The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: I Told Him Everything

Selene’s POV

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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.

me like the others. He wasn’t cruel. He didn’t look at me like I was a tool or a servant. He

slowly, we became

just the kind you pretend to be for

nightmares. Our fears. He listened when I spoke about my father and didn’t flinch when I told the truth. I had never

didn’t pity me. He just

began to imagine... what if I escaped? What if I ran far from my father’s hands and into a future where someone like him could protect

in

smiled at me like I mattered... like I

the closest thing

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

a slave, scrubbing someone’s

look at me

Or worse—disgust?

twisted in the back of my mind.

a friend.

what

came and turned his face away? What

face in

Cried for my mother.

the girl I used to

prince I once

fear that maybe... maybe

few minutes, I forced myself

fall apart. I wiped my face, forced the sobs down my throat, and picked up the broom again. Mariam had

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

to. The Alphas’ rooms were untouched, and I didn’t dare step inside the adjoining doors. I

I couldn’t know—was that

the arched balcony of