Viola went quiet for a moment before she whispered, "When I was in the orphanage, we were taught that mermaids and sirens were wicked creatures and that was why werewolves hunted them in the past and use them for meals. I also heard how they lured humans to their dens and either ate them or kept any man they found handsome for themselves.

"But that was in the past, now nobody believes those creatures exist anymore..." She whispered, still finding it all deeply hard to believe. Why would the water pull her? Were sea witches really real and was one of them responsible? She thought.

"I think it’s time we talk about you practicing swimming, we can’t have you fall into such situations again. How about I make time to teach you how to swim when we go back? There is a pool at the main quarter, we can use it for your practice." Sebastian suggested, glancing down at her face where it was tucked against his chest, her drenched hair teasing his bare torso. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Viola pursed her lips. She didn’t think that even by knowing how to swim she would have escaped that water current that had pulled her down, and the thought of being in any body of water was still terrifying to her at this moment.

Furthermore, she didn’t plan to leave Nightshade without finding out what happened to her sister, and so she was parting her lips to tell him just that when a thought suddenly crept into her mind and her eyes went wide with sudden terror as she looked up at Sebastian.

"Wh-what if something like this happened to my sister and she was taken, and the orphanage didn’t know how to explain her disappearance so they lied about her never existing? Sebastian, I think we need to go back to the orphanage."

Sebastian’s expression remained calm as he spoke. "I will go back to the orphanage and look into things myself. You will be going back to Silver on my jet once we reach Kasa land in the next hour." He told her, but immediately she began to shake her head.

"No. I don’t want to go, not without knowing what happened to my sister. I can’t—"

"Do you want to be pulled into the water again?" Sebastian deadpanned, looking down at her with a firm and displeased frown. He didn’t want to scare her about the water pulling her if she stayed in Nightshade, but if she kept being stubborn about not wanting to go back home, he had no choice but to make her drop that idea one way or the other.

He noticed the way her expression turned pale at the thought of the water pulling her again, her fingers digging into his shoulder, and he felt suddenly bad for using those words.

Sebastian let out a sigh. "I don’t think Nightshade is safe for you. The land barely has any good water conditions and food, its people are starving every day and the Alpha is not willing to submit to the werewolf world system. If you stay here, you will suffer with the rest."

"I don’t care, as long as I find my sister..." She muttered, staring straight at the treeline.

Sebastian decided to use another approach, the honest approach of why he didn’t want to leave her behind, even though he wasn’t a man who liked to confess to his feelings and weaknesses. He was raised to show dominance and to command, but he already knew from experience that this mate of his wasn’t the woman to cater to any command.

"I don’t want to leave you here. I have a feeling if I do, it will mean our relationship is broken. And having you here while I stay to challenge Nightshade and investigate them will only make me worry, and I don’t do worry well, wife. But if you go back, I promise you I will investigate everything thoroughly and find your sister for you."

"But—" Viola’s words cut off as Sebastian suddenly signaled for her to be quiet, his footsteps coming to a dead stop. His eyes began scanning their surroundings with sharp alert focus and she noticed immediately that his eyes had darkened.

"What’s wrong?" She asked quietly, looking around but not seeing anything.

"We are not alone in this forest. There are others lurking, and a lot of them." He said, his voice carrying a calm that was almost more unsettling than alarm would have been, but she could tell from the look in his darkened eyes that whatever he was sensing out there in the trees was nothing good.

Sebastian slowly set her down to her feet and carefully pushed her behind him with one hand. "Stand behind me."

The moment he pushed her behind him, Viola also sensed what he must have sensed as the leaves began to rattle and the bushes moved and shifted as more people than she could count in a situation like this walked out from between the trees, all of them in ragged clothing with weapons in hand.

At their lead was a man with dirty blonde hair and a tanned face with a cigarette burning between his teeth, and beside him was a woman, a woman Viola faintly recognized from the night before at the nightclub. Though the memory wasn’t entirely clear, Viola recalled fighting a woman and recognized the face.

What the hell were they doing here? She wondered with a frown, looking at Jaz, who was walking forward with a smirk stretched across her face. She was wearing a short and a crop top with two guns held in her hands like she had been waiting all night for this exact moment.

"Hello fancy pants." Jaz greeted Sebastian, who looked back at her with a completely blank face. "We meet again, isn’t that a lovely coincidence, after you and your wolfless wife put me off last night. But don’t worry, I didn’t come here to seduce you this time, which is really too bad though." She commented with a laugh and then blew a kiss toward Nat when he looked at her in disgust.

Sebastian barely looked fazed by their appearance even with the sheer number of them, and even with the ones he could sense still lurking beyond the tree lines.

"Don’t tell me you brought all these men just to get back at us for putting you in your place at the bar?" Viola questioned from behind Sebastian, wanting to step out but he pushed her back with one hand firm on her waist.

"Oh, the wolfless bitch still has a mouth on her, would you look at that, Nat darling?" Jaz remarked, turning to her temporary boyfriend who growled at her and replied,

"Drop the games. We are not here to chat with them. We are here to finish the man. Whatever issues you have with the woman, deal with it somewhere else." He whisper yelled at her, and then turned his attention to the silver haired stranger who somehow managed to look intimidating even without any aura or wolf presence coming off him at the moment.

"I don’t like wasting time on my business, man. Let’s get this over with. Your girl can walk away," he said to Sebastian, then looked toward where Viola was peeking from behind his back and added, "We don’t want you, it’s him we’re here for. So if you know what’s best for you, scram and get out of Nightshade before I change my mind."

Nat spoke with a calm that was almost more unsettling than aggression would have been. He stood there with a large, strange-looking gun propped against his shoulder as if it weighed nothing, while daggers coated in wolfsbane lined his belt.