Filed to story: When The Moon Hides Crown
I lay still, naked and trembling, the roar of water fading behind me.
The forest surrounded me again, eerily quiet. My limbs were leaden.
My thoughts raced.
They saw me.
All of them saw me in wolf form.But… I don’t think they recognized me.
Not even Ronan.
He couldn’t have, right? Without my scent, how could he know?
And yet…
How had the rogues ended up in that forest at just the right moment?
That was no coincidence.
Then I noticed it-
The sky.
Hints of orange and lavender bled into the black, staining the horizon like spilled fire.
Dawn.
No.
Panic crashed through me as I forced myself upright. My soaked hair clung to my skin, my heart thundering louder with every second.
I spun around.
Unfamiliar trees surrounded me. No sign of the clearing. No familiar trail. No scent of the others.
I was off course. Completely.
The stream that had saved me… had also cast me into the unknown.
And the worst part?
The bison.The prey I had hunted. Wounded. Nearly killed. The final kill that would prove my worth in this cursed trial…
The realization hit like a blow to the chest.
Gone.
I turned slowly, scanning the woods. The scent trail was faint now, fading too fast to track. Even if I found it again, l’d have to fight it, finish it, and drag its massive body all the way back to the clearing… before sunrise.
I didn’t have that kind of time.
Not anymore.
My breath came in shallow pants. My ribs ached with each inhale. Was this it?
Was I going to lose?
The thought landed harder than any fang or claw.
I lowered my eyes to the forest floor. My hands were scraped. My legs smeared with mud. My body ached, and still I trembled. All that effort.
All the danger. The risk of discovery. The near assault. The defiance.
All of it…
Only to end up here.
Alone. Empty-handed. Lost.
My gaze lifted once more to the sky.
Warm streaks of gold now kissed the clouds like the first soft embers of a fire.
Was this how it ended?
Was I going to fail?
RONAN
“Alpha Ronan Volkstane,” one of the Alpha instructors called out, marking my name on the list as I stepped into the wide clearing 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-and 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.