When The Moon Hides Her Crown novel Chapter 182

Chapter 182 The Beast Behind The Smile

SERAPHINA

It was the first time the Academy’s training bell hadn’t rung for us. We’d been granted a day off to rest and recover. Thankfully, because between Ronan’s rut and my own racing emotions, I had barely slept the night before. We had tumbled back into bed and surrendered to exhaustion, when I woke again it was already ten in the morning. Ronan, however, was still deep in the kind of sleep that made him look like a stubborn boy rather than the fierce wolf he became at night.

I smiled at the thought and slipped out of his arms and from the bed as quietly as I could. With the blanket wrapped around me, I padded to the window to air the room trying to let the scent of sex and his rut drift away. Each step reminded me of last night: the heat pooling between my thighs, the memory of his size and his relentless need. A blush warmed my cheeks.

The sight that met my feet cut those thoughts clean off. A scattering of used condoms lay on the floor one, two, three…more than I could count. Heat flooded my face. How many times had we done it? Had he emptied the whole box?

I tapped my flushed cheek and stole a quick glance at Ronan’s sleeping form before slipping into a loose, high–neck T–shirt and then a loose shirt over it. I needed a shower; I smelled like him and that made me want to douse myself in perfume rather than wash him away. As I reached for the my perfume, my eye caught a small bird perched in the tree outside the window.

That bird, wasn’t it the same one I’d seen in the Academy Forest? It felt as though it was watching me.

A hand wrapped around my waist before I could think on it further. Startled, I turned to the mirror and found Ronan standing behind me, chin resting against my shoulder.

“Where are you going?” he murmured, pressing a soft kiss to my cheek.

A current of warmth, more than the morning sun, raced through me. The way he held me from behind and pressed his mouth to my skin felt like we’d been together for years.

“Shower,” I whispered.

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“Ugh… shower,” he grumbled theatrically, burying his face into my neck. “I’m starving.”

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Chapter 182 The Beast Behind The Smile

“Then shower first. And clean the room before anyone sees,” I nodded toward the scattered wrappers.

He watched me dab perfume at my throat for a long moment and then said under his breath, “I hate it.”

“Hm?” I glanced at him in the mirror, puzzled.

He shook his head and nuzzled my neck again. His lips and nose tickled, and I couldn’t help a giggle. “Hey, stop it. Let me go.”

“No,” he bit the side of my jaw in a mischievous, familiar way. “Let’s shower together.”

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I was taken aback for a moment before my eyes narrowed. “What? Shower together?”

He smirked. “Yeah, we’ll wash each other. I’ll make sure to clean this smooth

–“His hand skimmed my hip and trailed over my curves.

“Rut must be rotting your brain,” I elbowed him hard, though it only made him laugh.

“Maybe,” he admitted, sliding his hand briefly between my legs as if to test my resolve. “So how about one last time before

If he tried that now, I might never walk properly again. Heat pooled at the base of my throat.

“I–I’m hungry!” I started quickly, wrenching myself free and marching for the door without looking back.

“Why are you still so shy?” Ronan’s laugh followed me down the corridor, and my cheeks flamed all over again.

Goddess, was he always this playful? It was crazy.

And what? Washing up together? He really did not fear being discovered, right?!

“But showering together sounds tempting?!” Phina chipped in my mind.

A small smile appeared on my lips. “Showering together indeed sounded hot and sexy but…”

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Chapter 182 The Beast Behind The Smiles

I looked at the busy shower building ahead and my smile slowly faded.

“Maybe in the future. Maybe…”

I whispered under my breath and then turned to the healers wing where I would find an empty bathroom.

Unknown to me the bird watching me earlier now sat on a tree outside the corridor’s large window.

RONAN

I watched her run out of the room, shy and flushed, my wolf clawing at my insides for her all over again. She didn’t even realize how much she drove me insane. Seraphina had built herself into the strongest, most unyielding version of who she thought she needed to be. When underneath that steel was softness, innocence, sensitivity everything I craved. She was my weakness and my addiction.

Pulling my clothes back on, I finally accepted Mace’s mind–link, which I had blocked for the entire night. His voice erupted in my head exactly as I had expected.

“Alpha, did you go into rut?!” Panic laced his tone. “Are you hurt? Did anyone-”

“I’m fine,” I replied flatly, stepping out of the room.

“How? You didn’t even take the herbs for your rut, you could’ve-”

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