Chapter 391 Apprehend Nick

The moment Sebastian stepped out of the room, he connected to Matt.

’Is he in custody yet?’

’I didn’t go with them, but the men are out looking for him, he isn’t in his room.’ Matt replied.

’Where are you? You should have gone with them to catch the bastard.’

Sebastian said, the frustration he had successfully kept hidden from his wife bleeding through to his friend without an effort to hide it, for it was boiling too hot in his chest.

’Chill, Seb. I’m with Zoe right now, but I’m leaving. I’ll meet you in a moment.’

Matt looked down at the she-wolf curled up asleep on her bed, her cheek pillowed against her hand and her face turned toward him, making her look more like the little girl he remembered than the twenty-two-year-old woman she had become.

The memory of what had happened a little while earlier, before she had fallen asleep, brought a small smile to his face.

He had come to tell her the Luna was fine, and Zoe had wanted to go and see her immediately, but he had stopped her, knowing Sebastian likely wouldn’t have let anyone in. She had asked him to stay a while, and he had offered to call Gilbert, and she had said,

“No, let him be. I don’t want him worrying about me when he is dealing with the mate bond conflict.”

“Are you really all right with him being fated to Laila?” Matt had asked, pulling the chair close to the bed and sitting down as she lay there looking at him.

“As long as he doesn’t want the bond, I am okay with it. At least I know I am not forcing myself on him and that he chose me. I know he doesn’t love me yet, I am not that naïve, but I believe he will someday.” She had said it with an ease that surprised him, now that Vee was safe and the worst of the fear had lifted from her chest.

“What if you find your own fated mate someday?” Matt had asked, still not entirely settled about her being with Gilbert. What if Gilbert never fully got over Laila? What if he never truly loved Zoe? He had seen too many unhappy unions built on that kind of foundation, and he wouldn’t want that life for her. He would rather she have a man who was head over heels for her from the beginning, someone who would bring the world down to her feet without needing to be convinced.

Zoe had chuckled softly. “A fated mate? Matt, I am almost twenty two and my wolf is still barely active, I can hardly smell anything beyond a human’s range. I have already passed the window for awakening without sensing him. What are the chances I ever find him now? What if I never do, and I let my chance at love slip away because I was waiting for something that might never come?”

Matt had arched a brow, crossing his arms. “You talk as though you are approaching forty. You are still so young to be making a life decision as permanent as mating. You can afford to wait a little longer instead of rushing into it. You are still a baby to me, Zoe.”

Zoe grabbed a pillow and smacked him with it.

“Stop treating me like a baby, Matt. We’re werewolves. Most of us sense our mates and settle down by eighteen or nineteen. I’m twenty-two, and I’ve never been in a real relationship. Now that I finally am, you want me to let him go.”

She glared at him, hurt shining in her gray eyes, and he raised both hands in surrender.

“Easy, brat. You’re misunderstanding me. I’m just telling you to slow down and not rush things.”

“You sound like a father, and you’re only twenty-eight yourself.”

Matt pointed a finger at her.

“Point of correction, I turned twenty-nine this year, which absolutely qualifies me to give a twenty-two-year-old little girl some advice. Take it or leave—”

He yelped as another pillow smacked him over the head.

“Ouch!”

“Don’t even start,” he warned when she reached for a third pillow, clearly ready to throw it if he said another word about Gilbert, the mating mark, or taking things slowly.

Zoe understood why everyone was worried. They didn’t want to see her get hurt, and she appreciated that more than she could ever put into words. But she wasn’t being reckless. She had thought everything through over and over again, and she still wanted him.

She was willing to take that chance for love.

She looked at Matt and saw him watching her warily because of the pillow. She didn’t put it down. Instead, she hit him with it anyway, even though he hadn’t said another word.

Matt immediately got up from the chair. Just as she reached for another pillow, he climbed onto the bed, one knee sinking into the mattress, and reached out to wrestle it from her hands.

But Zoe hugged it tightly to her chest.

“Drop the pillow or I will carry you and throw you and it off the balcony.” He threatened. He could have used his full strength and taken it from her easily, but he didn’t want to hurt her, so he didn’t.

