Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 124: Why did you sleep here?

The moment Zoe stepped out of the room, Viola’s eyes shot open and she immediately jerked away from his embrace, leaving him feeling empty and his heart twisting as she rushed away from the bed. At the same time, she instinctively reached for her glasses and slid them on.

Viola had been disturbed from her sleep by the sound of voices, only to wake up feeling someone’s arm and leg tangled around her. That alone was enough to alarm her and cause her to jerk away instinctively, as it was utterly unusual for her to wake up trapped in someone’s embrace like that.

The first thing she thought about was grabbing a weapon. She reached for a flower vase on the bedside table and raised it to strike whoever it was, but then her eyes adjusted to the dimness and she noticed the Alpha sitting on her bed, shirtless, his bronze, tattooed chest exposed and his lower body covered with her blanket. He was looking at her with blank, mildly surprised eyes.

His silver hair was disheveled, with messy strands falling over his forehead and around his ears, and his eyes looked hooded, like someone who had just woken up from sleep. But that wasn’t what concerned Viola the most. It was the fact that he was on her bed, and it definitely looked like he had been there overnight.

Alarm bells rang instantly in her head at the sight of him half-naked on the same bed she had slept on, the same one where his warm body had been holding and embracing her a moment ago.

"W-what are you doing here?" she asked, faintly recalling that she had spoken to him on the phone last night and that he had come to her place. However, after that, Viola had no clear memory of what had happened. Did she invite him into her bed in her drunken state?

"I just woke up," Sebastian said matter-of-factly, as if it were absolutely normal for him to wake up in bed with her.

Putting down the vase, she frowned at him. "On my bed? How are you waking up on my bed? Since when did we start waking up in the same bed?" she asked, grabbing her temple, which was aching from the hangover of last night’s drink. What devil had possessed her to drink that much to the point that her memories were foggy now?

Sebastian noticed her clutching her temple with a grimace on her face and realized she must be hungover, and that the way she had hurried away from the bed must have worsened the pain. Silly rabbit. Didn’t she know that the wine she drunk last night was definitely going to give her terrible headache this morning?

Sebastian let out a sigh as he crawled out from beneath the blanket and moved to the edge of the bed. Then he stretched out his hand, wrapped his fingers around her wrist, and gently pulled her back toward the bed.

Viola instinctively tried to jerk her hand away, wanting to tell him to leave her alone, but the words suddenly felt too heavy in her throat. She recalled how his presence had immensely calmed her last night, how that haunting loneliness had become bearable because of him simply being there.

The feeling she had last night had been the kind that could push her toward self-harm without a second thought. It had been the kind of suffocating pain that made her want to end everything rather than carry that weight any longer. But the moment he came, everything had felt lighter, steadier, and more bearable.

Now that he had grabbed her wrist and gently pulled her back onto the bed, Viola didn’t resist. She didn’t even have the strength to fight him, her head pounding as if a drum band were playing inside her skull.

She went to him willingly, allowing him to guide her to lie back down. He pulled the blanket over them again and fitted his arm around her waist, drawing her back into his embrace, where she felt unexpectedly secure and safe, and that feeling of security in his arms was terrifying.

Viola was confused by the feeling. If I hate him so much, how come I like it when he is around? she wondered, staring up at his handsome face hovering above her.

He was laying on his side facing her, his elbow propped against the pillow, and reached out with his other hand to gently massage her temple. Viola continued to stare at him in confusion, wondering if she was losing her mind for feeling this way.

"Tell me if I’m pressing too hard," he whispered, his voice deep and husky from sleep, sending a subtle thread of warmth curling into her stomach. She had never heard his voice like that before in the quiet of the morning. But then she had never woken up on the same bed with him.

Were they making it a habit to sleep in each others room? She’d slept in his room in his main quarter yesterday and now he in hers...

She couldn’t say anything at first and could only blink up at him as he gently and meticulously massaged her head, rubbing his three fingers in slow circular motions around her throbbing temple. His touch was surprisingly soothing, easing the ache little by little.

He continued for a while, until she realized the soothing sensation was lulling her back to sleep. Snapping out of the hypnotizing feeling, she reached up and wrapped her hand around his fingers, gently pulling them away from her temple.

"Do you feel better?" he asked, twisting his fingers free from her hold only to swiftly engulf her hand in his much larger one, holding it firmly yet gently.

Viola nodded, still frowning at how touchy he was and how he had imprisoned her fingers within his. The worst part was that she didn’t dislike him holding her hand, and that realization frightened her even more. She was supposed to dislike all of this, him on her bed, lying so close, holding her hand in his.

Why was her heart softening?

Viola was painfully familiar with the feeling of her heart softening like this because she had experienced it before, and it had done nothing but break her in the end. It had ruined her. She was too damaged to dare let herself fall for another man, especially one she knew was surrounded by women and bound to hurt her as well in the end.

Evan had not had many mates, but he had still hurt her and abandoned her for someone who wasn’t his fated mate. What about this one?

But then there was no harm in enjoying just this moment where he was being nice and warm toward her; there was no need to push him away now when she so desperately needed someone to anchor her to reality and not to pain.

"Why did you sleep here?" she finally parted her lips to speak the first thing that came to her mind, as his intense eyes were unnerving her so much that she was beginning to feel self-conscious beneath his gaze.

"Because it’s comfortable sleeping here, and because you wanted me to," he told her, bringing up their interlocked hands and pressing a slow kiss to the back of hers. The simple gesture caused her to instinctively yank her hand back, wanting to remove it from his hold, but he kept a firm grip on it, his fingers refusing to loosen.

"I would never have asked you to sleep here," she grumbled in protest, her brows drawing together when he didn’t release her hand and instead moved even closer to her on the bed. His legs grazed hers under the sheet, the subtle contact making her throat go dry and her pulse stumble.

"I knew you would say that, so next time it happens again, honey, I will record your voice pleading with me so adorably to sleep with you," he teased, laying his head on her pillow and whispering the words directly into her ear, his tone low and amused.

Viola felt her toes curl and her insides clench, and rather than give in to that strange and overwhelming sensation, she turned her head to glare at him and argue. "There will not be a next time, Alpha Kade."

Sebastian’s expression darkened immediately, his lips falling into a thin, displeased line. For a moment, Viola feared she had angered him with something she said, and now he would say something in return to annoy or push her away. But when he spoke, his voice didn’t carry any hint of rage.

"Who is Alpha Kade? I have no idea who that person is, and unless you want me to tickle or kiss you, don’t ever say that name in my presence," he said, looking deeply into her blue eyes behind her framed glasses.

Then his gaze trailed slowly downward, from her small button nose to her pale pink lips, and he felt a compelling, almost startlingly strong urge to know what kissing her would feel like.

He wasn’t a kisser. In fact, he barely kissed any woman when he took them to bed; it had always been strictly about pleasure and sexual release. But for the first time, he wanted to know what someone’s lips tasted like, her lips, her beautiful, plump, petal-like lips. Lips he imagined were as delicious as her scent, and would be as addictive as she was. Sparks traveled into his body at the imagination.

"Address me by my name, or I will kiss you," he whispered into her ear, his lips brushing dangerously and seductively against her earlobe as he spoke.

Viola shrank her ear against her shoulder at the ticklish sensation, and the warmth of his breath did something unsettling to her. She didn’t feel it in her ear alone; the sensation traveled all the way to her core, making her want to flee from this devilish temptation.

Yet his arm wrapped more securely around her waist, bringing her closer to him, his warm body seeping into hers through the thin fabric between them.