Filed to story: When The Moon Hides Crown
I tried to move past him toward the door, but he stepped sideways, blocking me with the ease of someone toying with a smaller animal.” Let me go.”
He suddenly towered over me, his eyes on my face intensely, “You looked tired,” he said softly, voice a thread of silk and danger. “Rough night?”
My breath hitched. How could he… “What would be rough about it?
Move out of my way,” I stated confidently.
He didn’t.
Instead, he tilted his head, eyes scanning my face-too intently. “You smell different today,” he murmured, almost to himself. “Not bad. Just …like the storm passed.”
My heart dropped in my stomach. My heat was gone… but was there a smell left? No, right? The perfume was working. So how…
I clenched my fist in panic. I had to get out. Before I made a mistake.
Before he saw something. Found something. “Nonsense, let me go..” I started, attempting to slide past Renan, but I barely made it two steps when a knock sounded-and the dorm door creaked open before either of us could respond.
“Morning drop-off!” chirped a familiar voice.
My blood ran cold.
The dorm assistant.
No.
He couldn’t see me here. He must not see me here. If I were to be found in his room it would mean immediate expulsion. A violation of the highest rule.
“What should I do?!” My heart stuttered in panic. I froze mid-step. I looked around searching for a window. I did not know what lay outside that window but I could care less. I turned to jump out of it but Ronan moved faster than I thought.
In one fluid motion, he turned and stepped into me, his broad chest blocking my view of the open door right away. His body became a shield-warm, firm, immovable.
“Why are you…” I gasped, trapped between him and the cold wall. His arm came around me with silent precision, holding me steady but not forcefully, his other hand lifting to wave casually at the assistant.
“Just leave it on the table,” he said, his voice cool, unbothered. Not atremor of tension gave anything away.
The assistant did not take another step further in. “Yes.”
I kept holding my breath tightly and hid my aura as he moved to the table. But I could not hide my heartbeat that kept increasing with Ronan’s violet eyes staring down into mine without blinking. Both of our bodies were so close that I didn’t even want to think how close we were.
A moment later, the door clicked shut again.
But I was still pinned.
So close.
Too close.
His masculine scent wrapped around me like smoke. My chest rose and fell in rhythm with his, our breaths mingling in the tight space. I couldn’t meet his eyes, I knew he was watching me, but I couldn’t look away either.
My palms trembled where they pressed against the wall behind me.
I’d never been this close to a man before.
Not like this.
Not sharing the same breath.
Not with my body reacting like it had a mind of its own.
I was overheating again-not from heat, not from shame. Something else. Something worse.
“Can’t put my reputation on line..” he murmured lowly, voice brushing over my skin like velvet as he replied to my earlier question.The moment the words left him, I shoved gently at his chest-not with force, but enough to create distance. Of course I knew he hid me because of his reputation. Not because he wanted to help me.
“That’s good. I don’t want to be seen with you either,” I slipped away and fled from his room without looking back, the tips of my ears and the back of my neck burning crimson. My pulse was still thundering by the time I shut the door behind me.
I didn’t stop until I was.halfway down the hall.
Only then did I allow myself to breathe.
Then again, how could that be Ronan’s room? On top of it he even got a breakfast delivered over there? Come to think of it, I never saw him having any meal among the others in the cafeteria. What was going on?
RONAN
“Don’t want to be seen by me, huh?”1 muttered under my breath as I crouched to retrieve the book from the floor. Its pages were filled with an ancient language I hadn’t been able to decipher, until now.
But had I heard Seth Darven read “rogue”?
1 narrowed my eyes.
The letters had shifted, reshaping into English only after Seth had glanced at the page earlier. But that translation hadn’t been there before. Not until he saw it.
“But how? And why?” I murmured, my fingers unconsciously brushing over the worn, yellowed paper. My thoughts raced back-to the rogue in the ruins… and again in the Blackmoon forest. This couldn’t be a coincidence.
“Ronan,” Asher’s voice snapped me from my thoughts as he stepped into the room.
I placed the book down carefully on the desk and turned to him.
“Here’s your cologne,” he said, holding up the black bottle. “And your suspicion was spot on. The old wolf who makes your cologne confirmed someone tampered with it.”
He handed it to me, his tone grim.
“It was infused with something… strange,” Asher continued. “A type of wild berry. Its exact origin couldn’t be traced, but it carries a strong, natural effect on werewolves-especially during heat or rut cycles.”
I stared at the bottle, expression unreadable.
No one ever touched my things. Let alone tampered with them. But this time…
“Asher,” I said quietly, “who do you think did this?”
He exhaled deeply and dropped onto the sofa across from me. “
Honestly? It’s not hard to guess. You share a dorm with several Alphas.
And one of them clearly had a motive. But here’s the twist-it wasn’t meant to harm you.”