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 | 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. | felt
disgusted just by looking at them.
But | couldn't hear any of it...not really.
All | heard was the dull, echoing thud of my heartbeat.
| 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 nof legacy.
It was the day | had waited for years.
| had dreamed of it countless times—how it would feel, how | 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.
| should've been the happiest I'd ever been.
And yet... | wasn't.
Instead, a strange hollowness curled in my chest.
A creeping dread coiled beneath my ribs, suffocating every trace of joy, every flicker of triumph.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtThe victory was ours—yet inside me, something felt terribly wrong.
Behind us, the priestess waited to begin the ceremony, and beside the priestess was our chosen Luna, Lady
Meriya.
Her 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 to show humility without losing poise.
And next to her stood Arlena, whispering something that made her laugh softly.
It should have movedor stirred something, maybe joy or pride. At least a flicker of satisfaction.
But there was nothing. | felt nothing.
Only the cold in my chest—creeping, spreading. | hadn't been warm since the night | left her there.
Selene.
The thought of her was a whisper through my mind, soft but sharp. | hadn't gone back to that room since.
Couldn't. Not because of what my brothers would say. Not because of the collar they put around her throat.
Because | didn’t trust myself to go back.
She shouldn't have been there. | should've thrown her out. Should've bared my teeth and reminded her what
she was.
But | didn’t.
And that meant something—I just didn’t know what yet. My mind was clouded with thoughts of her, looping
endlessly, hauntingwith questions | couldn't silence.
| kept wondering if things would have turned out differently had | done something else or said something else—
anything. Would the outcbe different?
But the truth was, | couldn’t shake the image of her lying there on the ground, eyes wide with horror, as if she no
longer recognized us. As if we were monsters. That look filled with hatred and disbelief was burned into my
memory, sharper than any blade.
And in that moment, when everything was supposed to feel like triumph, | felt nothing but cold. A deep, creeping
chill that curled through my spine and settled in my bones, whispering one unbearable question over and over
again: Did we really go that far?
The High Priestess lifted her hands, breakingout of my thoughts.
"Today, under the full moon, the four sons of Alpha Draven shall be crowned Alphas of the Silver Dawn Pack."
Applause roared across the hall, but it did nothing to calm my beating heart.
| bowed my head like | was supposed to. Like a puppet on a string. But my mind wasn't here. It was there—back
in the silence of that room. With her.
One by one, my brothers knelt.
Lucian’s back was too straight. Rigid with tension. Kael was pale beneath the torchlight. Luca, always the
loudest, always smirking, looked like he might be sick.
Then it was my turn.
My knees hit the marble. It was colder than | expected. The priestess approached with the crown, onyx circled in
silver, carved with runes that had bound our family for generations.
She placed it on my head and my brothers. The chill sank through my skin like ice water through bone.
"Rise, Alphas, chosen sons of the Moon Goddess. May her light grant you power, clarity, and everlasting
triumph."
| stood. But | didn’t feel like an Alpha. | felt like a prisoner walking back into his cell. Even her words did not
register in my mind at all.
The priestess turned to the crowd.
"And now, by law and by blood, the Alphas shall choose their Luna and mark her as mate beneath the gaze of
the Moon."
Excitement rippled through the crowd like wind through leaves. Meriya stepped forward.
She moved like royalty, every inch of her a performance of elegance. She folded her hands over her stomach.
Lowered her head.
| stood there, but instead of pride or
excitement, a quiet dread setiledn
deep ingay gut Andieh, irbidden,
the fhought came: What if it had been
Selene standing there instead of her?
The moment it crossed my mind, |
flinched, ashamed. How coulg)fnink
something ke hat ete; in front of
iy Lina—my mate—I was betraying
her with a single stray thought. The
content is on novelenglish.net! Read
the latest chapter there!
The guilt hit like a punch to the chest,
sudden and Se foresein
eri lepk awhyh the thought
likigéte , poisonous and persistent,
refusing to be buried. The content is
on novelenglish.net! Read the latest
chapter there!
1 know, | should have moved and marked her, but I didn't...
My feet remained frozen to the ground. My chest burned. My wolf howled inside me—violent, furious, rejecting
everything about this moment.
Not her.
| looked to Luca. His fists were clenched so tightly | thought he’d draw blood. Kael was as pale as moonlight.
Lucian looked like he was about to vomit.
None of us wanted this. | knew everyone's wolf was rejecting Meriya; they felt disgusted at the thought of
marking her.
The silence stretched too long. It turned from solemn to awkward. Then to tense. | could feel the people shifting.
Feel their eyes landing on me...on us.
Meriya’s smile faltered. Arlena stopped whispering.
And then suddenly a commotion broke out in the hall.
“Alpha!*
A warrior stumbled in through the great doors, face flushed with panic.
"Forgive the intrusion Alpha....but she escaped."
word
word
mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1
mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1
mmMwWLHI0RAO&1
mmMwWLIII0fiflo&1
mmMwWL1i10f1ifl0&1
mmMwWLIiI0fiflO&1