“I dare you!” She laughed, and Matt scooped her clean off the bed like she weighed nothing and began walking toward the balcony with her in his arms.

“Drop the pillow, Zoe.” He said again.

“I won’t. I’d like to see you throw me off the balcony. My brother will have your head.”

But when he stepped out onto the balcony, the night view below stopped them both.

The marking ceremony was underway in the garden beneath them. The room Zoe had been given overlooked the entire garden, giving them a clear view of Tess and Kenny, who were completely unaware of everything that had happened to the Supreme Luna just hours earlier. Matt had deliberately kept the incident quiet instead of announcing it publicly, allowing the ceremony to continue without being overshadowed by the chaos.

Zoe dropped the pillow without even realizing she had, her attention fixed entirely on what was happening below. To get more comfortable, she looped her arm around Matt’s neck.

Matt turned to look at her face at the action, the breeze moving the silver strands of hair across her cheeks, her face bare of any makeup and still somehow effortlessly beautiful, and found her so absorbed in watching the couple below that he turned to look as well.

“I heard it’s painful to be marked…” Zoe murmured, watching the expression on Tess’s face.

“It is, for the she-wolf. But I’ve also heard it’s the most beautiful pain there is, because it connects them to their destined one.”

“I can’t wait to connect to mine.”

Matt glanced at her. “Are you getting desperate, Zoe?” he asked.

She frowned and turned to him. The movement brought her face so close to his that, for a brief moment, she forgot to breathe. She found herself staring into his hazel eyes until she caught herself and quietly replied,

“No… not desperate. Afraid.”

The words slipped out before she even realized she’d said them, the cool night breeze stirring her hair.

Matt frowned.

“Afraid of what?” he asked gently.

What did she have to be afraid of when she had someone like Sebastian as her brother, along with him and the rest of his family, all of whom cared deeply about her?

Zoe adjusted her arm around his neck before looking away from his mesmerizing eyes and back toward the garden.

“I want to have what they have. And if I don’t let my heart lead me to it…” she whispered, “…I’m afraid the day will never come when my wolf leads me to him.”

She looked back at him, narrowing her eyes.

“And don’t tell my brother I said that.”

Matt smiled. “Don’t worry. I won’t.”

“That’s why you used to be my favorite, Matt.” A sleepy smile tugged at her lips. “You always keep your word.”

She yawned as she finished speaking before resting her head against his shoulder, finally losing the battle against exhaustion.

Right before his eyes, her lashes fluttered once… then drifted shut.

Matt remained quietly on the balcony, letting her sleep against him while the marking ceremony below came to its peaceful end.

Only after the last of the guests began to leave did he carry her back inside, lay her gently on the bed, and pull the blanket over her.

He had just gotten her settled when Sebastian reached out through the link and ordered him to send men after Nick. Matt was curious about the reason but didn’t ask, he sent the instruction to their Gammas immediately, then made sure Zoe was comfortable and properly covered before he left.

Now, certain she was asleep and safe, he resumed his conversation with the Supreme Alpha and went to meet him out in the hallway just as the Gammas came to report.

“We have checked everywhere for him, Supreme Alpha. His friend Simon said he had to leave urgently, there was something he needed to handle back in Silver.” One of the Gammas reported.

Sebastian felt a bad feeling settle instantly in his gut at that. Nick going back ahead of all of them have him a bad feeling.

“Tell the warriors to apprehend him the moment he sets foot in Silver.” He ordered, and then turned to Matt. “We are leaving first thing in the morning. Make sure Gilbert knows.”

“What’s going on? Why are you going after your cousin?” Matt asked, and Sebastian told him coldly, “Because I believe he is our man. The fucker responsible for deleting all the footage of his crimes, the reason we never found any evidence on him.”

“Which also means he was the one who shot Zoe all those years ago…” Matt said quietly, and the anger came onto him immediately and completely. After everything Zoe had done for her cousin over the years, the loyalty she had given him without question, it turned out he had been the one responsible for her weakened wolf and her fragile state ever since.