Chapter 26
Matt noticed how the Alpha didn’t seem much bothered by the prophecy and the consequences of taking another wrong person. Seeing that Sebastian showed no reaction at all, he decided to drop the topic. Being best friends, they had always been there for each other, and Matt’s parents had become just like Sebastian’s own after he had lost his. Matt’s family had been there for Sebastian through everything, even after what Moonwillow had done.
Matt chose not to dwell on what those hypocrites had done to Sebastian when he was just ten years old, when he had already lost his parents and was drowning in grief and pain.
Thinking about it still made his chest tighten. Sebastian was a man surrounded and consumed by many layers of darkness and secrets that not even the elders fully knew about, and the prophecy, something tied directly to his fate, was one of those things he hated speaking about the most.
Instead of pushing the subject further, Matt decided to change it.
“I’ll be going back home tonight,” he said casually. “Since I don’t have to travel to America as an escort anymore, Mom and Dad are demanding I come home for at least a day p>
Sebastian’s lips curved into a faint smile at that, and he replied, “Good luck. They’ve probably set up another matchmaking dinner for you to get married p>
Unlike Sebastian, who had many mates and had already met them, his friend had never met his fated mate. Matt hadn’t even been in any serious relationship that could have led to marriage.
Matt relaxed deeper into the couch with a long sigh, his handsome face finally easing. “That’s exactly why I’m a little disappointed I won’t be going to the U.S. to escort the girl. Mom’s choice of women is never my type. I like someone I can compete with in my kitchen p>
Sebastian scoffed quietly. Matt was a foodie, more accurately, a shameless glutton, who would probably fall in love with food faster than he would with a person. He firmly believed there wasn’t a she-wolf alive who could cook as well as he did, and that if he ever found one, he would marry her whether she was his mate or not.
Aunt Danielle, as Sebastian called her, only ever matched her son with she-wolves who had absolutely no interest in kitchens, which only made things worse.
“By the way,” Matt added lightly, “Zoe texted me. She’s coming over to witness the Luna’s competition. She’s asking when it will take place p>
At the mention of Zoe, Sebastian’s hardened eyes suddenly softened a notch, and his fingers stopped flying across the keys as he looked toward Matt with a faint smile, a smile that still didn’t quite look like a smile at all.
If Zoe couldn’t bring a genuine smile to this ice-cold devil, then no one else ever would again, Matt thought, clicking his tongue softly.
“It’s about time the brat comes back home. The competition will be in two months from now p>
“Isn’t that too long?” Matt questioned incredulously. Did he want the elders to have his head before then? “Everyone will be anticipating it to happen sooner p>
“I am not in a hurry to have a Luna. Make it three months and tell the elders about the little girl who wants to take part,” Sebastian announced nonchalantly. “Also, once she has recovered, appoint someone to take her to her new place, she will stay there until she kills herself in the competition p>
The thought of her dying stirred something dark and unwelcome inside him, but that only made Sebastian despise her more. And yet, there was nothing he could do now, not after he had already allowed her to stay and participate.
Viola had been in the healing house for weeks now, so long that she had lost track of time entirely. Since the moment the arrogant Silver, because that was what suited him best, having everything about him silver, had agreed to let her stay.
Not that he had agreed in the sense of actually saying it. He had only told his Beta to take her back inside, and Viola had assumed that meant she could stay. Yet no one had come back to tell her what her staying here truly meant.
Did he mean to say he had given her the chance to prove herself? If yes, how was she supposed to prove it? She had waited for him to return and tell her what she was expected to do, or at least send someone to relay his instructions, but no one had come.
Rather than waste her energy worrying about the entitled, arrogant bastard, she focused instead on recovering and regaining her strength and former physique, her old body shape, not this current malnourished state that made him look at her like a small child when she wasn’t.
She couldn’t wait to recover, then she would see if he would still dare to call her a small child.
The cast on her leg had been removed two days ago, though the one on her arm remained, as the bone there had been completely broken and needed more time to heal. She made sure to walk around the room and stretch her legs whenever she could. She had been the one to challenge him; it wouldn’t do any good if her condition made it impossible to prove him wrong.
