WITCHE'S BEAST *(needs editing )

chapter 3

Aaron

My mind was no longer my own.
Every thought, every breath, was consumed by her. The way her presence ignited a fire within me, how my wolf pressed against my skin, demanding we claim what was ours—to protect her, mark her, bind her soul to ours. It was agony to resist, to keep control, when my very body betrayed me with the truth of my desire.

At first, I thought she had cast a spell on me, ensnared me with her witchcraft. But when she stepped closer, the truth became undeniable—the bond wrapped itself around me like chains forged by the Goddess herself. Her eyes glowed with a light that set me aflame, her scent—roses after rain—sank into my lungs until I was drunk on it. And her beauty… her beauty was a cruelty of its own. Perfect, unyielding, impossible to look away from.

I am the son of an Alpha, heir to my father’s throne. Witches are our sworn enemy, hunted and despised since the beginning. Yet the Goddess, in her twisted mercy, has bound me to one. My mate. My curse. My salvation.

“Aaron, are you well?”

The voice pulled me from my storm of thoughts. I turned to see Eric, my brother, standing at the door. He looked stronger now, life restored to him, his hand brushing hair from his face as though his recent suffering had been nothing but a dream.

“Eric,” I said softly, motioning him closer. “I was worried for you. How do you feel?”

“I’m healed. We all are.” His smile faded, hardening into something sharp. “But it’s madness that Father even considers letting that witch live…”

My chest tightened. “And what would you have him do?” My voice was quiet, yet edged like steel. “She is no threat now.”

His eyes burned. “She is a threat. She nearly killed us, Aaron. She used her magic here, in our lands. You know the law—if they spill blood, if they bring harm, they die.”

The growl tore from me before I could stop it, my wolf pressing forward. “You would kill her? A defenseless female?”

“She almost killed us!” he snapped. “What is wrong with you?”

He was not wrong. But neither was he right. For no one—no one—would touch her. Witch or not, she was mine.

“She healed you,” I snarled, heat flaring in my chest. “And still you speak of killing her? Do not be so blind, brother.”

I left him then, before the wolf within me broke free entirely. Bones shifted, skin split, and in moments, I was running on four paws, my fury carrying me through the forest. The very thought of her life in danger was enough to unravel me. To reject her might save me from the judgment of my kind—but it would condemn me to a life of emptiness, a hollow shell of an Alpha.

And yet… a wolf and a witch. An abomination. A union never meant to be.

By the time I reached the pack house, noise and movement rippled through the halls. Something was wrong. Inside, the Silver Pack stood—my father’s twin, Alpha Gale, had come. He welcomed me warmly, clasping my hand, pulling me into his embrace.

“I hear,” he said, voice heavy with disdain, “that you and your brothers captured a witch.”

My wolf stirred violently, hackles rising, but I held him back. Barely.

“On the next full moon,” Gale declared, “she will be beheaded. Let it be a message to her kind: if they dare cross our lands, they will meet death.”

The words pierced me like blades. My vision blurred red. My wolf surged, breaking through my control. In a heartbeat, my hand was at my uncle’s throat, my power crackling like thunder in the room.

“You dare,” I roared, my voice no longer my own, “threaten my mate?”