The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 23: Chapter 23: A place no woman ever wanted to go

"No...!" I rasped, trying to pull away. But his grip only tightened.

Laughter thundered through the room filled with mockery. A crowd of hyenas drunk on blood.

"Can’t even control a little bitch like her?" someone hooted. "What kind of dominant are you, Alex?!"

His name is Alex. The brute who now had his hand buried in my hair, yanking me harder as the others goaded him on.

My breath hitched, heart slamming in my chest as pain tore across my scalp and neck. Alex growled and pushed harder, my face hitting Lucien’s thigh with a thud that made me groan. I could barely think, could barely breathe.

Suddenly, his crushing hand was gone... gently pried away.

I gasped, the air burning my throat. My cheek still rested against Lucien’s leg. His scent — wine and smoke and cold steel filled my senses. But I couldn’t even process it before I heard his voice.

"Don’t be so rough with my little slave, Alex."

His tone was soft almost playful but it dripped with mockery. Mockery that wasn’t meant for Alex. It was meant for me.

To the casual observer, it may have seemed that Lucien was being merciful. His voice soft, his grip firm yet measured as he pulled Alex’s brutal hand away from Selene’s fragile neck.

But to the men in the hall, the ones who had lived through the fires her father lit. Lucien’s words were laced with cruelty of a different kind.

He wasn’t protecting Selene.

He was prolonging the spectacle. And the room knew it.

Kael’s voice came next, sharp and disgusted like a blade unsheathed.

"Brother, why bother training her yourself? Just throw her in the Warrior’s quarters. I bet she’ll be properly trained in a single night."

A hush settled in the air, the kind that stretches before the explosion. Then the dam broke.

"Yes!"

"She belongs there anyway!"

"Throw her in the quarters, let the warriors teach her submission!"

"She’s the tyrant’s daughter, the most beautiful bitch in the werewolf domain. Let’s all have a taste!"

Their voices were jagged, echoing off stone walls like the cries of wounded beasts finally let loose.

Because for them, Selene wasn’t some fragile flower fallen from grace.

She was his daughter.

And they remembered her clearly.

behind her father’s throne

dragged in chains before her. Never blinked when sobbing girls were pulled away, screaming for mercy. She’d walk by the cages without

fury. "She watched while my sister was dragged by her father’s enforcers.

the back, "My mate begged her for help. Her guard spat in

filthy whore who knows how to gain sympathy

they believed it, every word. In their eyes, Selene wasn’t a helpless girl caught in the tide of war. She was the war. Her name was sewn into the memories of their destruction, her face carved

their pain with her chin lifted

roared, fist slamming into the table. "The reason our mothers were defiled, our sisters

feel what her father made us

her scream like our

pity. She

of silence. Vengeance born from too many funerals

not because

still held the

That infuriated them.

one of them spat. "Still thinks

crawling, begging

should know what it’s like to have everything

the quarters!" another voice rang out. "Let

deafening. Dozens of warriors standing — fists pounding tables, mouths twisted in rage, voices hoarse from years of

her breath

man who had

care that she was young.

the blade that cut them... and now, they

to make the pain stop. To let their ghosts finally rest. To say — for once — we

at the

thick with rage, the heat of it suffocating. The wolves who once obeyed quietly now rose as one, bound by the shared torment her bloodline had

She couldn’t breathe.

with vicious intent. Her throat felt tight, but her legs moved before thought could stop them.

found his hand. She clutched it without

Her heart screamed. Please...

them. That he’d pull her behind him, tell them she belonged to him and not to their wrath. That he’d protect her, even mockingly, just to keep her from being thrown

But then...

and his voice shattered everything she

he said coldly. "They have all suffered because of this bitch... and her father. It is only right they

Selene’s world shattered.

back finally broke free. A sharp, guttural sob burst from her

cried. "You can’t do this to me! Please I’m innocent! I’ve done

But it didn’t matter.

just another sound in the room.

that pit. She

now, stripped of her name

would rather scrub floors... be nothing... live invisible... anything