Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 168: Wedding Night (Bonus - )

Viola woke up to a stillness that was a complete contrast to the loud howling of wolves she recalled from just before the darkness had consumed her senses and she had given into it. She opened her eyes and was startled to find herself in an unfamiliar room, a ceiling so different from the one she was used to waking up to that her heart thudded and her stomach turned over.

She quickly sat up on the king-sized bed, the warm thick blanket around her body slipping down to her lap as she looked around her, almost panicking.

Where was she? She wondered, moving to slide off the impossibly large bed, but then she paused, everything from before she had lost consciousness slowly filtering back through her foggy mind.

She looked around her surroundings more carefully. A bedroom with masculine decorations that felt almost similar in spirit to Sebastian’s main quarters bedroom, but with the same layout and structure as her own penthouse bedroom.

She was in his penthouse in the High Tower. Viola realized, raising her hand to massage her aching temple. Of course she would be in his place, they were married now.

Her heart leaped as that thought settled fully inside her, and her eyes dropped slowly to the diamond wedding ring sitting on her finger. Unable to help herself, she began turning it around with her other hand, biting back a goofy, foolish smile.

So she was finally married. And a Luna. Her eyes traveled around his bedroom, taking in every detail, the room temperature was warm with a natural house warmth rather than the coolness of an air conditioner.

His room was massive, surrounded by thick dark curtains drawn against the glass walls, and it smelled impossibly, overwhelmingly like him. That delicious, warm scent that reminded one of dark chocolate wound together with something deep and woody, it stirred her stomach and sent a curl of something dangerously close to desire winding through her nerves, and Viola frowned at herself in confusion.

Just what on earth was that feeling? Was she... desiring Sebastian? But how could she desire him without the usual pain, when Evan’s mark was still on her? With that thought, Viola slowly pressed her hand to the back of her neck, which still felt sore and tender from Sebastian’s bite, and realization began to dawn on her slowly, widening her blue eyes.

Of course she would desire him, his mark hadn’t yet faded. Temporary marks normally faded within hours or up to a day, and Viola’s eyes drifted to the clock screen on the wall. It was only 11:02 pm. There was still time before it faded, and until it did, she would continue to feel the pull of a mate toward him, desiring his presence and getting stirred up by his scent in ways she couldn’t control...

Heat crept up to her cheeks and she ducked her head, only for her eyes to land on his couch where she spotted a set of pikachu print pajamas folded neatly and waiting. She raised a surprised brow, realizing they had been left there for when she woke up. Had he anticipated that she would wake during the night?

She glanced down at her dress and noticed she was still wearing what she had on when he had marked her, and a quiet smile touched her lips at the realization that he had respected her privacy enough not to change her clothes while she was unconscious.

Viola got up from the bed and walked over to the couch, picking up the pajamas. She couldn’t help but wonder where her groom was at this hour. Had he gone back to the celebration? Wedding celebrations in their world could easily run past midnight without slowing down, even without the bride and groom.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Viola decided to freshen up and change first before going to find her husband. The word husband sent another funny, fluttering feeling through her stomach and a clench deep in her core. A mate’s mark could really be quite troublesome when it wanted to be, she thought with pursed lips.

Viola was about to head toward his bathroom when she noticed he had left a pair of his house shoes beside the couch, as though he had set them there deliberately for her, and she slipped her feet into the large shoes with a small, quiet smile before making her way to his bathroom.

His scent hit her the moment she stepped inside, even thicker in here than in the bedroom, and Viola drew in a slow, deep breath of it, feeling it seep into her the way water soaks into dry sand on a beach. Was this how she was meant to feel, had she possessed a wolf to fully feel their bond?

Unfortunately, this warmth and clarity would be gone in a matter of hours, and that thought soured her good mood just slightly. She hadn’t felt this good, this clear-headed and settled, in a very long time.

She had always watched how mates became even happier after finding each other, that undeniable, intoxicating glow that seemed to radiate from them from the inside out. But being wolfless and unable to feel that bond the way every other she-wolf could, she hadn’t experienced that rush of overwhelming happiness when she first found Sebastian.

Now however, with his mark on her, that feeling she was always supposed to have, the one that had been denied to her, was being given to her, if only temporarily. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Before it disappeared, Viola wanted to experience the other feelings that came with it, what it truly felt like to be in the presence of your mate, the way every other she-wolf got to feel it naturally.

Who knew, she might never get her wolf in this lifetime, and she might never be marked by a mate who was fully and completely hers. Her mate was not entirely hers, and if she didn’t take this small window of time and hold onto it, she might never get to experience this feeling again in her life.

Though the thought that her mate was not truly and wholly hers twisted her heart and sent it quietly crushing inward, the fact that she could still experience a mate’s connection for a few precious hours brightened her mood again, and she took off her dress and stepped into his shower.

Just like in his main quarters, there were no feminine products, only his, and she used them without a moment’s hesitation. When she was done, she toweled herself dry and moisturized with his lotion before pulling on the warm pajamas he had left for her on the couch and slipping her small feet back into his oversized shoes.

Viola left his bedroom and made her way down to his living room, expecting to find him there, but was bitterly disappointed by the empty space.

He was nowhere to be found, not even in the spare bedrooms. Her brows drew together in a frown. Where could he have gone on their wedding night? Could it be that he had retreated to his office to work through the night after the ceremony, the way he so often did?

Viola had come to realize that Sebastian spent more time in his office than anywhere else, they talked almost every night and she had come to know his habits well enough, but wasn’t he supposed to be here tonight of all nights? It was their wedding night, and everyone would expect them to spend it together.

Had he left simply because she had been sleeping? She bit her lower lip. Well, she was awake now, she had better go and bring him back!

Though she had no idea what calling him back would entail exactly, she knew he ought to be here. And so she reached for her phone, only to remember with a quiet jolt that this wasn’t her place, and her phone had obviously not been brought here with her.

Viola decided to go and check his office herself. She hurried back up to his bedroom, stepped into his closet, and then shamelessly pulled one of his coats off its hanger and slipped it on over her pajamas. She was cold, and there was nothing of hers here except the pajamas he had left out for her. He wouldn’t mind, she was certain of that.

She left his penthouse, the door locking shut behind her, but she shrugged it off, telling herself she would be coming back with Sebastian and he would unlock it when they returned. She made a mental note to ask him for his door password as she stepped into the elevator and pressed the floor for his office.

When Viola reached the smooth, quiet hallway that led to his office, she was almost smiling like a fool, the mark was making her anticipate his presence, filling her with a warmth and a pull toward him that she couldn’t contain.

Was this how Sebastian felt whenever he came to find her? Was this how every mated pair was supposed to feel, happy and fluttery and inexplicably excited for no reason other than the simple fact that they were about to see their person?

If she could feel like this all the time, Viola thought as she walked toward his door, then perhaps she would never fall into the darkness of depression again, because his presence alone seemed capable of curing every terrible emotion and feeling that lived inside her.

But this was only temporary...

She walked up to his door, already holding the keycard she had quietly taken along with his coat in order to use his private elevator, and swiped it against the panel. The door slid open smoothly. Viola stepped into the office, a soft smile still playing at the corners of her mouth, until her eyes moved toward his desk.

And then the light in her eyes went out entirely.

The smile vanished. In its place came a wave of despair and hurt so swift and sharp that her eyes trembled as she took in the scene before her.

The man she had come here so eagerly to find, to experience the quiet joy of a mate’s bond with, even if only for a few fleeting hours, was sitting behind his desk. And right there on his lap sat a woman. Not just any woman. The one Viola despised with every single bone in her body.

Leni.