The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 24: Chapter 24: What Makes Us Monsters

Kael’s Pov

The room fell into an eerie silence the moment Selene was dragged away. The warriors had roared with approval, their bloodthirsty cheers still echoing in my ears like an aftershock, but now there was nothing, just the sound of a few scraping chairs and boots leaving the room.

One by one, the crowd dispersed. Even my brothers left, each with different expressions. Lucian smirked, soaking up the attention like a damn peacock. Luca walked out without a single word, like none of this had touched him at all. And Aeron... I didn’t dare look too closely at Aeron during the spectacle. I didn’t want to know what he really felt. I dont know why...but I am afraid to look in his eyes.

Most of the warriors were probably already on their way to the quarters...to enjoy the show, as they called it. It should’ve satisfied me. It should’ve felt like justice.

But it didn’t.

Instead, something thick and burning settled beneath my ribcage, like my own body was rebelling against me. My wolf, usually silent and obedient, suddenly clawed at the edges of my mind. He was snarling at me with restlessness. Go to her. Help her. The voice was primal, filled with urgency.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" I growled to myself, shaking my head like I could knock the thoughts loose. "She’s nothing. A tyrant’s daughter. Why do you want to protect her?"

But my wolf slammed harder, vicious, almost panicked.

I gritted my teeth. Not again. Not this shit again.

The last time I’d felt this twisted, this torn, was when I saw her in chains for the first time, she was silent, wounded. Even then, my wolf had stirred uncomfortably. And now? It was worse. Furious, I tried to shove him down, to bury him under rage and reason.

She’s done something to you, I thought bitterly. That bitch has bewitched you. Even my own wolf turns against me.

The thought made my blood boil. My fists clenched, jaw tight as I paced near the long table.

"This is punishment," I muttered aloud, the words a lifeline. "She deserves this. After what her father did...to our mother...and what after she did."

But my wolf didn’t back off.

Instead, he growled low in my mind, cold and accusing.

makes you different from her father

I froze.

in my lungs

What makes you different...

want to think about it. Didn’t want to admit the truth buried in that question. But the harder I

innocent," I hissed with rage, my voice cracking with something dangerously close to desperation. "She had power. She could’ve stopped it. She let those she-wolves suffer while she

straight to the gut, her face from moments ago suddenly flashed before my

she screamed or

dragged toward the door... her eyes—They were

before they

me like a punch to the

think, my legs moved. The chair screeched as I shoved it back, and I stormed out the door, my heart thundering like war drums in my ears. I followed

Silence.

Not the right kind.

Something was wrong.

think.

door open with

And there she was.

was bruised, smeared with dirt. Her hair

had already

her froze. Caught mid-jeer, mid-grin. A

sight turned my

And I stopped thinking.

saw my mother.

eyes. The

we saw her. It wasn’t anger at the warriors—it was rage at me. At us. And as I stood there, surrounded by the bastards who dared to touch her, my wolf didn’t

OUT!" I roared, my voice splitting the room, full of fury and something darker—something I didn’t