When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 168

r 168 The Ghost Forest

THIRD PERSON POINT OF VIEW

“WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN THE ALPHAS DISAPPEARED?!”

Alpha Gideon’s roar shook the corridor as he stormed down its length, his strides quick and heavy, his fury bouncing like that of a charging bull. He burst into the Moonstone Chamber, only to stop dead in his tracks, his face freezing in horror.

Alpha Jude and Alpha Hugo were already there, both rooted to the spot in the same stunned silence. The three of them stood like statues, their wide eyes fixed on the Moonstone at the center of the chamber, their mouths parted in disbelief.

“How is this possible?” Alpha Hugo’s voice cracked, disbelief hollowing out every word. “Is this even real?”

“The Moonstone…” Alpha Jude’s whisper trembled in the silence, “it’s lost its glow.”

A thick sheen of sweat slid down their temples as the dreadful stillness closed in around them. This was supposed to be a sacred trial of the young Alphas, yet the chamber was stripped of their presence, replaced instead with an atmosphere steeped in dread.

“Don’t tell me…” Alpha Gideon staggered back a step, his eyes wide, pupils quaking, his face pale as though he had seen a ghost.

The shift in his demeanor was not the reaction of a man known to be fearless, unshakable, a pillar of strength, sent a sharper chill into Jude and Hugo than the Moonstone’s darkness ever could.

“What is it, Alpha Gideon?” Hugo pressed, his breathing uneven, his instincts twisting with a foreboding weight.

After a long silence, Gideon’s lips parted. His voice emerged low and heavy, as though dragged from the depths of his chest.

“They–they have been cursed.”

“WHAT?!” Jude and Hugo’s voices collided in a disbelieving shout.

Hugo’s gaze snapped back to the Moonstone, his expression paling. The ancient texts had always spoken of the Moonstone’s dual nature, its power to bless and to curse. Never in all history had it cursed. Until now… thirty Alphas, the pride and heirs of their packs, had vanished. “Could it be,” his voice faltered, “that something transpired here? That some mistake, some act, provoked the Moonstone into condemning them all?”

“What kind of curse?” Jude demanded, his voice raw. He stepped forward, fists clenched. “And where the hell are they?!”

Hugo fell silent, his throat tight. His eyes drifted past Jude, fixing on Gideon the only one who carried the

answer.

“Where are the Alphas, Alpha Gideon?” Jude strode up to him, impatience sharpened by fear. “Do you understand what this means? They are heirs of the most prestigious packs, the strongest bloodlines of our kingdom. If they vanish like this, struck down by a curse, not only Lupine Academy but the entire kingdom will fall into uproar. We have to find them. We have to warn them of the danger-”

“You can’t do anything,” Gideon cut him off. His voice was grave, low, final. “No one can.”

The weight of those words sank into Jude’s bones like ice. Gideon was not a man who surrendered to despair. For him to speak like this… “Why?” Jude demanded, his voice breaking. “Where are they that none of us can reach them?”

Gideon lifted his gaze to the Moonstone. His jaw tightened. His next words were little more than a murmur, but they fell like thunder.

Chapter 162 The Okpet Forest

“They’re in the Ghost Forest.”

The chamber plunged into dead silence. None of them even dared to breathe.

The tales of the Ghost Forest were infamous, passed down as warnings whispered around firesides. It was said to be a realm of mist and shadows, a place no living soul would enter willingly. One could be cast there only through a curse bound to their bloodline. Once there, no one ever returned.

“This is a disaster,” Hugo’s realization broke in a whisper, his eyes wide with terror, “none of them will come back.”

“Impossible!” Jude shook his head, refusing to accept it. “No! We cannot let this happen! Alpha Gideon, we have to act. There must be a way!”

Gideon only clenched his jaw, his eyes shutting tight as if searching desperately for a solution, for any answer. His body trembled with the effort of thought until a sudden sensation made his eyes snap open a chill, metallic and unyielding, brushing against his skin.

The touch of iron.

His head whipped around, his expression sharpening. Without another word, Alpha Gideon turned and strode out of the chamber, his steps heavy with urgency.

Alpha Jude and Alpha Hugo hurried after Alpha Gideon, their steps echoing in the silent halls as the elder Alpha mind–linked someone with the same urgency that quickened his stride.

After several turns down dim corridors, Gideon entered the Academy’s forbidden East Wing. His steps halted before a chamber sealed with age, the White Feather Chamber. His hand trembled as he withdrew a key he had not touched in years.

“Now…this is the only way.” His grip tightened on the iron, knuckles whitening, before he slid the key into the lock.

Jude and Hugo exchanged a wary glance as the ancient door creaked, its hinges groaning under the weight of time.

A sharp echo of footsteps snapped their attention down the corridor. Healer Aran approached with the measured calm of steel, his expression unreadable, his eyes glinting with restrained power.

“Please, stay back from the door,” he instructed.

The two Alphas obeyed as Alpha Gideon slipped inside. The heavy door shut behind him with an unnatural finality, sealing itself. Aran took position before it, his back straight, his wolf flickering in his eyes.

Then, with deliberate precision, he lifted a hand. Symbols invisible to most took shape in the air as he murmured words under his breath. The chamber door sealed, shimmering faintly with a protective force. Alpha Jude and Hugo watch in silence as the world itself began to respond. The weather outside shifted, winds screaming against the Academy walls. The ground quivered beneath their feet, and the very stones of the ancient building seemed to pulse and breathe under Aran’s manipulation.

Raising his gaze toward the sealed door, Aran’s voice dropped to a grave murmur, addressing Alpha Gideon directly. “You have half a minute.”

Inside, Gideon closed his eyes. That was when his voice thundered, not in the chamber but within the minds of every Alpha cast into the Ghost Forest.

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