When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 165

SERAPHINA

“Silence!” Alpha Hugo’s growl cut through the air as the heavy door behind him creaked open. “Everyone will enter with their group. Quietly. Remember you are never meant to show your arrogance, shift, or aggregation in the moonstone chamber.”

Asher’s group went first, disappearing into the shadows. Every three seconds, another group followed, until at last which was ours. The dim glow ahead barely reached us and the moment the door shut behind, the world plunged into darkness.

Phina’s light flared in my eyes, allowing me to see more clearly. My gaze stayed forward, fixed on the Alphas ahead, but every nerve in my body felt the sharp presence of Ronan to my right and Ryker to my left.

None of us dared make a sound. The silence was heavy, commanding, until the corridor widened and to my surprise Alpha Gideon stood waiting in the center. That was the last thing I expected.

“Welcome,” he began, his voice echoing against the stone walls. “Welcome to the second threshold of the Sacred Room. From this point forward begins your most important trial in the Supreme Alpha race, a trial called Who Are You to Me”

He turned and gestured to the massive door looming behind him. “The Moonstone rests beyond this door. All thirty of you will enter. No instructors will guide you, no eyes will monitor you but remember this: you are never beyond the sight of the Goddess. Never above her powers and play. Obey the rules written inside. Defy them and you all will bear the consequences.”

Uneasy glances shifted among the Alphas, but no one spoke against him.

“What is the trial, Alpha?” one finally asked. “What does Who Are You to Me mean?”

“In this trial, you will become members of a pack,” Alpha Gideon explained.

Murmurs rippled through the group, confusion plain on every face.

“Pack members like Alpha, Beta, Gamma?” someone pressed.

“Yes,” Alpha Gideon nodded slowly, “but there can be more than that. Your task is to recognize each other’s place in the pack. And the traitor of your pack. You must answer, ‘Who are you to me?‘ Fail to identify the correct bond, and you will be instantly eliminated. Your journey toward becoming Supreme Alpha ends there.”

The air thickened with tension. I could feel it pressing against my skin. So it was going to be a pack of strangers?

Cassius lifted his chin. “Then we must recognize all thirty Alphas?”

“Only if thirty remain by the time you face them,” Gideon replied smoothly. “Each failure removes one from the game. If ten fall before you, you will have only twenty to recognize. The weaker a wolf’s soul and willpower, the quicker they will fall, leaving fewer obstacles.”

His words sounded deceptively simple. Too simple. My wolf stirred uneasily. Something didn’t fit. If what he was saying was that simple, then…

I stole a glance of Ronan and Ryker.

In that case, our team will win. Due to both of their souls and willpowers being very powerful. At least that’s what I believed. Still I did not understand why Alpha Gideon had not yet said that it was a team trial when we were divided in the teams?

“Alpha,” I spoke up at last, my voice steady, “on what basis are we to recognize another Alpha’s place? What tells us ‘who they are to me?”

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Chapter 165 A Pack Of Strangers

That was when a smile tugged at his mouth, like he had been waiting for that very question.

“For that,” Gideon said softly, “you must enter the moon chamber.

The great door groaned open behind him, the sound filling the corridor like a warning. Alpha’s gaze pinned each of us as he added, voice low and deliberate.

“Always remember, what you wrote on that page has already chosen for you. Blended with your personality, your thoughts, your hidden desires, your secrets….your darkness. Even your destiny.”

At Alpha Gideon’s signal, Asher and his group were the first to step inside, followed by the others one after another. When our turn finally came, we crossed the threshold, and instantly, the air shifted. A biting chill wrapped around us, sinking into my skin, while the ground beneath our boots grew uneven, hard to walk on, forcing us to tread carefully.

Low voices stirred around me as Alphas leaned toward the ones beside them, speaking in tones laced with curiosity and caution.

“It’s a cave,” Ryker murmured. I turned my head, catching sight of his hand brushing the wall where the passage narrowed, his eyes tracing the stone with sharp attention.

“Cave?” I echoed softly, glancing down. Small, jagged rocks crunched under my feet, scattered thick across the path.

“Not just any cave,” Ronan’s voice came from my other side, low but certain, “an ancient one. Not man- made…” His words drew my gaze upward, following the line of his stare.

The ceiling glittered faintly, embedded with diamond–like stones that gleamed with an ethereal shimmer. Each one rare, radiant, unlike anything I had ever seen. My breath caught. This was no work of mortal hands. It was something far older, far greater… the unmistakable mark of the Goddess herself.

We pressed forward in silence, the cave stretching on, its darkness thick and endless. Then suddenly, light broke through the black.

“What is that?” someone whispered, awe and unease tangled in their tone.

A brightness glimmered ahead, spilling into the shadows like a beacon.

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