Chapter 31
Sebastian returned to his own penthouse, in the same luxurious building as the one given to the girl and every other she-wolf who would now participate to become his Luna, where Matt was waiting for him with the report he had sent him to collect.
“Man, I’ve been here for an hour waiting for you. Where did you go?” Matt, who had been dozing off on the sofa in the living room, asked as he sat up to look at the Alpha who had called him an hour ago to come here, yet wasn’t even around himself.
Sebastian didn’t tell him and instead asked, as he began to take off his shirt to rid himself of a delicious scent that still flamed his blood like gasoline on fire,
“How many participants this time p>
“Six. Two of them are from the elders and three are silver pack elite members. Laila is part of them,” Matt reported, which made Sebastian pause at his attempt to remove his shirt. He scowled at his friend, who only gave him a shrug.
“How is that?” Sebastian asked. “Was she forced to take part p>
Laila was among the she-wolves with whom he had a fated mate bond and had taken to bed a few times. Even though he tried to avoid having females he shared a bond with next to him, she had been different, because Laila was the type who didn’t believe in mating or long-term commitment to one person. She believed the Moon Goddess could never control her fate.
She had never been interested in wanting to be his wife, so he was surprised that she was now part of the participants.
“She told me her parents want her to settle down, and if they would force her to it, she would rather have someone above all others, which is you. She also said the Luna position is tempting, and that life is boring while your life is exciting because she would have the power to control p>
Just like every one of Sebastian’s fated mates, it was always one-sided, where he was the only one who truly felt the bond, and many of them could still have another mate. His fate worked in a very backward way, where his fated mates had another fated mate of their own, which was why he didn’t expect Laila, who had said more than once that she didn’t want to settle, to want to participate for him.
He had once thought, more than once after the second Luna’s death, about making her his Luna, because she fit what he searched for more than the others. She had an Alpha wolf, a very powerful one, and her only problem was not wanting to settle and falling for every man who caught her interest, always wanting to explore life.
Among the she-wolves in silver Pack, she had the second most powerful wolf.
’This isn’t good. She will hurt our little girl,’ his wolf exclaimed, and Sebastian’s fist clenched automatically.
He didn’t want Laila in the competition, nor as his Luna anymore than he wanted the girl. But that decision had to do with the elders, especially when Laila was one of the elders’ relatives.
“Laila will crush them all, Seb,” Matt remarked gravelly. “You know how she never fails in anything she sets her mind on, and guess what, she’s already interested in the wolfless girl who wants to compete to be your wife p>
’Let’s kill her before she hurts our girl!’ his wolf growled, but Sebastian pushed him back, not wanting him controlling his irrational thoughts with mate possessiveness. Laila was also his potential mate, whom his wolf didn’t like because her wolf lacked attachment issues, given the amount of men Laila had taken during her heat seasons.
“There’s nothing I can do about it. I have already given my word to marry and make whoever wins my Luna. If Laila wins, than she earned the title p>
“Perhaps Laila could be the one, since she has a strong wolf? Maybe I should root for her among the others. I can’t wait for you to be cured,” Matt said uncertainly.
“Hm, maybe,” was all Sebastian said as he took off his shirt, which still had the damp spot of the girl’s tears on it, along with her daisy scent.
“Have you made the fake pack identity for her?” Sebastian asked, not looking away from the spot of tears on the white shirt.
“Everything is arranged. To the elders, she is from the North Pack and not Moonwillow, and Zoe will let her know tomorrow. If she wants to be accepted into this, she will have to play along by claiming another pack. No one would confirm anything about this since you have blacklisted the North Pack,” Matt informed, then smiled as he added, “Zoe has really taken up to the girl, Seb p>
Sebastian finally threw the shirt onto the sofa and then walked over to the glass wall as he said, “She always takes to liking every helpless person. Sometimes I wonder how she turned out like that when I was the one who raised her. Always wanting to help everyone p>
Zoe had been a baby when they lost their parents to that brutal accident, and since then Sebastian had raised her. The only time he left her for a year was during his time in Moonwillow. Sebastian felt a bitter anger consume him at the thought of Moonwillow and what had happened years ago, so he pushed it away, because the thought always made him want to crush them all to death.
“Just like I always say, she took after the late Luna Katarina,” Matt remarked in a matter-of-fact tone as he busied himself browsing through the TV channels to watch the human cooking shows that always came up at eleven at night in their world. And since Sebastian had made him leave his house to come here, he might as well spend the night here.
Luna Katarina.
Sebastian’s mother was one of the kindest she-wolves in the world, and while Sebastian had been hardened by everything that had happened as they grew up, his sister had been sheltered by him, and her innocence and kindness still remained intact.
Sebastian had bathed in blood. He had done many questionable things to keep himself Alpha and to survive in a world where every day was a fight for his life. He had been poisoned countless times and nearly assassinated. His enemies were all around him, and if he wasn’t the way he was, he would have long been dead, just like his parents.
Allowing any weakness into his life wasn’t an option, not when he carried a descendent curse of the Silver Wolves. Love, a mate, caring too deeply, those things could easily ruin what he had spent years building.
He had lost, and he had learned that loss had the power to break, just as pain did. And this girl, who was already beginning to tug at the strings of weakness in him, shouldn’t be anywhere around him, shouldn’t even have come into his life.
He knew it was utterly cruel and despicable to have these thoughts, but Sebastian wished she wouldn’t win. She carried her own pains and nightmares just as he carried his own, and this hell of a life of his was no place for a delicate little teen like her.
’She’s twenty-three,’ his wolf put in.
’It doesn’t matter. She doesn’t look a day older than sixteen p>
His fingers rolled the button of her pajama shirt, the one he had taken from her room, around in his pocket as he stared at the clear night sky through the glass without blinking, hating the fate that had pulled him to her that night in that forest.
’When I care, I care too deeply, and when I want, it can be deadly, because nothing could ever stop me from having what I want once that desire takes root. I can’t want her, nor can I afford to care for her. If you know what’s best for you, Viola, run away from my life at the very first chance you get. Hell is no place for little girls p>