The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 46: Chapter 46: She Escaped.

Aeron’s POV

The hall was suffocating. Not just from the heat of hundreds of bodies or the weight of a thousand eyes, but from something else. Like I was standing inside a coffin made of gold and marble, too tall to lie down in, too narrow to breathe.

Banners hung from the vaulted ceiling, gold silk stitched with the sigil of our bloodline, rippling ever so slightly in the breeze from the arched windows. Even that air felt staged. Like everything else in this ceremony.

The nobles lounged in their gilded tiers, cloaks stitched with gemstones, armor gleaming more for pride than war. Their laughter echoed in the hall, hollow and performative, as if it were their own sons being crowned. I felt disgusted just by looking at them.

But I couldn’t hear any of it...not really.

All I heard was the dull, echoing thud of my heartbeat.

I stood beside my brothers—Luca, Kael, Lucian...each of us wrapped in ceremonial black, silver threads glinting across our shoulders. Which shows the status of heir. As if thread could carry the weight of a dynasty.

But it didn’t.

The cloaks were heavy. Heavier than any armor I’d ever worn into battle. Not just in fabric, but in what they meant. What they demanded.

Ahead, the Altar of Ascension towered over us, a moonstone dais veined with silver and shadow. The place where each of us would kneel. Where we’d be crowned Alpha.

Where we’d be shackled in the name of legacy.

It was the day I had waited for years.

I had dreamed of it countless times—how it would feel, how I would rejoice. But now that the moment had finally arrived, the anticipation was gone.

Why?

I didn’t understand.

This was the day we had bled for, the day we had clawed back through suffering and sacrifice. We had fought, endured, and finally snatched it back in all its glory.

been the happiest

And yet... I wasn’t.

a strange hollowness curled in my

coiled beneath my ribs, suffocating every trace of joy, every flicker of

was ours—yet inside me, something felt terribly

to begin the ceremony, and beside

dress sparkled like frost in winter moonlight—lace spun from spider silk, thin strands of gold catching every light in the room. She was flawless. Posture perfect. Her smile was perfect, looking every bit a perfect Luna. Her head bowed just enough

next to her stood Arlena, whispering something that made her laugh

moved me or stirred something, maybe joy or pride. At least

was nothing. I

chest—creeping, spreading. I hadn’t been

Selene.

my mind, soft but sharp. I hadn’t gone back to that room since. Couldn’t. Not because of what my brothers would say. Not because of the collar they

didn’t trust

been there. I should’ve thrown her out. Should’ve bared my teeth and reminded her

But I didn’t.

just didn’t know what yet. My mind was clouded with thoughts of

turned out differently had I done something else or said something else—anything. Would the outcome be

of her lying there on the ground, eyes wide with horror, as if she no longer recognized us. As if we were monsters. That

to feel like triumph, I felt nothing but cold. A deep, creeping chill that curled

lifted her hands, breaking me out of

four sons of Alpha Draven shall

hall, but it

puppet on a string. But my mind wasn’t here. It was there—back in the silence of that room. With

by one,

Kael was pale beneath the torchlight. Luca, always the

was my

priestess approached with the crown, onyx circled in silver,

my head and my brothers. The chill sank through my

Moon Goddess. May her light grant you power, clarity, and