When The Moon Hides Her Crown - Chapter 28: Chapter 28

SERAPHINA
Alpha Asher’s jaw clenched the moment his eyes found me. The same cheek I had slapped yesterday was still faintly pink, and his glare burned like wildfire.
Shit.
He stepped back, his expression twisted in fury, as if he were staring at his sworn enemy.
“You blind, you little bastard?” he snarled, voice low and dangerous as he stormed toward me, murder in his eyes. The clearing fell into a tense silence, every Alpha pausing mid-bite, mid-word. All eyes turned to us.
“You think you’re a hero because I let you live after you smacked me?” He grabbed me by the collar, yanking me forward. Some of the Alphas around us lit up with excitement, cheering quietly as if waiting for blood to spill, and hoping it would be mine.
“Now that you’ve touched me like you accused me of touching you yesterday,” he growled, his voice sharp as broken glass, “shouldn’t I repay you a hundredfold?”
His hand began to shift, muscles tensing, claws extending toward my jaw.
But before I could even react, a hand darted between us stealing the last piece of steak from my plate.
Asher’s claw froze mid-air.
“Mm…” Ronan took a lazy bite of the steak, chewing slowly as every Alpha gaped in stunned silence. Then, with maddening nonchalance, he glanced at me and murmured, “Since you’re about to die today, I figured this would go to waste.”
He licked his lips with a bored expression.
My lips twitched. What a great man.
I ignored the gasping crowd and turned back to the Alpha still gripping my collar. One problem at a time.
“I’m sorry, Alpha Asher,” I calmly apologized. Asher’s scowl flickered into something closer to confusion. “I was wrong,” I continued, raising my voice so everyone could hear. “I believed something that wasn’t true. And I acted without hearing your side.”
The air shifted, curious murmurs rippling across the clearing. Asher blinked, clearly not expecting this.
“You didn’t touch me. You didn’t deserve what I did.” Then my eyes flicked past him, past his shoulder, straight to the one who had. “But someone else did.”
Reed.
His eyes widened. The color drained from his face as the attention slowly shifted toward him, like a tide of judgment. Whispers began, accusations cloaked in gossip.
“You accusing me now, you little bastard?” Reed barked, his voice sharp and defensive.
“No,” I said with a tight smile. “I’m exposing you, dirty little mutt.”
Reed’s expression twisted in rage as I barely contained my fury. I couldn’t reveal the truth, not yet, not without admitting I was the she-wolf in the forest. Though I could warn him.
“Do you have any proof?” he demanded.
“No, that's why you’re still breathing,” I remarked, glaring at him. “This is your first and last warning,” I said coolly. “Stay away from me. Don’t cross my path again.”
“Or what?” he spat, stalking toward me.
I smiled coldly. “Or next time, I’ll shove that filthy hand of yours down your throat and twist your pretty little neck until it snaps.”
Reed stopped dead in his tracks, face pale.
A few Alphas snorted behind their hands, amused at his hesitation. That only fueled his rage.
“This does not end here,” he turned sharply and stormed off into the trees furious, humiliated.
He didn’t go unseen.
A little farther out, under the shade of an old pine, stood Dante. He watched the entire scene unfold while sipping lazily from a silver flask.
“If I were you,” Dante said, voice dry, “I’d either kill him or kill myself after being humiliated like that in front of the entire Academy.”
Reed clenched his fists, practically vibrating with fury.
“I’m going to kill that little mutt,” he growled. “The only reason he’s still breathing is because Ronan’s always hovering like a damn shadow but that ends now. His countdown has begun. I’ll gut him when no one’s watching, when he least expects it.”
Dante let out a disappointed hum.
“Such an easy death for such a grand humiliation,” he said quietly, almost with pity.
Reed turned, confused. “Then what? What do you suggest if not death?”
“Humiliation,” Dante smoothly replied.
Reed’s eyes gleamed with renewed interest. “How?”
Dante tossed him a thick, dark berry; one Reed caught midair. “This…” His grin curled wickedly.
“A death by humiliation,” Dante murmured, “just like Seth Darven…brought low by his own shadow protector.”
Reed studied the berry, and a cruel smile spread across his face. He already had a plan. Dante, however, turned his gaze back to the clearing at Ronan and me. “As I said,” he murmured to himself, “unacceptable.”
Back in the clearing, I exhaled slowly and focused once more on Alpha Asher.
“Sorry for the interruption. As I was saying, here and now, in front of every Alpha who saw me strike you, I was wrong. And if a punch is what it takes to settle the matter, I’ll take it.”
There was a stunned silence.
To my surprise, Asher’s ears flushed red. He looked like a completely different person.
He slowly let go of my collar. His gaze dropped, avoiding mine.
“I’ll let you off this time,” he muttered, voice gruff.
I blinked.
Was he…shy?
A small smile crept across my lips. “Thanks, that’s very kind of you.”
His cheeks flushed a deeper red, and I couldn’t help but think…he was kind of cute when he was flustered.
Though beside me, someone wasn’t amused.
Ronan’s expression darkened. Without a word, he tossed the half-eaten steak back onto my plate and stormed out of the clearing, his aura simmering with fury.
I watched him go, frowning.
“What’s his deal?” I muttered.