The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: I Told Him Everything

Selene’s POV

~

Tears still clung to my lashes as I sat slumped against the grand door of the Alpha’s chamber. I should’ve stopped crying. I knew that. But once the memories opened their floodgates, they never let me go without dragging me under first.

The prince was coming.

And now... I would have to face him again.

My chest ached at the thought, not just with fear, but with something heavier. A deep-rooted shame that dug claws into my skin and wouldn’t let go.

I curled my fingers into my apron and shut my eyes tightly.

It started when I was fifteen. The year everything changed.

That was the year my father stopped using his fists—and began using his words instead.

He told me to make friends with the Lycan prince. Said I had a pretty face and a gentle smile, and if I used them right, I could secure our future. His future.

I didn’t want to go. I hated the idea. I knew exactly what he meant. If I couldn’t "win over" the prince... if I didn’t do enough, he would break my legs.

But worse—he’d burn everything my mother left behind. Her shawl. Her old journal. The tiny wooden box she carved for me before she died. All I had left of her.

The beatings hadn’t worked. I had stopped reacting to it. So he found a new way to hurt me.

One that worked.

So, I began going to the palace, terrified but silent. I didn’t say no. I couldn’t. I started lingering around the prince like a shadow. I smiled when I had to. Laughed when I could manage it. Not for charm—but because I was scared of what would happen to my mother’s memories if I failed.

But... something strange happened.

like the others. He wasn’t cruel. He didn’t look

somehow, slowly, we became

kind you

fears. He listened when I spoke about my father and didn’t flinch when I told the truth. I had never told anyone everything before—but with him, the

me. He just

why I started dreaming foolish dreams. I began to imagine... what if I escaped? What if I ran far from

Strong in

like I mattered...

was the closest thing I’d ever had to someone I could call

he was coming here. I didn’t know how to face him. Would he look at me and see

see this pathetic shell, marked as a slave, scrubbing someone’s floor with hands that had once

at me with

Or worse—disgust?

down my cheeks again, But another thought twisted in the back of my

friend. Maybe... maybe this was

again, what if

came and turned his face away? What if

face in

Cried for my mother.

girl I used to

prince

maybe...

few minutes, I forced myself

throat, and picked up the broom again. Mariam had given

legs still trembled as I stood, but I pushed them forward. I moved from one corner to another, brushing carefully, dusting the shelves, sweeping between every tile. The scent of pine and smoke lingered in the air. I couldn’t tell if it comforted me

chambers were quiet, but thick with presence—like the shadows here remembered who they belonged to. The Alphas’ rooms were untouched, and I didn’t

know—what I couldn’t know—was

of the