The Luna’s Choice (Theo and Ayla) by Kat Silver
Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Ayla I woke up to the sound of my phone buzzing on the nightstand next to me. I lifted my head, letting myeyes adjust to the morning light floating through the curtains. I reached over and fumbled for the phone.I didn’t even need to check the screen. I knew it would be Kingston. “Hello?” I mumbled into the phone. “Ayla,” Kingston replied, full of relief. “Did I you?” ke “It’s okay.” I yawned. “I was about to get up. What’s up?” We talked for a few minutes. Kingston apologized for reacting the way he did the night before but saidhe still wanted me to come home. I told him Alpha Torin had already arranged for extra protection forme. I still didn’t have nearly enough of what I needed, so I couldn’t come home yet. But I did promisethat I would try to return as soon as possible. He seemed okay with that. I got up and went to the bathroom. I had been either swimming or jogging every morning. Since Dashastill wasn’t present enough for me to shift, I found a different outlet for exercise. I decided to go for aswim that morning and threw on my swimsuit. I added a pair of shorts and a cover-up. I went andturned on the small coffee maker in the guest house kitchenette and opened the blinds to let some sunin. I paused. Theo was sitting in the rocking chair on the front porch. It looked like he was asleep. My browfurrowed as I wondered how long he had been out there. I went to the door. Unlocking it, I opened itgently. The screen door squeaked as I pushed it, startling Theo awake. His eyes shot to me, and healmost looked embarrassed that I had 0.00% 16:23 Chapter 76: Ayla 1

found him out here. “Ayla, sorry,” he said, rubbing his eyes. “I’m leaving.” “Were you out here all night?” I asked. “No,” he rushed, shaking his head. “I ran a patrol through the area last night. I made it back a couplehours ago, I guess. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just…” He went quiet for a second before clearinghis throat. “I’m heading out anyway. I’ve got to meet up with the warriors running the patrol.” “Theo, you need to go to bed,” I said. “You can’t run another patrol and drive all the way back to the cityon no sleep.”

He gave me a small smile as he stood. “I’ll be fine. It’s done before.” stood. “I’ll be fine. It’s nothing I haven’t I sighed. “Fine, then, at least get a cup of coffee in you before you go. I stepped back into the doorway,holding the screen door for him to come in. He hesitated for a minute but ended up following me in. I pulled a couple mugs from the small cabinetand set them on the counter as the coffee finished brewing. I grabbed the creamer from the fridge andpoured the coffee as Theo took a seat at the table. I sat a mug in front of him before leaning against thecounter with mine. He really did look exhausted. “Thank you,” I said, breaking the silence that hung in the air between us. “You didn’t have to stay lastnight.” “Yes, I did,” he said quietly. “It’s my job.”“Regardless,” I replied, “it’s appreciated. 23.94% 16:23 Chapter 76: Ayla “I appreciate what you’re doing for my parents,” Theo replied sincerely. “Seriously, Dad’s been in better

spirits than he’s been in months. It’s been good for him.” “I hope so. I’d never want to make things harder for him.” “Ayla, can I ask you something?” he inquired. I didn’t know where he would go With this, but I nodded. “Sure.” “You said you wanted to do this job because you owed my father. What did he do for you?” “He saved my family,” I told him. “Ma has struggled ever since Dad died. It started out with drinking, butafter a year or so, she got into gambling. She… she got us stuck in some bad situations a coupletimes.”“What kind of situations?” “Let’s just leave it at bad,” I insisted. “One time, Ma owed a lot of money to some not-so-great people.We had to either replace the cash, or they would take me as payment.” I noticed his whole body tense up. “The one thing Ma managed to do with the money Dad left us was pay off the house. I tried to take outa mortgage against it, but Ma couldn’t keep a job and I had just turned eighteen. I had been workingmultiple jobs for a few years, but it wasn’t enough. So, no one would lend to us. Legally, at least. Butborrowing from loan sharks got her into the mess in the first place, so I was desperate not to go downthat road.” “So you reached out to your Alpha…” I nodded. “I didn’t tell your dad what was going on at first, but he44.46% 16.23 Chaplet Ayla 288 Vouchera seemed to just know I was in trouble. After convincing him not to go after those guys directly, he helpedme get the loan. Since the house was in Ma’s name, I cosigned with her. That allowed me to buy therest of the debt a few years later and get the deed transferred to me.”

“And the men that were going to take you?” he asked. I smiled. “They weren’t around much longer after that. I heard a couple ended up in prison. Not something to do with it, b., the others. I know Dar admit it. We dad had would have made it through that without him. Ma tried to get clean initially, but it didn’t last long. Luckily, I haddecided to become a little more proactive with her addictions.” He looked at me curiously and I laughed. “I made a deal with a loan shark. Using what was left of the mortgage loan, I paid him to spread theword that no one else was to loan to Marie Garner. He would contact me if she ever came to him, andI’d tell him if he could give her anything. That kept her from draining our savings, and I was able tokeep her from getting the cr*p beat out of her or worse.’ }} “Wait, you got a loan shark to agree to that deal?” “Okay, I may have also worked for him for a while,” I offered. “I managed one of his fronts.” He raisedan eyebrow. “Don’t worry. I stayed away from the money laundering part of the business. For the mostpart, at least. The arrangement worked out for a couple years until my writing really took off, and I couldquit. It helped that he’s actually a half-decent guy. You know, for a loan shark.” Theo smiled, taking a sip of his coffee. “Where was Kylee during all this?” 65.65% 16:23 Chapter 76: Ayla 288 (Vouchers

“She was in high school,” I said with a shrug. “I never told her what happened. I’ll admit there were afew decisions I made that could have made her believe some of the things she said about me. She hadalready lost our father. I didn’t want her to lose a mother the way I had. So, I let her believe Ma did a lotof the providing. Ma’s explanation for me being gone a lot was that I was out with friends.” “That doesn’t excuse her behavior, Ayla,” Theo said. “No, it doesn’t,” I agreed. “But I can at least learn something from all of this. And to do that, I have toaccept that I made some wrong decisions somewhere down the line.” W