The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 58: Chapter 58: We Don’t Deserve Her

Author’s POV~

A month.

Thirty days.

And still... no sign of her.

No scent. No trail. Not a drop of blood or a torn scrap of clothing. There was nothing to prove she had even existed down there at all. It was like the earth had swallowed her whole and refused to give her back. Like Selene had vanished into the abyss and taken a part of them with her.

The office was quiet.

Aeron sat behind the large obsidian desk, fingers steepled, elbows resting on wood that had begun to splinter beneath his grip. The air inside was heavy—thick with something that wasn’t just grief. It was a loss. Madness. A slow-burning, unending ache that had no name.

Lucian sat to his right, the chair beneath him creaking every time his leg moved restlessly. His injuries had healed weeks ago, but not really. The scars were beneath the skin—inside where no healer could reach.

Kael stood near the window, arms folded, eyes locked on the forest line like he was waiting for her shadow to reappear among the trees.

Luca paced. Back and forth. Back and forth. Like a caged beast. His shirt was wrinkled. His hair hung in tangled waves around his jaw, his nails clawed into his palms.

None of them looked like the Alphas they once were.

They looked like ghosts wearing crowns made of guilt.

No one spoke for a long time.

Because what was there to say?

Until finally, it was Luca’s hoarse voice that broke the silence.

he muttered. "We went deeper than any patrol ever dared. We marked

He stopped pacing.

eyes met Aeron’s, and for a moment, the fury simmering behind them

"She’s not there."

or flinch. He just whispered, "She has to

said softly, still watching the trees. "We would’ve felt

"Maybe she was there... and

shut them all

silence after that wasn’t peaceful. It was sharp and jagged, like teeth pressing into an

hand down his face and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. His voice was

at me before she fell," he said. "Do you

None of them answered.

Not from rage but from crying. And when she

Luca turned away.

Kael’s jaw tightened.

Aeron... he closed his

Because they all remembered.

The way her lips trembled. The way her broken, bloodied body curled

Because they were.

voice broke. "I didn’t just humiliate her... I hurt her. Gods, I laid my hands on

he dragged a trembling hand through his hair, eyes glassy

over. Not in anger, not even in punishment... just because I could. I watched her bleed, and I didn’t stop. I looked her in the eyes as she begged me, and

I was so blinded with revenge that I

went still. Even the wind outside seemed to hush, as if it couldn’t bear to

just act like a monster," he said hoarsely. "I was one. And she looked at me like I was the worst thing that had ever happened to her." A sob pushed past his lips. "Because

his eyes might somehow erase the image seared into his mind...the moment he gave the order. The moment his voice, calm and cruel, had commanded his warriors

His mate.