Filed to story: When The Moon Hides Crown
The trees stood silent and unmoving. No figures. No movement. The same heavy silence l’d been watching for minutes now.
“Ronan, you’re finally back,” came Asher’s voice from behind.
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 perked up instinctively 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 stop glaring before your eyes bleed and you drop dead.”
I turned my head to him slowly. “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, ‘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,” 1 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 nor 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 trees. “Then why doesn’t it feel over?”
That’s when the ground shifted 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 the 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,
*Isaid under my breath.
Alpha Gideon’s eyes widened as he stared from the smoke to the ground, then the ground under him which shuddered again but this time harder, mere violently.
“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.