CRACKS IN THE CROWN
382 Words
The pack noticed.
They noticed the way Seraphina’s posture changed—subtle, but undeniable. Her shoulders no longer curled inward. Her voice, though still soft, carried weight.
They noticed Kael’s irritation grow sharper.
The Alpha King did not like things he could not control.
Training grounds became brutal. Warriors were pushed past exhaustion. Punishments became frequent. Public.
Kael needed to remind the pack who ruled them.
But power rooted in fear is fragile.
Darius saw it.
The beta had served under Kael since they were boys. He had believed in the Alpha’s vision—strength, unity, survival at all costs. He had told himself that the treatment of the Luna was unfortunate… but necessary.
Until it wasn’t.
He watched Seraphina one afternoon as she walked through the courtyard, helping an elderly wolf down the steps. Her smile was gentle, her touch steady.
The same smile she wore when she hid her pain.
Guilt gnawed at him like acid.
That night, Darius stood guard outside the Alpha chamber as Kael’s voice rose inside—sharp, angry.
“You defied me,” Kael snarled.
“I healed without asking permission,” Seraphina replied. “If that is defiance, then yes.”
There was a sound—something struck the wall.
Darius stiffened.
He heard silence afterward. Too long.
Then footsteps.
Kael stormed out, eyes blazing, fury radiating from him like heat. He didn’t acknowledge Darius as he passed.
Inside, Seraphina stood alone.
The room was wrecked—table overturned, goblet shattered, blood smeared at the corner of her mouth.
But she was standing.
Darius swallowed hard.
“My Luna,” he said, voice strained. “Are you—”
“I am alive,” she said softly.
She met his eyes.
“Tell me something, Beta,” she asked. “How long does a crown remain rightful… when the moon withdraws its blessing?”
Darius felt it then.
The shift.
The pack bond trembled—deep, structural, like the first crack in a mountain.
He dropped to one knee.
Not in obedience to the Alpha King.
But in acknowledgment of the Luna standing before him.
Far above, clouds swallowed the moon.
And for the first time since her mating night, Seraphina felt it clearly.
The Moon Spirit was no longer silent.
It was waiting.
- Writer
