All Chapters of When The Moon Hides Her Crown: Chapter 11 - Chapter 20

SERAPHINA“Why don’t you shift into your wolf?” For a beat, my limbs paralyzed. How did he know I had not shifted even once? Had he been watching me? First he had already noticed that I had been hiding my scent and now he found out I was avoiding shifting. My throat squeezed shut. He had been suspicious of me. Panic flared hot in my chest, but I forced my face into a mask of defiance.“I don’t need to shift to take you down,” I bit out, jerking my wrist free and stepping back. His gaze narrowed, like he could see straight through the bravado to the storm beneath. The blood on his skin gleamed in the pale light, the stench of death and earth clinging to him like a second skin.“You sure about that, little wolf?” His voice was silk over steel, a threat hidden behind something dangerously close to amusement.I snorted, trying to ignore the chill trickle down my spine. “Capable enough to win without it.” I could not let him get me. His lips twitched into a smirk, and I hated the way my

RONANHis face was far too close. So close that our breaths mingled. But when a slight noise came from the darkness, his head snapped in that direction. We stayed crouched among the branches, but when Seth’s entire focus was on the ground, and instinctively yet subconsciously trying to pull away from me even if there was not even an inch to move, I found myself looking at his back. Slander with slight muscle unlike other males. My gaze was then drowned to the back of his neck, fair and smooth. I could not tear my eyes away from it for some reason. When the sweat trailed down disappearing in his collar, the sight of it made my breath run cold. And my heart started taking a sudden race, the desire to glimpse a little deeper into his collar and of his smooth skin grew inside me. I immediately tore my eyes away from his neck. Had I fucking lost my mind? Staring at a man’s neck and wanting to see what was beneath his collar? Why was this sick desire growing inside me? I clenched my fist

SERAPHINAWhy am I here again?I asked myself as I stood within the ancient ruins, cold wind howling through shattered stone arches. Silver light bathed the crumbling walls, and there — in the clearing — he was.The rogue.Kneeling beneath the full, bloated moon, he chanted in a language I didn’t recognize. I tried to move, to speak, but the air felt thick around me, like I was drowning in it.And then his head snapped toward me, red eyes locking onto mine.Unblinking.A jolt of cold shot through me.I woke with a strangled gasp, tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, my skin clammy and damp. Was I dreaming?I sat up in my bunk, the dark room around me filled with the steady, heavy breathing of Alphas lost in sleep.My chest heaved as I struggled to shake the memory. The rogues. That cursed place. Why had I ended up there when the others hadn’t? And what were they doing, living in those ruins?I checked the clock, and my eyes widened — five in the morning.Everyone was still asleep. The room

SERAPHINA“Don’t slow down!!” the Alpha instructor’s voice thundered across the training grounds.The sun beat down mercilessly, turning sweat into a second skin as it dripped from my brow. My arms trembled with every push-up, but I didn’t stop. I had already shattered my own record, pushed past my limits—but there was no room for weakness here. Around me, the others panted and grunted, their bodies just as strained, but no one dared slack off under the sharp gaze of the instructors.“Thirty more!” the drill instructor barked. “Now!”I gritted my teeth and pushed through the burn, my breath labored, my muscles screaming. It had been three straight days of relentless physical training—no combat trials, just raw endurance. Sprints over rocky hills, endless circuits of jumps from brutal heights, push-ups until our arms gave out.“We’re taking a two-minute break,” the Alpha finally announced.Everyone instantly collapsed, and I was no exception. I dropped to the ground, my body thrumming

SERAPHINAThe late afternoon sun cast elongated shadows across the academy field as I stepped out into the unknown area where the Alpha instructor brought all of us. There was only greenery and trees in the surrounding area. The scent of freshly upturned earth mixed with the electric hum of anticipation. A buzz of eager chatter surrounded me, every Alpha assembled for the trial that had finally arrived after three relentless days of grueling physical training.“Hey, are you alright?” Finn asked, falling into step beside me. “You’ve seemed out of it since last night. And you did not talk much the entire time we made our way here. Did something happen?”My muscles instinctively tensed. Dante’s voice from the night before echoed in my mind—“You’re hiding something, aren’t you?”His suspicion had left me restless, gnawing at my thoughts all night and haunting me through lunch. I’d been so careful. How did he end up suspecting me? He hadn’t uncovered the truth, not exactly—but still…“Ever