Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 163: Tomorrow’s Marking ceremony

It seemed the more nervous Viola felt about the wedding, the faster it approached, and the day felt like a page flip after she tried on the dress at Zoe’s place, where Nick was also present. She spent the entire day before the wedding with the two of them, where she was treated to a full body spa, and during it she tried to ask them what they knew about Sofia. But the two of them barely knew the she-wolf beyond the fact that she had apparently cheated on Javier with multiple men on the day of the moon festival.

Seeing how little they knew beyond what Javier himself had said and what the rumors had carried, Viola realized she would only learn the truth and be able to help the she-wolf directly, not through others. But for now she pushed that to the back of her mind and focused on the wedding arrangements.

She didn’t even realize how much time had slipped by until she checked and saw that it was ten in the evening. That night, when Viola returned to her penthouse, she received a call from Sebastian that immediately made her heart leap, but by the end of it, her heart had been quietly crushed all over again, for what he said was exactly what she had been trying to protect herself from by keeping their relationship within the boundaries of friendship.

"Have you eaten?" He had started the conversation that way, and she had smiled like a foolish schoolgirl talking to her crush on the phone, lying face down on her bed with her legs idly swinging side to side, without even being aware she was doing it.

"Yes. I ate at Zoe’s along with Nick. What about you?" She had asked him, feeling her cheeks heat up as though there were a flame burning just beneath the surface of her skin.

"Not yet. I do plan to eat," Sebastian had said with a smile, sitting cross-legged in his office chair. "How do you feel now? Does it still hurt?" He asked, referring to the period pains that had been so intense the night before that they had genuinely worried him and tightened something in his chest. He didn’t want her in any kind of pain.

Viola’s heart had done something funny again at his concern, because it was the first time, the very first time, that a man had ever asked her about that. Not even the man she had first loved had ever bothered, brushing her pain off like it was an inconvenience and telling her on her very first period that every woman went through it and she would get used to it. He had changed the subject immediately after and never once asked about the pain or discomfort again. But Sebastian was asking...

"The pain is gone. It is only intense in the first two to three days, after that I only have mild cramps that are barely noticeable until it fades completely."

"I am glad to hear that. Let me know if it bothers you again." He said quietly. He had already noted her cycle date in his phone and knew when her next period would be, Sebastian thought to himself, and before she would be in any kind of pain like that again, he would find a way to ease it beforehand. He made a quiet mental note of it before moving on to tell her something he believed she needed to know.

"I have had Evan and Eliot locked in prison and they will be there for months." He let her know, and then waited, for any sign of disapproval, or a plea to release them.

Sebastian was aware of how deeply some people could still feel indebted to an adoptive parent who had given them a home, even if that home had come with conditions and cruelty attached to it. He had seen how some people felt compelled to repay that debt despite everything, and so he waited to hear if she would want him to release them, or whether Evan’s mark would pull her into pleading for him the way it had the day before. But just as he had come to expect from this little woman of his, she was completely indifferent.

"That is good. I would very much like to see footage of Evan and Eliot’s punishment if at all possible. Do you have surveillance cameras in your cells?" She asked seriously.

Viola felt not even a shadow of pity for either of those people, and if it were not for the binding mark tethering her to Evan, which she was determined to fight with everything inside her, she would have been more than willing to inflict the pain on him herself, the same way he had inflicted it on her. Almost blinding her eyes, torturing her with public displays of affection between himself and Leni, knowing the mark would hurt her more. And as for Eliot, he had brought that entirely upon himself by being too ambitious and treating her like livestock her entire life.

Hearing her words, Sebastian smiled, pleased with her and with himself. Of course he had expected nothing less, for he had come to understand that she thought in a remarkably similar pattern to him when it came to dealing with enemies. And now Moonwillow had become both of their enemies. He felt something swell with quiet pride in his chest as he replied,

"We have cameras in almost every corner of Silver. I will send you the footage from the prison and you can watch it, but a small warning: things are not pretty down there." He told her, tapping his fingers against his desk with a faint smile.

In all the packs, the dungeons beneath Silver were the most grotesque and unforgiving, a faint-hearted person would never be able to stomach it. Could she?

"I have seen worse, Sebastian. Send me the footage, I can handle a bloody scene. I lived in one for four years." She told him with a playful smirk, rolling over onto her back and staring up at the ceiling with the phone pressed against her ear.

Sebastian’s smile slowly faded at her words. She had lived in one for four years. He found himself wishing he had stepped in sooner. And imagining the torture she had endured for four long years in Moonwillow, punishment he himself had only suffered for six months and had seen hell from, Sebastian typed a quiet order through his system directly to the dungeon, instructing his men to double the amount of Evan and Eliot’s punishment. And if possible, a few broken and lost limbs should be added to the toll.

"There is something I want to talk to you about," Sebastian said, after they had spent almost an hour on the phone talking about things he would never have been caught discussing with anyone else, and yet talking with his mate, especially Viola, was always deeply pleasing and calming to both him and his wolf, who was still sulking and petitioning loudly for a formal introduction.

"What?" Viola asked, idly studying her nails, once chipped and uneven, now laid with beautiful artificial nails painted a deep red for tomorrow’s event. Zoe had done a remarkable job on every single one of them.

"About tomorrow and the marking ceremony," Sebastian said, his tone shifting into something serious as he rose from behind his desk. Even though she had not pressed him for the reason he couldn’t mark her, which always quietly displeased him, as it felt like a sign that she simply didn’t care enough to ask, Sebastian knew it was important that she understand, and he would need her full cooperation going forward.

Viola’s hand, which had been swinging idly in the air as she admired her nails, slowly came down and her stomach turned over. She had a bad feeling about where this conversation was heading. She sat up on the bed.