The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 39: Chapter 39: Just like a Pet

I was too stunned to move. His hand tightened possessively where it had no right to be, and I felt the heat of the humiliation rise through my spine like a fever. I sucked in a shaky breath, barely able to process what had just happened.

He touched me like I wasn’t even a person anymore, like I was a puppet in his arms for display. And he had done it all while the prince stood behind me. Watching and bearing witness to the filth and degradation Lucian so casually dragged me through. My hands trembled where they rested, and I thought I would fall apart right then.

But Lucian wasn’t satisfied with just humiliation.

His hand shifted again, and before I could even recoil...

Smack!

Lucian slapped me so hard on my butt that I was sure that it would have left a bruise.

I was so shocked, I almost screamed.

The slap had come so out of nowhere that it ripped the breath from my lungs. My throat clenched around the sound that tried to escape, but I muffled it, forcing it back down like bile. Because I knew what it would sound like.

If I cried out, if I so much as whimpered, my voice would betray me. It would sound like I liked it.

And I refused to let a single noise leave me. So I clamped my mouth shut, my teeth grinding together so hard my jaw ached. I wouldn’t give them the satisfaction of a single sound.

But Lucian wasn’t done.

His hand came down again, this time with full force.

through the chamber as his palm smacked hard against my other backside, the sting blooming instantly across my skin. It wasn’t playful or restrained; he meant it to hurt. He wanted to

And still, I didn’t.

body trembling in his grip, but I

I twisted just enough and sank my teeth into the side of his neck where he had pinned my head down. It wasn’t deep enough to draw

Then he laughed like he was

his head toward the prince behind me, his voice thick

twisted. The shame was too

face. I didn’t want to. I couldn’t bear to see the look

could stop them. Silent, hot trails of humiliation that burned

felt like

I was first marked as a slave. Not when they stripped me of my name, my title,

moment... kneeling in his lap, being paraded like a broken toy for the prince

he whispered low beside my ear, "Good girl. That’s what you

~~~

Prince Vaelen’s POV~

didn’t seem bothered at all by my sudden arrival. In fact, he looked

lounging, with Selene forced in his lap like a puppet, he wore the same smirk that always made me wonder if he’d

his fingers still coiled around her waist like he owned

veiled beneath the mess of her long hair. But I didn’t need to see her eyes to know the truth. Her whole body spoke it with her stiff posture. She had turned herself into a statue, not out of obedience but survival. Like a creature trying not

gotten quite good," Lucian added, his tone dropping as though he meant to share something personal. "You wouldn’t believe how obedient she is now. Sharp little

tight. I didn’t trust myself to