Sylvester said, “there is no scenario in which Alpha Theo makes you Luna. The law of the Circle, and the magic of the Moon, forbid it.”

Elara shook her head violently.

“No! No, I don’t care-1 don’t care what the Moon wants, I don’t care if he gets weaker, he owes me-

“ENOUGH,” Elder Sylvester thundered.

“Your entitlement does not rewrite fate,” he said coldly,

“You left him and discarded everything you two hard. You broke the bond before it ever existed.”

Kaia stiffened behind me as the crowd whispered louder, now with disgust toward Elara.

“Elara,” Sylvester concluded, “you have no claim here.”

Something inside her snapped.

She lunged, not at me this time, but at Kaia again.

“I SAID I DON’T CARE!” she shrieked. “I will not lose everything to some pathetic, wolf-less stray.

I caught her wrist mid-air before she could touch Kaia.

The crowd gasped.

My voice dropped to a deadly calm. “You will never threaten her again.”

Her eyes widened, not in fear, but in disbelief.

“You’re choosing her over me?”

I stared at her. “I’m choosing my mate. And you’re not her”

A tear slipped down her cheek. Angry, humiliated and vicious.

Elara’s voice cracked as she screamed. “THIS IS NOT OVER!”

She yanked her hand from mine, glaring at me with murderous intent.

And the Circle turned to me once more.

“Alpha Theo,” Sylvester said, “your choice stands. Protect your mate.”

I nodded.

And for the first time in a long time…

I felt like I could breathe.

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