It wasn’t a gentle kiss. It wasn’t even close to one. It was raw and hungry and desperate, the kind of kiss that had nothing to do with desire and everything to do with claiming. She kissed him like she was trying to burn something into him, like she was trying to remind herself of something she couldn’t quite hold onto tonight.

Her fingers tightened in his collar, pulling him closer even as the stool beneath her shifted, and she felt him go completely still for one single second before something in him gave way and he kissed her back just as hard.

His hand came up and gripped her jaw, tilting her face up, and the low sound that came from him when her tongue ran over his sent a heat straight through her that had nothing to do with the beer. She tasted him and he tasted her back like they had all the time in the world and no audience at all, and for one breathless moment she forgot every single thing that was hurting her.

Then she pulled away sharply, chest heaving, and turned her flushed face to the stunned bartender like nothing had happened.

"This man is my husband. He is off limits to you. Get back to your work and bring me another bottle." She released Sebastian’s collar, smoothed it down once with her palm almost as an afterthought, sat back straight on her stool and grabbed the next beer.

Sebastian felt completely ambushed by his hellcat. Had she just taken control of that kiss and ended it herself, leaving him sitting there starved for more? He hadn’t expected her to lay claim on him like that, not when she had been so shut down and unresponsive the entire evening, but it seemed the beer was already doing its work.

His mood lightened up immensely and he smiled.

"You heard my wife." Sebastian said to the stunned bartender. "Bring out more beers."

When Jaz recovered from her shock she turned her glare fully on Viola, angry and visibly disappointed that the man she had set her sights on was married.

And not just married but married to someone like her, someone who carried no wolf presence at all, which to Jaz made the whole thing even more insulting. A man like that, with eyes like that and an aura that made your skin prickle, bound to a wolfless woman. The bitterness of it sat sour on her tongue and before she could think better of it she muttered under her breath,

"Wolfless bitch."

Viola heard it. Her fingers tightened around her bottle. On any normal night she wouldn’t have let words like that get under her skin, but she was not herself tonight. There was a building frustration and helplessness sitting inside her chest that had been looking for somewhere to go since the moment she walked out of that orphanage, and it had just found a very willing target.

"What did you just call me?" Viola said quietly as she got to her feet, and then without a single moment of hesitation she reached across the counter and grabbed Jaz by her hair, hauled her over it and slammed her fist into her mouth.

"You are the bitch. I told you he is my husband and you still think you can make a move on someone who is mine?" Viola snapped as she landed another hit, but Jaz recovered quickly and swung back.

The punch never landed on Viola like she intended. Sebastian caught her wrist without even looking up from his bottle, stopping it mid-air from reaching his wife.

Jaz screamed as another hit from Viola connected with her face, unable to return it with her wrist locked in the man’s grip, giving his wife every advantage she needed. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

With the music blasting through the club nobody on the floor paid them any attention and kept on dancing, and it wasn’t until Sebastian noticed a few nearby heads starting to turn toward Jaz’s screaming that he released her wrist and calmly pulled his wife back by the waist.

"That is enough, baby." He said, amusement clear in his voice as he hauled her up over his shoulder when she announced she hadn’t finished and wanted another round.

He lifted her like she weighed nothing, grabbed a bottle of beer from the counter and made his way out of the club.

When they stepped out into the open air away from the stuffy heat and the wall of mixed body smells, she fought her way off his shoulder and landed on her feet, swaying immediately. Sebastian caught her before she could tip over.

"That bitch deserved more than that!" she slurred, unsteady on her feet, as the local beer was known to be stronger than the wines in Silver and she had taken two bottles of it. However, she still wanted more. Her eyes went to the bottle in his hand.

"You gave her plenty of beating," he said, smiling slightly as he noticed her looking at the beer and reaching out to take it from him. He let her have it.

"No, I haven’t beaten her enough. My heart still hurts...I feel like a heavy stone is sitting inside it. It’s not going down, Sebastian...it’s not..." She whispered, her blue eyes turning glassy as she looked up at him. "I should have never left her..."

Sebastian knew she was no longer talking about the bartender.

"I should have let her be adopted and I stayed behind to accept my fate. I caused my sister’s disappearance. I am to blame..." She gulped down another swallow of beer, tears streaming freely down her face.

Unable to watch her cry, Sebastian stepped forward and used his fingers to wipe at her cheeks as she brought the bottle down from her mouth and looked up at him with unfocused, red eyes and flushed cheeks. More tears streamed down and Sebastian whispered,

"Don’t cry. If she is still alive I will find her for you. Don’t blame yourself."

"But I am to blame. It was my fault..." She sobbed, biting down hard on her bottom lip, her free hand pressing and rubbing at the left side of her chest like she was trying to physically reach in and ease the pain sitting there.

"My heart hurts so much. I feel like I am never going to be happy again. Everything just keeps getting worse in my life. I became a Luna because I wanted to protect my sister and now they are telling me she never existed...how am I ever going to live with myself?" She looked up into his eyes with a desperation and raw pain that cut straight through him. "I can’t continue living without Ivy. I think I should just die. That would make everything better, I don’t_"

Sebastian couldn’t bear it anymore. He pulled her into his arms and she dissolved into a heart wrenching sob that sent pins straight into his chest one by one. Her fingers fisted into his shirt and her legs gave way as her sobs grew loud. He supported her by the waist.

Her voice was hoarse and broken and she cried without any restraint, her entire body trembling against him like she was coming apart at the seams.

He couldn’t find words to make her stop crying, so he didn’t try. He just held her and let her cry, because maybe then, when she had nothing left to pour out, she would finally feel a little better.