Chapter 167

Travelling with Scott and Wade, we drive for a while, but as night falls, Scott pulls the car into a motel along the highway.

“Rebels patrol this area,” he explains. “We’ll draw too much suspicion driving straight through the night.”

No one argues, so we rent two rooms for the night. Wade and Scott occupy the one, while Caleb and I head toward the other.

Our room is quaint, with one double-size bed and an old boxy television set. There’s no shower curtain around the tub in the bathroom, but everything else seems to be there: toilet, sink, towels, toilet paper. So I decide not to complain.

Caleb has been quiet since the diner. I’ve been worried about him all day, hoping that he would finally speak to me now that we are alone. Instead, he fiddles with the television, turning on the local news. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, he watches in silence for a while.

Trying not to disturb him, I shower and change for bed. After brushing my teeth, I return to the main room just as Caleb turns the television off again.

Even with it off, he continues to stare at it, standing in front of it, glaring.

“We should get some sleep,” I suggest. “The next few days will be difficult.”

My words seem to be enough to shake loose the barrier he built to restrain his own. They start to tumble from his mouth now, one after the next, like a landslide of thoughts and feelings.

“I’ve failed these people. I’ve trapped myself in my palace for so long that I’ve lost touch with my own people. They see me as a villain, but I don’t see them at all.” Lowering his hand from the television, he takes a step back. Looking at me, he asks, “Why didn’t anyone tell me about the things that were happening here? About how much these people needed assistance from their King?”

“I don’t know,” I admit.

With the current system, the needs of the people should first go to the pack Alpha. Then, that pack Alpha would deliver word to the King. Somewhere that chain is failing. The pack Alphas either aren’t telling the King what they need, or they themselves don’t know.

Perhaps the pack Alphas have also delegated this task, and they are not hearing the full truth. Or they are turning a blind ear. Or they are so prideful they are attempting to solve the problems themselves, without the Alpha King’s assistance.

There are any number of reasons, and I have no way of knowing which is correct.

I’ve lived my own sheltered life. Even disgraced, I was still a servant in my family home. What went on beyond the walls of their estate, I wasn’t always privy to. As such, I can offer little assistance in where the chain of command is failing.

“I need to rectify this somehow,” Caleb says. “Perhaps I could send more scouts to the packs, to report back on their strife. Or I could send soldiers to ensure my will is done.”

“Or,” I suggest. “If you want to learn about the problems of the common people, you should hear them from those people themselves.”

“I should visit the packs?” Caleb asks.

“Probably,” I say. “But you should also have them visit you. Not just the pack Alphas, but select individuals among the common people themselves. The people should be able to have their voices heard by you directly.”

Caleb stares at me like he’s seeing me for the first time.

Blushing, I glance away. Did I say too much? Was it a bad suggestion? “It’s just an idea…”

“A good idea,” Caleb says, surprising me. I look back at him, and see awe in his eyes now. “A very good idea.”

Caleb used to believe that Harper was only a pretty face who could warm his bed, but as he’s gotten to know her, he’s started to see other qualities within her as well.

As a lover, she pleases him so much that he has not sought out any of the other harem members in some time. He’s even having trouble recalling some of their faces and names. When he has desires now, he only wants Harper to satisfy them.

As a woman, she is strong and stubborn. She has her own ideas about things and will sometimes even work against him to see those ideas to fruition. It’s infuriating. In addition to arguments, Caleb has had to save her a few times after she endangered herself. Even her presence with him now is a result of this.

Yet because of her determination and strength, she saved him in that alleyway, when he would have almost certainly died without her. She also kept them both alive at that farmhouse, pushing Caleb to be more self-sufficient.

Now, hearing her talk about the common people, and giving genuinely good and reasonable ideas about how to resolve such hostility as well as how to prevent it in the future…

Caleb can see in her the qualities of a good Luna.

A good Luna cares about the people and advocates for them when they cannot do so themselves.

If Harper was his Luna, Caleb imagines she would constantly be reaching out to the packs to ensure they have everything they need. She would be diligent and pure-hearted. If she thought Caleb failing in any way, he would no doubt hear about it.

Shaking his head, Caleb tries to clear it. Harper is not his Luna and never will be. She is only his consort.

Annabelle is the one to be Luna.

Yet, as he tries to imagine the kind of Luna Annabelle will be, he only remembers her disparaging comments about his state of dress as he spoke to her wearing commoner clothing.

She was disgusted and repulsed. She’d turned her nose up at him.

She thought herself better than the common people, that much is clear. Caleb’s mother believes that a wedding would bring people together in support of him, but he’s not sure. Not if the woman he’s marrying detests the people he wants to encourage.

Harper though…

He sighs. Things are as they are, though. Harper is his consort and nothing more.

“I’m going to shower. You should rest,” Caleb tells her and then retreats into the bathroom.

I’m not sure why Caleb looked at me so strangely, and I probably never will.

He’s right, I should get some rest, but my feelings are all in a jumble now. I’m also curious about the television. It’s been so long since I’ve had word of the outside world. Or watched something like a sitcom or a movie.

After glancing at the bathroom door, making sure it’s closed, I move to the spot Caleb formally occupied and turn on the television.

The news program is still playing, though it seems, I missed most of the local reports. Instead, they are showing a scene of the palace.

The news reporter says, “That’s right. The Alpha King has finally set a date for his wedding to Annabelle for two weeks’ time. And the people are ready to have a Luna again…”

My heart drops. It’s no surprise that Caleb and Annabelle are to be married eventually, but…

In two weeks?!