The Witch and Her Four Dangerous Alphas

Chapter 155: Chapter 155: The Lycan’s Promise ll

Maximus’s POV~

After I met Elara, everything else faded. The wars, the throne, even my betrothal... all of it lost meaning the moment she walked into my life. She was my truth, my soul, my mate. And once I knew her, there was no one else.

The eldest daughter, the one I had been promised to, slipped into the shadows of my mind. I could no longer see her as my future, not when Elara was before me.

How could I marry another when my mate was still here? How could I choose duty over the bond that tied me to her?

I told myself it was just a political marriage. Nothing more. Something arranged by others to bind bloodlines and seal peace. But how could I give my life to that when fate had chosen differently? Wouldn’t such a choice ruin all three of us? Me, Elara, and her sister?

I tried... gods, I tried... to break it. I even offered another way. I told them she could marry my younger brother instead, that she deserved someone who would give her his whole heart, not half of one already bound elsewhere. But she refused.

The eldest daughter would not hear of it. She was steadfast, unyielding. And that was when I realized the truth... she had fallen for me and was hell-bent on becoming my bride.

It cut me deeper than any blade. I never wanted to hurt her. I never wanted to break her heart. But fate had drawn us into this cruel knot, and there was no easy way out.

Elara saw it too. And it broke her.

My mate, my other half, could not bear to watch her sister suffer. Even though the bond between us burned like fire, even though I could see in her eyes that she wanted me as desperately as I wanted her, she turned away.

She chose to sacrifice herself rather than steal her

any vow, any throne, any law. But she only shook her head with tears in her eyes and

Her words shattered me.

never sought to break hearts or play games. It was all fate... fate that mocked me, fate that set me against the very bond it

in the eyes of everyone else, I was the villain. The arrogant prince who betrayed a promise. The selfish alpha who ruined a sister’s heart.

was willing to give up everything—my throne, my power, my crown—if only I could take Elara far away from it all. If only I could keep

Instead of granting us

curse that tore her from me. A curse that locked me in twenty years of darkness and

of it all, I lost everything. My

because

a long, rough breath. Memories could not help me now. I had spent twenty years trapped in them, twenty years replaying her face, her

curse was gone.

all I wanted was

of the chair, my hands clenching into fists. The curse had kept me away from her, forcing me to wander endlessly, never

like fire, throwing me back. That was the punishment of my mistake, the price for defying fate and choosing

Now nothing stood in

I did when the curse lifted was search for her. Elara. My love. My

her presence. Her name was like a shadow, slipping through my fingers no matter how hard I tried to hold it. But I did not