Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Kingston 288 Vouchers Chapter 18: Kingston Shifting Ayla’s legs slightly, I carefully pulled two photos from my back pocket. I didn’t know how she would respond to the information I was about to give her. But I hoped it would convince her to stay. At least stay with my pack. But I was still nervous.

“Ayla, there was a reason I was so intent on helping you. Not just because it was the right thing to do,” I said. “It’s one of the reasons I want you to stay here.”

“Okay...” she said slowly.

I handed her one of the photos.

“That’s mine,” she said, taking it and holding it delicately. “I was worried I’d lost it in the crash.”

“I found it the next morning. Pierce and I had gone back when it was light out. I wasn’t sure at first, but when you woke up, I saw you had his eyes.” I smiled.

“You weren’t sure about what?”

“Ayla, I knew your father,” I said, handing her the second picture.

She snatched the photo from my fingers, confusion all over her face. It was a picture of me and her father. I was about ten at the time, but I’m sure she could tell it was me.

“How?”

1/5 Chapter 18: Kingston 288 Vouchers “What do you know about your dad? Do you know where he was from?”

“He was a Greytooth. Both him and my aunt.”

“Lacy was with him?” I asked, glad to hear they had managed to stay together. “How is she?”

Ayla looked at me, confusion and sadness in her eyes. “She died. Her and my uncle. In the same explosion that killed my dad.”

“Oh,” I said, feeling my own sadness.

“How do you know them?” Ayla asked.

“It’s complicated,” I teased.

Taking the queue, Ayla snuggled back into the couch, crossing her arms and waiting for me to start.

I chuckled. “Well, to start, they weren’t born in Greytooth territory. Have you ever heard of the Onyxcrown Pack?”

Her brow furrowed. “It sounds familiar. Isn’t that the territory out to the west that’s mostly abandoned now?”

I nodded. “That was your father’s pack. Your grandfather was the Alpha. They were from one of the oldest bloodlines of wolf shifters in this part of the world. It made them very powerful, which in turn, made them targets of other packs and a few other organizations.

“A few years before you were born, a coup was executed by some secret society who believed the Dominis family had too much power and were a threat to all the packs. They weren’t, but it didn’t matter. They took over the capital. It was a O <

Chapter 18. Kingston massacre.”

It was hard for me to talk about that part of my past. I still had nightmares sometimes. But I wasn’t about to plague Ayla with any of that.

“My father was your father’s Beta. Your father got me, your aunt, and a few others out of the packhouse and got us to safety.

Then anyone who wasn’t a member of the Alpha’s inner circle managed to find sanctuary in a nearby pack. But your father thought staying so close wouldn’t be safe for him and Lacy or me.”

“What about your parents?” Ayla asked.

“My mother had gotten out with us originally but went back. for my father,” I said solemnly. “They didn’t make it.”

She leaned forward, grabbing my hand with both of hers. “I’m so sorry, Kingston.”

I took them more firmly in my hand, wanting her touch.

“Your dad managed to get us here, to the Sablemane Pack. The Alpha and Luna allowed us passage through their lands. But they took a shine to me. They had lost their only child a few years prior. They asked if they could adopt me,” I said, smiling at the memory. “Both your aunt and your dad thought it would be safer than staying with them. So, I stayed here and became the Alpha of the Sablemanes. I’m grateful for it. They were good to me and really loved me. And I loved them.”

“I’m glad you had that, Kingston,” Ayla said, rubbing her thumb along the back of my hand, sending chills through me.

“I never forgot your father and aunt and everything they did 3/5 |||

O <

Chapter 18 Kingston for me,” I said. “I never knew where they ended up, but it makes me happy that they stayed so close.”

“Did you ever see them again?”

I nodded. “He came to visit me a couple times. The last time was when I was fifteen.”

“Do you think Alpha Torin knew who they were?” Ayla asked.

“I don’t know. It would have been a risk either way,” I said. “But Alpha Torin is a good man and a good Alpha. I think if they were willing to integrate into his pack so completely, they would have confided in him.”

I didn’t know if that information helped or hurt Ayla. Her face wasn’t giving away much of what she was thinking. But it was a lot to take in. She just found out her father was a completely different person that she never knew about.

I pulled her hands to me, rubbing my fingers along them as I admired how strong yet gentle they seemed.

“Ayla,” I said, “I owe your father my life. It would mean the world to me to repay that debt by giving his daughter the life she deserves. Please, consider staying.”

There was still a lot going through her mind.

“What would I do here? I’m still under contract for my next book, but that’s almost finished,” she said, more to herself than to me.

“I doubt they’ll keep me on now that I’m not a Greytooth anymore. That’s if they even let me finish out this contract.”

I reached out and lifted her face toward me. “We will figure 4/5 Chapter 18 Kingston 288 Vouchers that out. I have a few options in mind that I think you will find agreeable.”

One was becoming my Luna and spending the rest of her life with me. But I wasn’t going to tell her that just yet. I would earn her affection and ensure she enjoyed every minute. I was still furious with how Theo had treated her. He was a stupid pup who had no business becoming Alpha this soon.

But as I watched Ayla tell me what happened, I saw a fire and passion emerge. She wasn’t letting them make her doubt herself or her actions. She wasn’t questioning if she didn’t do enough. She knew who she was and what she had accomplished. I knew she could take care of herself. She would recover from this.

Even her explanation of why she didn’t want to retaliate impressed me.

She was wise enough to see that she was mistreated but still compassionate enough to understand there were reasons other than cruelty behind those actions. Her father’s Alpha blood ran strong through her.

She was a true Luna.

And goddess, I wanted her to be mine.

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