When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 171

RYKER

Chapter 171 The Loop of Made47

Well, this was fun until I had to touch them.

The curse trailing me became fucking annoying from the moment this trial began.

My wolf bristled with every bond I completed, the mark burning hotter each time, and still the curse persisted. It whispered, it laughed: low, mocking, like claws scratching along my skull. The sound seeped beneath my skin, getting on my nerves with every second.

“You are my pack member,” I muttered to the Alpha in front of me, tearing my hand away the instant the bond sealed. I didn’t even spare him another glance before sprinting past.

“Twelfth,” my wolf growled in my head, counting them off. Twelve bonds down and still no end in sight. I was moving at lightning speed, finishing this pathetic farce before I forgot why we were even in this cursed forest to begin with.

Another Alpha crossed my path. I stopped just long enough to press our hands together, finish the recognition, and move on. All the while the curse’s voice oozed into my ear like poison.

“Disgusting?” it whispered.

I ignored it, just as I had been doing all along. Silence was the best weapon against parasites.

That was when it chuckled, softer, crueler.

“Not disgusting enough…that you still held that corpse, right?”

My vision flared red. The memory it dragged forward, the one I buried deep, splintered open like a crack in stone. Lava surged in my veins.

The curse laughed harder, feeding on my fury. Blinded by rage, I ran straight past another Alpha without even touching his hand. The rules of the trial no longer mattered. I had decided I would deal with this bitch of a curse first.

I slowed, letting it come closer, feeling its victory in the way its laughter sharpened, circling me. My wolf’s claws scraped against the edges of my mind, ready to tear the forest apart. And then-

Chapter 121 The Loop Of Madhons

A figure emerged from the mist. It wasn’t the curse.

“Asher,” I muttered.

Volkstane’s friend. The one whose scent always bothered me, like secrets laced into smoke.

My wolf stilled, watching. I broke into a sprint toward him, eyes emotionless. He spotted me, expression blank, cold, mirroring my own. We both wanted to get this over with.

Only just as our hands stretched toward each other, something caught my attention. The mark on his palm. It wasn’t one I recognized. My gaze lingered, sharp and assessing.

What kind of bloodline was that?

Our marks pressed together, and his voice cut through first, flat and detached.

“You are my unwanted pack member.”

Seraphina’s face flickered in my mind, the memory of him daring to touch her lips in the library. My wolf snarled, low and venomous, and I tightened my grip on his hand, my voice rough with contempt.

“You are my pack member that should not exist.”

The bond sealed, the invisible chain tugging once before we tore our hands apart. Neither of us lingered, we sprinted past one another without another word.

The curse’s laughter had faded into the background, drowned by my own thoughts. Thoughts of Seraphina. Asher’s closeness to her. Too close.

Of course, he wasn’t the only one.

Through the trees I caught sight of another figure, one who circled her more than anyone. Finn.

He had just sealed a bond with an Alpha, his head snapping toward me as I broke past the line of trees. Our gazes clashed like blades. His eyes flicked to my hand, my mark, but mine had already caught his.

The sight was…interesting. His bloodline mark, smeared. Concealed. Whether dirtied by accident or intentionally hidden, I couldn’t tell. But I didn’t need to

Chapter 121 The Loop of Madera

touch him to know. The bond between us waited, simmering, and I could already guess what it would reveal.

I ran past, our eyes locked, the unspoken recognition heavy in the space between us.

Meanwhile, the curse snickered in my ears, its voice flitting through different memories, different taunts. I ignored it, recognizing three more Alphas as I moved, faster, sharper. Still no sign of her. No sign of Seraphina. My wolf growled enraged.

I had nearly taken the entire round of this forest, and still nothing.

“Or maybe,” my wolf observed darkly, “this forest isn’t what it looks like.”

My eyes landed on the bloodied mark of an Alpha sprawled lifeless against the snow, the same one I’d passed earlier. Recognition struck.

“The path is circling itself,” I muttered under my breath.

Confirmation slammed into me when the corpse came into view again minutes later. But it wasn’t happening to the others. This loop was mine alone. The curse was twisting the forest for me.

“Angry?” it giggled in my ear, words dripping like venom. “Not that much when you could only hold that flesh and bones, right?”

My sanity snapped.

“Fuck the trial,” my wolf roared, aura erupting out of me in a violent wave, rattling the snow–laden trees. He clawed at the edges of my control, ready to rip everything apart.

That was when-

A figure burst out of the mist ahead.

Not just anyone.

The memory of him ripping her from my arms, his hand on her, his eyes on her, slammed into me like a blade. Fury ignited in my chest, hot and absolute.

Finally, a reason to enjoy this game.

Ronan Volkstane,

Chapter 171 The Loop Of Madness

The one who dared to touch what was mine.

RONAN

The frustration of not seeing Seraphina yet burned inside me like molten lava, and the moment Ryker’s face emerged from the mist, that lava erupted:

He had touched her, ripped her from my hold.

My legs pushed harder against the ground, speed doubling to match his. His bloodline mark flickered into view, but it wasn’t clean. A thick coil of black smoke bled across it, corrupting the glow. My eyes narrowed. Whatever filth tainted his bloodline, it didn’t erase the one truth, he had laid his hand on her.

We closed the distance between us, wolves flashing in our eyes. Neither of us raised a hand to press our bloodline marks together. We didn’t need to. The bond between us was already carved in fire and hate.

Verkas roared inside me, his voice colliding with Ryker’s at the same time.

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