Chapter 367 Advice from Laila

The night before the ceremony, almost every guest had arrived at the pack and the pack house was filled with people. The more guests that poured in, the more the rumors about the Supreme Luna spread, moving through the crowds like wildfire, and through all of it, Viola kept her head up, pretended she heard nothing, and stayed focused on her own plans.

Sebastian escaped hearing the rumors because he wasn’t out among the gossiping guests, and he never paid any attention to what anyone was saying anyway. He was a busy man with far too much to do. He spent half the day with Gilbert, who brought reports on the progress of Viola’s antidote, and with Matt, who had tracked the progress of their mermaid shipment that would be arriving in Silver soon.

Meanwhile, Viola returned to her room after spending the entire day with her new friends. They had walked around so much that the soles of her feet were throbbing, and though she had genuinely enjoyed herself, she felt completely drained. She wasn’t used to spending that much time in the company of friends, where conversations had to be carried back and forth almost constantly.

Still, she had learned so much from being with them. Laila had been teaching Tess how to win over her pack and what she would do to make them admire and practically idolize her, and Viola had found herself quietly taking mental notes.

“You have to show them you’re the boss and that you don’t care about anything they say. Don’t give a fuck about what anyone thinks and show them you’re the Luna. Werewolves are meaner than the humans you’ve lived with all your life, and if you show them they can walk all over you, that’s exactly what they’ll do, walk all over you and wipe their dirty feet on you.”

“Won’t acting all high and mighty make them hate me?” Tess had asked, and Laila had laughed.

“Ask our Supreme Luna here. She’s never high and mighty and always tries to be humble, but where has that gotten her with our pack members? No offense, Luna Viola, I’m just trying to make a point. Werewolves aren’t humans. They don’t give a shit about your niceness. They respect you more when they know you’re unreachable and untouchable.”

“But mind you, girl, some won’t like you no matter what you do. You have to live with the fact that the love you receive might be shallow. However, it’s better than none because they’ll still stand up for you against an outsider. Besides, you shouldn’t worry too much. You’ll gain even more authority over many of them once you receive his mark, especially after you give him a male heir.”

Viola hadn’t agreed with everything Laila taught Tess, but she had agreed with most of it. Many werewolves didn’t respect you simply because you were humble, and always trying to keep her head down wasn’t going to get her anywhere in this world without a wolf.

Viola sat on the couch in their room that night, going over everything Laila had said before finally putting those thoughts aside and reaching for her phone.

She was still sitting there, unwrapping pieces of chocolate and eating them while quietly working through her plans for tomorrow on her phone, the ones she intended to keep a surprise even from Sebastian, when he finally returned that night, looking worn out and carrying the warm, unmistakable scent of wine with him.

He came around behind her chair, dropped his chin onto her shoulder, and pressed his lips to the side of her neck. “Hello, sunshine.” His voice was deep and low against her skin.

Not wanting him to peek at what she was reading on her phone, she quickly turned the screen off and brought her hand up to ruffle his hair. “Hi.” She said. “You’ve been drinking.” She pointed out.

He chuckled softly. “Just a little. I ran into some other Alphas and they pulled me into a drink.” He came around and dropped down onto the couch beside her, then lowered his head onto her lap and looked up at her, feeling the stress of the day beginning to ease out of him just from being there next to her.

Being away from Silver had stripped away some of the constant pressure of work, though not all of it and he still brought some here. He still had so much to work through, particularly the shipment of the mermaid he had spoken to Gilbert about, and the plans for where to keep the creature until the next full moon, where it’s heart would be cut open.

He was finally getting close to breaking the curse. Finally close to marking his wife and putting this Chapter of their lives behind them. Finally close to bringing his twin out of that place, because he couldn’t keep the switching going any longer, not with Viola in his life the way she was now and the constant fear that, during a switch, Alex might take revenge for something that had already been done and could never be undone.

But he pushed all of that aside and looked up at her.

“Tell me how your day was.”

“A lot happened today. I might bore you with it. Tell me about yours instead,” she said, and the corners of his lips curled into a smile as he replied,

“How could you possibly bore me when I like listening to you talk? We haven’t seen each other since this morning, and you think I’d get bored hearing about your day? Tell me.”

Viola smiled before putting her phone away and telling him everything, about spending the day with Tess, Laila, and Zoe, about how good it had felt to have a group of friends around her for the first time in longer than she could properly remember. She told him how something about having people who liked her for who she was made her feel more at home in the world and made the longing to belong feel a little less sharp.

They were talking about tomorrow’s ceremony when Viola suddenly sat up straighter, as if she had just remembered something.

“I don’t have a dress for tomorrow, Seb. You packed all my casual wear but nothing good enough for a mating ceremony.” She began to panic quietly, reaching for another piece of chocolate and starting to rise to check the closet again, but Sebastian didn’t lift his head. He simply reached out, caught her hand, and interlocked their fingers.

“Relax, darling. Didn’t I tell you everything is covered? Your dress will be here first thing in the morning. You really think I would let my baby show up in something shabby?” He kissed her fingers one by one, and licked the chocolate residue off them while watching her flush, before humming softly and adding, “You’ve been eating quite a lot of these chocolates lately, sunshine. You’ve almost finished the whole box in a week. Isn’t that getting a little too much?”

He looked up at her with genuine curiosity rather than complaint, not that he cared about the price of the chocolates, but about her health.

She could have the whole damn chocolate factory if she wanted, for as long as it wouldn’t affect her health.

To him, she was still his wife, someone he needed to handle with care and look after. Until they knew for certain whether she had inherited a wolf or the healing abilities of a mermaid, he refused to take chances with her health. If she possessed either, minor ailments would become far less of a concern. But for now, he intended to be careful on her behalf.

Viola pursed her lips, looking down at him as he continued licking the chocolate from her fingers. She hadn’t actually realized how much she had been eating until he pointed it out. She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about chocolates since breakfast. Every time she finished a piece, she wanted another, and she hadn’t even noticed when it had started.

“I’ll try to cut down. Maybe don’t buy me any more after this. I’ve noticed I’m putting on a little weight, and if I don’t stop now, it’ll turn into a proper addiction. It would be embarrassing if the Supreme Luna couldn’t even run properly.” She said, glancing toward the French windows, where lightning was beginning to flash in the distance and the curtains stirred gently with the incoming breeze.

“I don’t mind. I’ll still love you no matter what shape you become. And what weight are you talking about? You’re looking healthy and radiant.” He turned in her lap and gently pulled her head down, kissing her softly before stealing the lingering taste of chocolate from her mouth into his.

As they kissed, the rain began outside, the curtains blowing inward as they savored the quiet of the moment together, the calm before the storm of tomorrow, while outside, unseen and unnoticed, Wave was fighting and redirecting the sea witch’s portal that was trying to use the rain as a channel, a way to push through from the sea to land and get to what the two of them had built together and were still building; their relationship.