All Chapters of Crowned in Moonlight: Chapter 1 - Chapter 10

AureliaI limped back to my quarters that night, my body screaming with every step. The cut on my forehead had stopped bleeding, but the bruises on my ribs were darkening into ugly shades of purple and black.My ankle throbbed with every heartbeat, and I could feel the swelling beneath my torn boot.The corridors of the Academy were empty at this hour. The other students were in their rooms, preparing for the next day's classes. The silence was a welcome relief after the chaos of the grand hall.I had almost reached my door when I heard the sound of footsteps behind me. Heavy. Deliberate. The footsteps of someone who was not trying to be quiet.I turned, my heart pounding in my chest, and there he was.Alpha Draven Nightshade.He was tall, broad-shouldered, with sharp features and ice-blue eyes that seemed to cut through the darkness. His dark hair was perfectly styled, and his presence filled the corridor with a suffocating weight of Alpha dominance. He was dressed in the black-and-s

AureliaThe night of the ball arrived with a swirl of color and magic.The Academy's great hall had been transformed into something out of a dream. Thousands of candles floated in the air, casting flickering light across the marble floors. Streamers of silver and gold draped from the vaulted ceiling, and the walls were covered in enchanted tapestries that shimmered with images of wolves and stars.The ball was the social event of the season, attended by the most powerful wolves from across the twelve packs. Alphas and Lunas mingled with warriors and dignitaries, their laughter and conversation filling the air.But I wasn't there to socialize.I slipped through the crowd, invisible in my simple black gown. The key Wren had given me was tucked into a hidden pocket, warm against my skin.The restricted archives were located in the Academy's oldest wing, a crumbling tower that had been sealed off for centuries. To get there, I would have to navigate the ballroom, sneak past the guards, an

AureliaI woke in darkness....Not the darkness of night, but the darkness of something far more sinister. My eyes were open, yet I could see nothing. A blindfold. Thick and heavy, pressing against my eyelids like a second skin.I tried to move, but my wrists were bound above my head, secured to something cold and metallic. A bed frame. The silk sheets beneath me were soft, luxurious, but they felt like chains.The air was thick with an intoxicating fragrance, a sophisticated blend of jasmine, patchouli, and hints of exotic spices. It was hypnotic, dazing my mind and relaxing my body.But I couldn't relax. I couldn't let my guard down.Because I could feel them. The triplets. They were in the room with me."Welcome, little omega."Kieran's voice purred in my ear. I felt his breath on my neck, warm and dangerous."Tonight, you belong to us.""Please..." I begged, my voice cracking. "Please, I'm a virgin—""Even better," Corvin said, his voice cold and cruel. "We love breaking virgins."

Aurelia"I'm waiting," the sorcerer said, and the glow along the guards' hands brightened another degree, as if his patience and their firepower were tethered to the same fraying rope.I had maybe three seconds to decide whether the next thing that left my body was a lie or my own power, and both options felt like standing at the edge of a cliff with my eyes closed, unable to tell whether the ground below me was rock or air."It's nothing," Corvin said.He said it before I could open my mouth, before I could even decide which direction I was falling in, and he said it in a voice so flat and so bored that for one dizzying moment I almost believed him myself."Nothing," the sorcerer repeated, as though the word tasted foul in his mouth. "I felt a ward the strength of a soul pact shatter from a mile away, and you're telling me that was nothing.""I'm telling you it was an accident," Corvin said, stepping forward so that he was between me and the guards, his shoulders wide enough that I h

AureliaNobody spoke for a long moment after the door slammed shut behind Corvin, and I stood there in the wreckage of my own wedding night wondering if this was simply what my life had become, three men deciding who owned pieces of me while I stood close enough to hear every word and far enough away to change none of it."He'll come around," Kieran said finally, dropping onto the edge of the broken bed frame as though the last ten minutes hadn't happened at all. "He always does. Slowly. Reluctantly. With the grace of a man being dragged backward through a hedge.""I don't need him to come around," I said. "I need him to understand that I am not a decision the three of you get to make without me in the room.""You were in the room," Kieran pointed out. "You were simply outnumbered by opinions.""That's not the same thing as being heard.""No," Talon agreed quietly, still standing close beside me, "it isn't."I opened my mouth to say something else, something sharper, but a soft knock