This was her only chance, and Viola couldn’t allow herself to let it slip away.
Every night, she lay in bed afraid to close her eyes, terrified of sleep because of the nightmares that waited for her. She saw herself being beaten and humiliated again. She saw Evan hitting her. She saw terrifying flashes of him hurling that idol at her eyes, remembered the sparks of color she had seen before everything went blank in her vision.
Her nightmares were worse than anything. They terrorized her and made her cry in her sleep, something she never did four years ago. She relived the pain, the past wounds, the memories of the day she had left her sister, of the days when her adoptive parents had turned on her too, of how she had been brutally beaten again and again.
How could she ever sleep with all of those things haunting her? Not unless she saw them pay, not unless she found Ivy. And now, not until she made that arrogant Alpha eat his words.
Another thing Viola had struggled with during the first week was the glasses.
They made her head hurt and made everything look strange. She had wanted to take them off countless times, but she knew her vision was terrible without them.
They constantly slid down her nose whenever she bent forward. They weren’t sized for her face.
Now, she was gradually adjusting to both the vision and the feel of them, and the pressure in her head had lessened. But one thing Viola would never take for granted again was being able to stand in a room and see it clearly.
After spending four years on hard floors, this healing house room still felt like heaven to her. Every morning, she woke up just to stand beside the bed and appreciate it, then walk to the bathroom simply to watch the fresh running water in the shower and tub.
Sometimes, she felt a strong urge to weep and go beg that Alpha to give her a chance, promising she would forever remain in his favor. But her pride, after everything he had said to her, would never allow it. She would never beg him. Instead, she would earn her place beside him and have every right to put him in his place.
Apart from bringing her food, the omegas no longer bathed her. She could manage just fine on her own now with her crutches. Even though her appetite hadn’t fully returned, Viola always wolfed down every meal and cleaned her plates. Perhaps it was habit. She even washed the plates in the room’s sink and set them aside for collection so no one would find fault with her and send her away.
But the more time passed with no one coming to see her or tell her what she was supposed to do, the more restless she became. Had he changed his mind? Was he still going to throw her out? Or would he simply pretend she didn’t exist and leave her here indefinitely?
Viola thought about this as she sat on a loveseat near the floor-to-ceiling glass window, staring at the sunset. Its rays glimmered and flashed against the tall skyscrapers, bathing the world in a picture-perfect hue that made one long to capture it in a photograph.
As she looked at the beautiful city and listened to its faint sounds of activity and life, she became so lost in the moment that memories from her past slowly began to creep through the guarded walls she had built around her heart and mind.
Walls she knew that if she let fall, she would end up hating herself even more and seeing herself as unworthy of anyone or anything.
’I wish we could live in a place like the Silver Pack, where we’d be among a big pack,’ Ivy had once said when they found a poster of the Silver world discarded in a bin. ’I would work my whole life and give you everything you want, Serena. I wonder where our real parents come from, or if they come from a place like that p>
Viola had stared at the poster back then with deep yearning, wanting to experience a life of luxury and belonging.
Now, thinking back, she realized she had always been selfish. Because even then, while imagining herself living here while they suffered in the orphanage as children, she hadn’t imagined it with Ivy beside her. She had only imagined herself escaping, finding a family, and belonging somewhere.
A deep melancholy and self-loathing suddenly engulfed her as she recalled the gentle smiles of her sister. The feeling grew so overwhelming that her breathing turned shallow. Without realizing it, Viola subconsciously began to aggressively peel at the skin along the sides of her nails, the motion frantic and repetitive, until the skin broke and began to bleed.
She didn’t stop, not even when it stung, as she begged her mind to shut down and stop thinking about Ivy and everything she had done. To stop looking back entirely and focus instead on fixing what still could be fixed.
Stop thinking. Stop it. She cried in her head as she subconsciously continued to peel off the skin, her fingers working mindlessly.
Then someone snapped her out of it when there was a click at the door and it cracked open, causing her to look toward it to see who it was.
Her brows furrowed when she saw the person standing there.