Chapter 32
Viola woke up the next morning feeling strangely well rested. It had been a long time since she had slept this long through the whole night, usually she was always haunted by nightmares and would wake up in the middle of the night.
But she hadn’t only slept well, even when she recalled having a nightmare, she had not felt that all-consuming loneliness after waking up, the one that gnawed at her heart and soul.
She also vaguely recalled being held and soothed, and not just that. Viola’s hand flew to her neck, where she remembered feeling something biting and licking her.
Had she imagined it, or did a warm dog creep into her room to lick her neck? One of her friends in Moonwillow had a dog, and that dog annoyingly liked to lick her anywhere it found. The licking and biting in her sleep had felt exactly like that.
How did a dog get into this luxurious paradise of a penthouse p>
Viola blindly reached out for her glasses on the nightstand over her head and put them on before making her way to the mirror in the room, which she didn’t like to look at but needed to, to confirm if a dog had entered her room and if the bite was real.
Her blue eyes rounded faintly when she noticed that the bruises on her face had not only looked faint and less obvious, but there was also redness at the side of her neck, shaped like a bite. What could have bitten her in her sleep p>
Viola’s finger rubbed the spot with a frown on her face when she noticed her pajama top button was missing, and that the dog, or whatever it was, had gotten access to her neck because it had been opened in her sleep.
“How did I get this? Did a dog really enter the place?” she thought to herself while looking at the redness and also feeling impossibly better than she had yesterday. Her head felt clearer, and her skin looked a little more radiant in the mirror. Perhaps a good sleep was all she needed after all to look more alive p>
She couldn’t help but wonder how she could have slept through that nightmare. She never slept after it. Sometimes she would feel like dying from the pain and remorse it gave her, not to mention the bitterness that filled her with deep self-loathing whenever she saw the memories her mind conjured up in her sleep, or her twin sister blaming her for everything.
The Ivy she knew as a child would never have blamed her, but then Viola’s mind had a way of haunting her and giving her more pain for her betrayal years ago. Whatever kind of creature had come into her room to cuddle next to her and even lick and bite her, Viola would gladly keep it if it would take the nightmares away every night and let her sleep.
She should look for whatever creature that was, Viola thought. Her eyes searched around the spacious bedroom looking for a puppy or whatever it had been, when her gaze fell on the bed where a brand-new phone box sat. She reached out and picked it up.
When did this get here?
She unboxed it to find the latest phone inside, with everything already set up for her. She was still staring at it when she heard the door downstairs being unlocked with a ringing sound, and Viola almost dropped the phone at the thought of someone breaking in when she had put a passcode on the door.
When she reached the glass railing of the stairs that overlooked the living room, she saw that it was Miss Zoe and four omegas behind her, carrying shopping bags and food packs.
“Good morning,” Zoe greeted when she noticed she was up, and Viola returned the greeting with a faint smile. She had almost forgotten that Zoe was here last night when she set the passcode to the door, and that anyone who knew her name could easily type it in and come inside anyway.
She watched as Zoe ordered the bags to be taken to the bedroom and the food to the kitchen, and the omegas walked past her to go in, muttering greetings to her as if she were someone important. It caught Viola off guard, as it had been a long time since she was greeted with respect by any omega. They used to bully her in Moonwillow.
“You look much better this morning, Miss Linden. You must have had a good night’s sleep,” Zoe commented fondly, taking in how the bruise on her face looked faint and how the bags under her eyes had improved.
“The room is lovely. My sleep was great because of it. Thank you,” Viola said, trying to make herself adjust and adapt to talking to people without feeling anxious about getting hit.
Though she didn’t know who Zoe was or her position was in the Silver Pack, she looked like a nice person and always carried a smile when talking to her. Just like yesterday, she was dressed in another dress that made her look dazzling and utterly breathtaking.
“I’m glad to hear that. I couldn’t sleep last night though, because I was so excited to get here and start with your makeup and prepare you for the dinner tonight!” she exclaimed, clapping her hands, which made Viola notice how the she-wolf was a little too excited, even more than she was about tonight. The thought of tonight always sent her stomach turning, but seeing the fashionista’s excitement, Viola mustered a smile.
Without wasting time, Zoe took her hand and excitedly led her to the kitchen, where she said that before anything else, Viola must eat her breakfast because she needed her strength for the day.
Viola wasn’t used to people doing things for her, but Zoe didn’t even hesitate to serve her food. It was while she was placing a plate of food in front of her that Zoe noticed the red bite mark on her neck.
“What happened to your neck?” she asked with a gasp. That looked like a hickey!
Viola self-consciously placed her hand there and said, “I don’t know. I think I was bitten and licked by a dog, and there is no dog in the house. Maybe it was a rat p>
When she was in the Hollow quarters, there were mighty rats the size of rabbits that bit and injured people in the dark. She would have said it was one of those rats, but in such a fancy house like this, there was no way a rat like that would make its way in here, not unless—
“Perhaps a dog came in here with you last night when you brought the phone while I was asleep?” Viola questioned Miss Zoe, who was looking at her neck and sniffing it in that way werewolves do to identify something or someone’s scent. Was she trying to check if it was really a dog bite?
At Viola’s words about the phone, Zoe’s eyes narrowed as if confused before they lightened. A dog indeed, a very sneaky dog, a big bad dog, who was none other than her brother!
So Seb had come here last night? Zoe thought.
Yesterday, before Zoe went to the healing house for Viola, she had gone to see her brother. What he told her, and how he reacted to the suicidal wolfless everyone in the pack was talking about, the one who wanted to join the competition, had made it seem like he didn’t give one bite about her. He didn’t care whether she lived or died, and Zoe had immediately taken pity on the wolfless girl. She knew how it felt to be seen as weak and incapable.
That was why she took it upon herself to help the girl. She was the kind of person who took in abandoned people and gave them a makeover, as her profession was in the fashion industry. To think that he had sneaked in and given Viola a hickey in her sleep p>
What was he? A perverted creep p>
Zoe couldn’t imagine Sebastian, who didn’t care about weak people, doing something like that. Noticing how Viola was looking at her and waiting for an answer about the dog, Zoe smiled awkwardly and said,
“Oh yeah, it must be my dog. That dog always does the opposite of what he says. Sorry for his nasty behavior. I will give him a handful when I get back to him p>
Viola’s eyes rounded. “Your dog can talk?” she asked dumfoundedly.
Many werewolves didn’t keep dogs, as wolves were known to dominate them, and dogs tended to get too annoying when they barked at the sight of a wolf. Only a few people had them, and while Viola liked dogs, she had never heard of a talking dog before. Perhaps they talk like wolf’s do p>
Zoe laughed, not knowing how to tell her that the “dog” was actually the Alpha, and also not thinking it was right to say that. So she quickly said, “My dog can do many tricks. Hurry up and eat your food before it gets cold.” she changed the topic before she was forced to expose her brother.
“Oh.” Viola looked down at the vast arrays of food in front of her that Miss Zoe had brought, but her eyes fell on one in particular, and all the blood drained from her face.