When The Moon Hides Her Crown - Chapter 25: Chapter 25

RONAN
“Alpha Ronan Volkstane,” one of the Alpha instructors called out, marking my name on the list as I stepped into the wide clearing by the starting line with a tiger draped over my shoulders. Its body was still warm, its weight pressing into me like the price of victory carved in flesh and blood.
The instructors stood like statues along the edges, arms folded, faces unreadable beneath the flickering glow of torchlight. They offered a single nod as I passed.
I didn’t stop.
With a sharp motion, I hurled the tiger to the ground. It landed with a dull, final thud. Its lifeless eyes staring up at the stars, already fading with the approach of dawn.
Done.
I straightened, exhaling slowly, and let my gaze sweep across the clearing.
It was filling now.
One by one, the Alphas returned, dragging, carrying, or hauling their prey. Warriors, all of them. Bloodied, bruised, exhausted yet victorious.
My eyes remained fixed on the forest. I spotted a familiar figure off to the left Finn, with a coyote slung across his shoulder. He made it.
But not ‘him’
My eyes cut to the forest’s edge again.
Stillness.
The trees stood silent and unmoving. No figures. No movement. The same heavy silence I’d been watching for minutes now.
“Ronan, you’re finally back,” came Asher’s voice from behind me.
I nodded once without turning.
His pace was slower than mine, but he carried a massive wild boar. He dropped it beside my tiger with a grunt and wiped sweat from his brow.
“What the hell are you staring at?”
I didn’t answer.
The wind stirred the leaves like whispers. Still, no movement.
That’s when Alpha Gideon stepped into the clearing. “What’s the report?” he demanded of the nearest instructor.
“Out of one hundred forty Alphas, only thirty have returned. Our scouts haven't sensed more than ten from the designated range. It's likely the rest failed to secure their prey.”
I instinctively perked up at that.
“The sun will rise in less than twenty minutes,” Gideon growled, disappointment curling through his voice. “The weak will be weeded out today.”
Asher glanced back toward the gathered Alphas, then followed my stare. “You’re expecting someone.”
“No,” I muttered.
He blinked. “Then maybe you should stop glaring before your eyes bleed and you drop dead.”
I slowly turned my head in his direction. “Wanna die?”
He laughed and leaned against a nearby tree, eyes scanning the clearing where five more Alphas had just emerged.
“Reed and Cassius made it back. But I don’t see that bastard Seth Darven,” he muttered, a scowl darkening his features. “If he’s alive, I’ll kill him myself.”
I didn’t respond.
Just glanced at him once before returning to the treeline.
The morning crept in, soft and patient. The sky began to bleed with the first colors of dawn, amber and violet streaks crawling over the horizon.
Time was slipping away.
“You’re definitely waiting for someone,” Asher said with certainty.
I reached for the water bottle near my feet, “Maybe.”
His ears perked. “Who?”
I uncapped the bottle and raised it to my lips. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out,” I murmured, taking a slow sip.
That white wolf flashed through my mind.
The one I’d seen in the woods. The one who looked at me like they feared neither death or judgment.
Amber eyes.
Beautiful, haunting eyes.
Eyes I couldn’t forget.
“Dante’s back,” Asher murmured.
I turned my head. Dante had just dropped a massive elk beside the others. His gaze locked with mine across the clearing, and something in it was...off.
Before I could place the feeling, an instructor called out another name, snapping me from my thoughts.
I tilted my head, eyes drifting to the sky where the light was blooming.
“Morning’s almost here,” Asher sighed. “Let’s go, it’s over.”
“It’s not over yet.” I didn’t move a muscle. “There’s still five minutes left.”
Asher stopped mid-step. “What the hell could change in five minutes? Those capable of hunting have returned. I can’t sense a single Alpha still out there. No one’s coming.”
“Over?” My gaze hardened on the treeline. “Then why doesn’t it feel over?”
That’s when the ground rumbled beneath us.
A subtle tremor.
Asher stiffened. “Did you feel that?”
Every Alpha in the clearing froze.
“Was that an earthquake?” one of them whispered, voice tight with panic.
“Something’s not right,” I muttered, eyes fixed on the trembling earth.
Then came a shout, sharp and urgent.
“Look! The forest!”
My head snapped up.
Smoke. Thick and curling.
“There’s a fire!” an instructor bellowed.
“It’s spreading,” I said under my breath.
Alpha Gideon’s eyes widened as he stared from the smoke to the ground, then the ground under him that shuddered only harder, more violently this time.
“What the hell is going on?” he barked, but his voice faltered. For the first time, I saw panic on his face.
The forest erupted.
The trees trembled.
The ground roared.
“Something’s coming!” someone screamed, pointing toward the entrance of the woods.
I squinted into the shadowed treeline, until a figure burst into view.
“It’s Seth!” Finn shouted, his face beaming with happiness.
Seth, covered in dirt and ash, raced from the forest with terrifying speed. But he wasn’t alone.
Behind him…
A stampede.
A hundred wild bison thundered through the trees in his wake.
“What kind of lunatic is he?!” an Alpha cried in horror. “He was supposed to bring one, not a damn herd!”
Technically, the rules never said the prey had to be dead.
“MOVE! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!” someone screamed.
Chaos broke out.
Alphas scattered like panicked ants.
While I…
I stood there frozen, my heart taking a sudden race.
Seth’s eyes were locked on mine.
He ran straight for me, like I was the only thing he could see.
In the next second, his hand seized mine, and he pulled me hard. “Run!”
Together, we bolted.
“Climb!” he yelled, pointing to a massive tree just ahead.
We scaled it in seconds, a breath away from being trampled.
The clearing shook beneath us, thunder rolling from hooves and dust choking the air. The world blurred in panic and sound.
Clinging to the thick branch, I turned.
Seth sat beside me, breath heaving, his amber eyes catching the light.
I stared into them.
“Seth Darven,” I whispered, inching closer.
He tensed. “What?”
My gaze dropped briefly to his blood-streaked lips before rising again to meet his gaze. I leaned in, just inches between us.
“I saw a white she-wolf in the woods,” I murmured, voice low. “Did you see her too?”