The True Alpha of Lupine (Seraphina and Ronan) novel Chapter 164

SERAPHINA

I knew I should have been afraid, ashamed even, but instead I was smiling.

“Goddess…” I groaned, burying my burning face against my knees, “am I losing my mind?”

“Losing it?” A familiar deep voice slid into my ears.

Startled, I jerked my head up and found Ryker crouched in front of me. His silent blue eyes were fixed on mine.

My eyes widened. “Why are you here?”

He reached out, brushing his fingers against my cheek. “Why is your face so red?” he murmured.

My heartbeat stumbled, Ronan’s touch still fresh in my memory, the bold squeeze, the sinful grip. Shame and guilt crashed over me, and I tore my gaze away from Ryker. “It’s just…too hot.”

He looked at me blankly, as though he saw through every word of my lie. Straightening my back, I pushed to my feet, forcing a change of subject. “Why aren’t you with the others?”

“Why should I be anywhere you’re not?” he replied smoothly.

My wolf stilled, my heart racing with a different kind of urgency at his words. His piercing blue eyes locked onto mine, too intense, too knowing, too hard to bear.

“Why does it matter where I am, Ryker, when you should be heading to the trial?” I countered, raising an eyebrow.

He stepped closer, towering over me, his voice dropping to a husky murmur. “If only you knew what really matters to me…” His finger brushed my cheek again, setting fire beneath my skin.

My heart stumbled under the weight of his gaze, the unspoken truth pressing between us. I wasn’t naïve–l understood his intentions. He had made them clear when he declared he was chasing my heart, when he gave me a token of love. His intentions for me were very clear. He did not bother to hide it.

“I’m afraid I don’t have the luxury of dwelling on what matters to you, Alpha Ryker.” I slipped free from the cage of his body and the wall. “Because what matters to me is the trial…and the crown,” my voice was steady, defiant, as I held his gaze one last time before turning away.

My steps were quick, unyielding, as I left without looking back.

Unseen by me, Ryker’s expressions were unreadable as he watched me vanish down the corridor. His aura darkened, shadows curling around him as his wolf growled low in his chest.

“If the trial and the crown are all that matter to you…then why do you smell like that Volkstane?”

Following Alpha Jude’s orders, I ran until I caught up with the other Alphas. Falling to the back of the group, relief washed through me, no one seemed to notice I’d been missing. We were led down winding corridors, the very halls that had always been forbidden to us.

After some time, the dim and endless corridor stretched before us, every step echoing louder than the last. My pulse hammered as the heavy doors of the Sacred Room loomed ahead, doors we were never meant to cross. Yet here we were, a crowd of Alphas treading forbidden ground. The air thickened, charged, crawling across my skin like fire and ice. Possessive energy pulsed from the walls, seeping straight into my bones.

Finn drew up next to me.

“I never felt such energy before,” he whispered beside us as we stared at the door.

Chapter 164 Bound To Monsters

“Me too,” I admitted.

Phina stirred violently, claws scraping at the inside of me, as if she recognized something primal, something that demanded something from her. Around me, every Alpha stiffened their wolves restless, unnervingly alive.

Groups were being formed in alphabetic manner.

One by one all nine groups were made until the tenth group was called. “Alpha Ronan, Alpha Ryker and Alpha Seth.”

The ground slipped under my feet like it never existed. Wait, what?!

I did not even have time to register, before in the next second I felt Ronan standing on my right and Ryker on my left. I clenched my fists at my side, close to losing my mind. How could I land in their group? That’s when I

Chapter 164 Bound To Monsters

thought again, only R and S were the last of the alphabet among all thirty Alphas.

Still, how could I end up with both of them? Without having to look, I could feel their hostility towards each other.

Only the Goddess knew what was going to happen inside once we entered. Inside was just a mystery and they both were clearly monsters to be in the same group. I felt like I was being punished rather than blessed to be paired with the strongest in the Academy because it was the worst group ever. I even saw a few Alphas secretly laughing. No wonder they could feel the impending disaster as well. But Finn and Asher’s expressions were unreadable when they looked at Ronan and Ryker. Almost as if they were displeased.

I pursed my lips, cursing my luck.

I knew this trial was going to be the worst trial of my life.

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