Chapter 140

Sebastian was just a friend, she told herself firmly. Even if they were to marry, he would still be her friend, and that friendship zone was there to protect her from taking him as anything more than that. She was aware that something inside her had begun to soften towards him and find him more appealing, but she had built a very large wall around that part of herself because she was afraid.

Afraid of being hurt and abandoned.

Viola had been hurt before. She had tasted what it was like to love and then lose it, to be betrayed and broken after she had given everything. Evan’s betrayal would forever leave its scar on her, and that scar ran so deep that she had to keep Sebastian at arm’s length so he wouldn’t come close enough to peel it back open.

But just now…just now, she had felt that spark of deep jealousy. Viola shivered in fear at the thought that she was reverting to her old ways, and that those old ways would soon make her lose every single friend she had made here, including Sebastian himself.

He would find her intolerable and then grow tired of her just like Evan had, he would feel suffocated by her possessiveness and choose someone far more worthy than she was, someone who didn’t have a tainted mind like hers. That was what had happened with Evan, and there was no reason it wouldn’t happen again with Sebastian the moment he noticed these signs in her behavior…

There was more than one reason she wanted him to remain just a friend, the fact that he had multiple mates, and that she herself was too afraid to even think about holding another man in the same way she had once held someone who turned out to be so unworthy of it, were only part of them.

Viola felt a chill so sudden and sharp that she wrapped her arms around herself and her teeth began to chatter. She didn’t want to like Sebastian to the point where whatever he did with other women would hurt her, but she was hurting right now and she hated it.

Whenever she became jealous, a feeling of intense rage would always consume her, that same surge of strength that had made her crack her phone just now. And Viola had already come to accept that that feeling and its intensity might be the very curse that had made their birth mother give them away to the orphanage.

Being in such a vulnerable state that she was shaking for no reason, the little devil on her shoulder began to whisper words into her ear that she didn’t want to hear.

’Give it up already and end your pathetic existence. After everything you have done in your life, do you really think a man like the Alpha would still choose you over all those sensible women? Stop deceiving yourself with this friendship thing, you are starting to like him, and very soon he will leave you just like Evan did.’

’You are not worth keeping or loving. Everyone will always abandon you.’

Viola wanted to rip the negative thoughts straight out of her head but they refused to leave, and she grabbed her hair in her fist, muttering “shut up” repeatedly while feeling ice cold all over her body, as though she had been doused with freezing water.

She was slowly sinking into that darkness again when she heard her phone vibrate, and she quickly looked down in hopes that she would see a new message from Sebastian changing his mind about not coming. But the notification she saw wasn’t his and disappointment wash over her.

It was Nick calling her.

Viola slowly reached out to her phone and picked up the call.

“Hello…” She answered quietly.

“Hey, Vee. Why do you sound so down?” Nick asked, his cheerful voice carrying a little concern beneath it.

Viola realized she did indeed sound low and dispirited, and she quickly cleared her throat and took a silent deep breath before she replied, “Maybe because I am upset that you haven’t called or texted me in the past few days. You must have forgotten you have a friend here.” She chided.

Since the day she had been announced winner, she hadn’t spoken to Nick. Was he also forgetting her?

Nick smiled at her words. “Sorry. I got caught up with some things, but don’t worry, I called to make it up to you. Are you free? We can go out and grab some dinner together. And before you tell me you are busy, remember these are your last few single days before you become a busy Luna and all.” He teased, and Viola chuckled in spite of herself, wiping the moisture that had come to gather at the side of her eyes earlier.

She had been looking for a distraction anyway, and knowing that the person she had wanted to cook for might be spending the night with his other mate, she didn’t want to stay here alone and think herself into depression or any selfharm.

“Sure. Where are we going?” She asked, standing up from where she had been sitting and looking out at the setting sun through the glass wall, where a yellowish orange glow painted the horizon beneath dark blue clouds. It was a beautiful sight.

Nick told her where they were going and then said, “Should we walk there or take my car? It’s not that far away, but whichever you choose works for me.”

“Let’s walk. I haven’t walked the night streets of Silver City before. I will meet you there in twenty minutes. Bye!” She hung up the call and hurried to her closet to find something simple to wear.

Viola picked a simple one-piece bluish dress that stopped above her ankle and then slipped her feet into a pair of low-heeled sandals she pulled from the rack of shoes, before spritzing herself with one of the array of perfumes she now owned. She grabbed a small sling purse and was putting her phone into it when she received another message. It was from Sebastian, and her heart flipped inside out.

[Send me a picture of your meal so I know you didn’t skip it.]

Viola stared at the message with conflicting emotions written across her face before she bit down on the inside of her cheek and slipped the phone into her purse without replying. She knew herself well enough to know that if she were to reply right now, it would come out laced with the bitter, unwelcome jealousy that was eating away at her gut, jealousy that had no business being there in the first place.

She left her penthouse and stepped out of the high-rise skyscraper, where she noticed that guests were already arriving and the place was becoming filled with werewolves whose presence couldn’t be ignored.