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.

I should’ve been the happiest I’d ever been.

And yet... I 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.

The 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 moved me or stirred something, maybe joy or pride. At least a flicker of satisfaction.

But there was nothing. I felt nothing.

Only the cold in my chest—creeping, spreading. I hadn’t been warm since the night I left her there.

Selene.

The thought of her was a whisper through 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 put around her throat.

Because I didn’t trust myself to go back.

She shouldn’t have been there. I should’ve thrown her out. Should’ve bared my teeth and reminded her what she was.

But I didn’t.

And that meant something—I just didn’t know what yet. My mind was clouded with thoughts of her, looping endlessly, haunting me with questions I couldn’t silence.

I kept wondering if things would have turned out differently had I done something else or said something else—anything. Would the outcome be different?

But the truth was, I 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, I 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, breaking me out 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.

I bowed my head like I 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 I 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."

I stood. But I didn’t feel like an Alpha. I 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.

I stood there, but instead of pride or excitement, a quiet dread settled deep in my gut. And then, unbidden, the thought came: What if it had been Selene standing there instead of her?

The moment it crossed my mind, I flinched, ashamed. How could I think something like that? Here, in front of my Luna—my mate—I was betraying her with a single stray thought.

The guilt hit like a punch to the chest, sudden and suffocating. I forced myself to look away, but the thought lingered, poisonous and persistent, refusing to be buried.

I know, I 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.

I looked to Luca. His fists were clenched so tightly I thought he’d draw blood. Kael was as pale as moonlight. Lucian looked like he was about to vomit.

None of us wanted this. I 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. I 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."