When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 157

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIWE

Alpha Hugo stood by the tall window, his gaze fixed on the wolves below as they carried broken bodies toward the healers‘ wing. The fallen Alphas were barely recognizable bruised, bloodied, bones shattered beyond repair after their reckless attempt to tear the page of the one Alpha they should never have provoked.

Their arrogance had cost them everything.

With deliberate slowness, Hugo turned from the window, his sharp eyes landing on the figure seated casually by the hearth, the Alpha responsible for their ruin.

Alpha Asher.

He sat with deceptive ease, one arm draped across the chair’s armrest, the other resting loosely on his thigh. His clothes carried the scent of violence: blood, earth, and the acrid sting of torn energy left behind when the forest itself had been stirred to wrath. Yet, despite the chaos he had unleashed, not a single mark marred his skin. He was untouched. Whole. Unshaken. If one looked closely enough, a dangerous gleam flickered in the depths of his eyes.

Hugo’s gaze flicked briefly toward the courtyard where the defeated Alphas had been dragged from, recalling the moment their ambition shifted. They had not been looking for their own pages. Instead they wanted to tear the one that was found first. Their desperation had turned toward eliminating the stronger rival for the crown. They hadn’t expected Asher to catch them in the act, or for the punishment to come swift and merciless. Their papers destroyed. Their bodies broken. Their pride obliterated.

For a long, tense moment, neither Hugo or Asher spoke. The silence thickened, heavy with unspoken judgment and challenge.

Finally, Hugo broke it, his voice low and edged with iron.

“Alpha Asher, I hope you understand that you were in a task, not at war,” he stepped closer, folding his arms across his chest as he leaned against the desk. “Even though their papers were torn and they were eliminated, I cannot comprehend why you felt the need to beat them to within an inch of death. This is more than excess, it’s violence. You know the consequences of such actions, don’t you?”

Asher tilted his head slightly, his voice calm, though his eyes revealed nothing. “They made their choice when they laid hands on what’s mine. For that, they

Chapter 157 The Choice

must face the consequences of reaching for something they could never hope to grasp.”

Hugo studied him in silence, the weight of ten days of observation pressing into this single moment. “Why do I get the sense that you and I are not speaking of the same thing?” His eyes narrowed, sharp as a blade. “That page, they were after it. But this isn’t what’s consuming your mind, is it?”

Something flickered in Asher’s gaze, an unguarded truth. His thoughts were not on the paper, but on Seraphina.

Hugo caught it instantly, the faintest shift in his expression, and smiled knowingly.

“Ah, I see. I’ve struck a nerve,” he unfolded his arms, stepping closer until his eyes locked with Asher’s. His voice softened but carried weight like thunder. “Listen well, young man. Releasing your anger on others will never heal yourself. Don’t suppress what you feel. Let it out.”

Asher’s jaw tightened. His voice faltered as he spoke, as though even admitting the thought would unravel him. “If I did that…then I would…” He broke off, memories of Ronan, his friend, his brother–in–bond flashed through his mind. A fracture of loyalty. A war within himself.

Hugo watched him carefully, then leaned forward, lowering his voice until it was almost a whisper. “It seems to me you’re afraid of losing one thing…but unwilling to release the other. Then I’ll tell you the only path forward.” His smile curved like a blade. “Choose the one that will tear you apart if you lose it. The one that will drive you mad, break you, make you bleed and cry if you can’t have it. That’s the choice that makes a man.”

Straightening, Hugo walked past him toward the door. His voice carried one last verdict before he left, “They’re still alive. Eliminated from the Academy, yes, but breathing. That alone spares you from consequence. Consider yourself uncharged. You’re free to leave.”

With that, he was gone.

Asher remained motionless, his stare fixed ahead, Hugo’s words echoing in his mind like carved etchings on stone. Every syllable cut deeper, pulling at the truth he already knew but refused to admit.

His chest rose, unsteady, his hands curling into fists.

“So this… is what it comes down to.”

Chapter 157 The Choice

He sat there not knowing how long.

Finn strode through the Academy gates, his long strides carrying him quickly across the threshold of the main building. Only a handful of Alphas, no more than three stood there, bumping shoulders, and cheering over their victories in the task. Yet the one face he was searching for, the one he had returned for without wasting another second in that cursed forest, was nowhere to be found.

She’s not back yet.

His frown deepened as his gaze slid toward the wide iron doors, still standing open. The Eliminate Your Competition task had no time limit. It would continue until every Alpha secured their page and that was no simple feat.

Even he had struggled to find his page, forced to fight off others who relentlessly hunted it. Out of thirty–nine Alphas, only a few had returned after so many hours. Which meant most were still in the forest.

Including her.

Finn’s jaw clenched, the thought twisting like a blade in his chest. His wolf growled restlessly inside him, unsettled by her absence. She has to return. She must…

“Alpha Finn Hart.”

The voice snapped him from his thoughts. An Academy Assistant approached, bowing slightly.

Finn’s sharp gaze fixed on him. “Yes?”

“There is a call for you,” the man said simply before stepping aside.

Finn froze at the words, his body tightening. A call. Slowly, he followed to the assistant’s office where à receiver waited on the desk, silent.

He stared at it for a long moment before finally lifting it to his ear. “Hello.”

There was a beat of silence. Then a low voice crackled through the line, deliberate and cold.

“It’s time.”

Finn’s hand stilled around the receiver.

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Chapter 157 The Choice

“The bloodline of the Hart family,” the voice continued, “must be set into motion.”