Chapter 436 There’s no need for that

Once she was gone from the room, Gilbert let out a sigh, knowing things were about to change. He looked down at his phone, where he had been trying to call Zoe since that morning, but her number was no longer reachable. He needed to check on her, both to make amends for his own mistakes and to make things right before he hurt her beyond the point of no return.

He had seen her missed calls a few days ago when he returned to his office, but when he called her back, she hadn’t answered. Now, her number was completely unreachable. He’d been told she had returned to her fashion house, but he couldn’t go there now, not with the trouble he could sense was about to befall Silver following the Alpha’s return and everything Matt had told him.

Gilbert looked out at the sky through the glass window and let out another heavy sigh. He wished he could reach out to his own mate, but he couldn’t, not until he’d had the chance to talk to Zoe.

•••

Viola dashed into the elevator, her heart racing with anticipation at the thought of seeing him again after nearly five days apart. She caught her reflection in the elevator’s polished wall and saw how haggard, how exhausted she looked, but it didn’t matter.

Sebastian had seen her in far worse condition and never once found her any less appealing, he’d taught her to grow confident in her own looks, in whatever state she happened to be in, until none of it bothered her anymore.

Viola could barely wait to reach his floor, already imagining how she would greet him. Had he missed her as fiercely as she’d missed him? Would he hug her, bury his nose in her neck, kiss her, call her Sunshine again?

Viola couldn’t help the smile spreading across her face, the butterflies swirling in her stomach. Surely five days apart would have been enough to cool his anger, and the fact that he’d asked about her at all felt reassuring enough on its own.

When the elevator doors opened, Viola dashed out toward his office, certain he’d be there. As she reached the corridor, she spotted Matt walking out of the office, but her excitement kept her from lingering on the grim look on his face.

“Hey, Matt, is he in there?” She asked, barely able to stand still.

“He is, but you shouldn’t go in, he—” he began, trying to prepare her for whatever she was about to walk into, but the Luna didn’t wait to hear the rest. She rushed straight into the office, and he turned, hurrying after her.

Viola stepped inside and saw her husband emerging from the adjoining room of his office. Her heart raced wildly, longing gripping her chest, but she stopped short of running to him the moment his eyes met hers.

Viola stood frozen, not rushing into him the way she’d expected to, because his arms weren’t open, waiting for her the way she’d pictured. Instead, his silver eyes were cold as ice, his lips pressed into a hard line. He didn’t look pleased to see her. In fact he looked annoyed at her appearance.

Was he still angry with her? Hadn’t he forgiven her yet? She wondered, panic beginning to creep into her chest at the sight of his expression and she racked her brain for anything to say.

“Sebastian, I know we didn’t part on good terms, but I hope you’ll give me a chance to make things right again. I can help Alex, and we can find another way out, if you’ll just give me—”

“There’s no need for any of that, Viola. Everything you ruined has already been fixed. I found another way to break my curse.” He said, his voice flat, nonchalant, utterly devoid of emotion, and it worried her more than anything he could have shouted.

“You did?” She asked, and just then, the door behind him opened.

Viola felt her entire world tilt sideways as a beautiful woman stepped out, wearing his shirt like she used to, moving to press herself against his side, one arm wrapping around his waist. On the side of her neck was a mark, shaped like the crescent moon.

Viola looked from the woman’s innocent looking face, framed with long brown hair to her husband.

“This is Victoria. She’s my true fated mate, my prophecy.” He introduced the beautiful woman at his side, wrapping his arm protectively around her, and Viola felt the ground drop out from beneath her, her whole world spinning too fast to keep up with.

Was this some kind of a dream? Viola thought, secretly pinching her own arm, trying to wake herself from it, because she hated this, hated every second of it.

This had always been one of her deepest fears, something she’d dreaded, something that had always carried a quiet sense of foreboding around it, but living through it was so much worse than she’d imagined, because it felt like something inside her was going to die if it turned out to be real.

When pinching herself didn’t work, she began walking toward him with the intention to touch him and feel if it was real.

“Sebastian—” But the moment she came within reach, he placed a hand on her shoulder, his fingers digging painfully into her skin before he shoved her away with such force that she fell back hard, hitting her side against his desk.

Pain rattled through her body, and if the pain alone hadn’t been enough to convince her this wasn’t a dream, his next words made certain of it.

“From today forward, I don’t want to see you anywhere near me. I don’t want to see your face, or hear your voice. You don’t belong anywhere here. Matt, call the guards,” Came Sebastian’s order, his arm pulling Victoria, who looked frightened by the sudden burst of anger, closer against his chest and soothing her with comfortable words in the ear.

“Seb, you don’t have to do this. No matter what, she’s still your wife, and she deserves—” Matt was saying, but the look Sebastian gave him was enough to make his head drop instinctively in submission.

Before he turned to call the guards, his eyes lingered on Viola, who was clutching her stomach with her head bowed, her hair covering her face as she stood completely still, as though she still couldn’t believe any of this was real. A wave of sympathy gripped Matt. He didn’t think she deserved this treatment after everything she had done in the Alpha’s absence, things he had never seen any other she-wolf do.

He hadn’t been able to believe it either when the Supreme Alpha had returned, carrying another woman in his arms, her arms wrapped around his neck and her head resting against his shoulder.

To think, Sebastian had once believed Viola was truly the one, and now he had returned with someone else entirely, someone bearing the mark of the prophecy on her neck. The mate bond between them seemed so overwhelming that Sebastian appeared physically incapable of letting her go, even for a moment, since his return that morning.

Matt had known the Luna was walking straight into heartbreak when he saw her coming. He had tried to warn her, to stop her from rushing in unprepared, but she’d pushed past him anyway.

Matt began walking toward her to check if she was all right, but the moment he took a step in her direction, Sebastian’s voice cut through the room, murderous and cold.

“Let her be. Call the fucking guards! She’s scaring my mate, I don’t want her here!” He barked.