Filed to story: When The Moon Hides Crown
Something had changed.
I felt it before I heard it-the slow, deliberate footsteps, the shift in the air, the dark heat coiling behind me like a rising storm.
And then
A warm breath ghosted along my ear.
“You know,” came a smooth, low murmur, voice dipped in shadows and silk, “eight versus one looks an awful lot like suicide.”
I didn’t flinch. Didn’t turn. But every nerve in me lit up like lightning.
Ronan’s voice was dark velvet, threading around my spine as he leaned closer, face beside mine. “If you cry out my name for help,” he continued, “I might be tempted to save you.”
I slowly titled my face a little to meet his smiling eyes.
Then I slowly turned to face him.
His violet eyes glinted like moonlit steel, expression unreadable, but something in them burned, calling to decrease the distance between us and I rose on my toes.
I slid a hand up into his thick soft hair, as I pulled him down slowly to my face and whispered into his ear-my lips grazing his skin.
“Alpha Ronan…” I whispered, soft but sharp as a blade.
His breath hitched, just a fraction, as our eyes locked. “Help me.”
A slow smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth.
But I wasn’t finished.
“..Be my watchdog for a while,” I added, voice turning cold as steel, ” and make sure no one escapes before I’m done with them.”
“What the fuck,” his smile widened, something dangerous gleaming behind it. “And you say you aren’t seducing me.”
SERAPHINA
“And you say you aren’t seducing me.”
The moment Ronan’s words hit the air, the weight of what I’d just done crashed into me like a freight train. I had slipped. I’d broken character-not Seth, but Seraphina. I touched Ronan like a…l leaned in close, invaded his space.
On top of that I did it in front of the very Alphas I was supposed to fool.
limmediately let go of his hair and stepped back with a smoothness that masked my panic-controlled, casual, as if I hadn’t just nearly blown everything. I didn’t meet Ronan’s gaze. I couldn’t. Instead, I turned to face the bastards in front of me.
Behind me, Ronan let out a low, amused laugh. I heard the scrape of a chair dragging across the concrete, and then the creak of wood as he sat in front of the rotting door-sin personified. One leg crossed over the other, cigarette glowing between his fingers.
“Give me a good show, Alpha Seth Darven,” he murmured, smoke curling around his jaw like a halo turned to ash.
I glanced at him over my shoulder, shooting him a blank Look. He just smiled, that irritatingly handsome smirk that somehow made things worse.
I tore my eyes away and focused on the circle of Alphas.
Most of them were tense, Ronan’s presence unnerving them. But not Reed.He grinned like the devil with a secret.
“Hey Darven,” Reed calted, “you should’ve cried for help from your new watchdog over there. But since your pathetic ego wouldn’t let you, let’s walk you straight into hell, yeah?”
Laughter erupted behind him.
I said nothing. I stared at them-blank-faced, calm, quiet.
But something inside me cracked. Their laughter scraped across my nerves like glass on bone.
“Why did you hurt Finn?” I asked quietly.
“What?” Reed made a mocking face.
“You should’ve come for me, you coward. You didn’t need to hurt my friend,” I said, my voice barely more than a murmur, but laced with steel.
The amusement drained from his eyes. My calm unnerved him.
He clenched his fists, nostrils flaring. “Still playing cocky, you little shit? How dare you look at me like I’m beneath you?!”
He roared and charged. Cassius and the others followed behind him like rabid dogs. The only advantage I had in this fight was that none of them could shift. Shiftingwithout permission on the Academy grounds was a punishable act and they could all be kicked out. Because the Alpha instructors would immediately feel that someone had shifted and broken the rules.
Reed lunged, half-shifted claws aiming for my throat.
I dodged, barely.
His claws sliced the air where my neck had been.
I spun and launched myself at Cassius, the nearest body, climbed his broad frame, and slammed his skull into the ground with a sickening thud.
Everything stopped for half a second.
The Alphas froze, shocked.
Reed stared at Cassius’ groaning form, wide-eyed.
I met Reed’s eyes, and let my wolf rise.
“I told you to stay away from me,” I growled, my voice layered with my wolf’s furious gaze. “Now you’ll die.”
Rage overtook him.
“You-!” he spat, blood rising in his eyes. “You’ll regret this!”
He charged again, snarling. The others followed.
And Ronan?He didn’t move. Didn’t speak.
Just sat there smoking, eyes trained on me-not missing a single twitch, a single breath. Even mid-fight, I could feel the burn of his gaze on my skin.
The first impact came fast-a blur of fists and claws. My body moved on instinct, honed from years of training. My fist slammed into someone’s ribs. Another grabbed for me, I twisted and drove my elbow into his throat. I felt cartilage collapse beneath my strike.
One down.