The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: Hate Greater Than Love

Selene’s POV ~

I felt dread creeping along my spine, no... I would never allow this, he could not know it was me. I had to do something, anything, my mind kept chanting the same desperate words like a broken mantra: I have to get out, I have to leave, I cannot let him see through me.

But the man in front of me was hell-bent on keeping me in place, his grip so tight around me that I could not move even an inch, it was like he was terrified that if he loosened his hold, even for a breath, I would vanish into thin air.

And perhaps he was right, because that was all I wanted, to escape his iron grasp, to slip free, to vanish from here and be rid of these cursed chains that bound not only my body but my very power.

I was planning, thinking of ways, searching for a chance to get out from here, when suddenly a jolt ran down my spine, and I froze.

His warm and trembling breath was against me, brushing so close along my bare neck that it made my skin burn. His entire face was pressed into the crook of my neck as if he wanted to disappear inside me.

But that was not what shook me.

It was the tears.

His tears.

Hot drops sliding down onto my shoulder, falling silently, breaking against my skin. My heart lurched, and my breath caught. Was he... crying? Why?

The question slammed into me and sent a tumbling ache to the very core of my heart. I wanted to be a statue; I wanted to be cold, unshaken, untouchable.

in the face of his tears, the kind who would never break under the weight of

despair bled into me, his agony carved itself into my bones, and his fear and his hope—yes, even that fragile, desperate hope—all of it crashed over me like a

inside me, clawing at me,

one question echoed louder

crumbling of walls he himself had built around his heart? Why did he have to break here,

the mate bond finally showed him the truth? Was it guilt, was it regret, or was it some pitiful attempt at atonement for everything they had done to me? Did he finally realize just how wrong they had

more? Would they have shed a single tear for me? Would they have felt even an ounce of

cruel and crystal

No.

hardened something inside me. My mind, my heart, all the chaotic emotions that had been crashing through the mate bond—I blocked them out, slammed the door

could not. I would not. I refused to take in a love that was built on conditions,

love in this broken world, I

it to be

who I am, not for what I am. Not for my status, not

he was supposed

to the last warmth he could find. "Please... please come back to

I know we hurt you. But give us a chance...just one chance, and I will make it right. I will fix everything. I swear

against my skin like a fever, frantic and restless, the kind of pleading that made even my bones ache to hear. I felt his chest heaving against mine and felt the way

His