Chapter 417 Sebastian!

“When did that happen? Why would hermano banish you? I haven’t heard anything about it,” Zoe exclaimed, unable to believe her brother would do something like that without a reason to the person he knew she considered a brother and her closest friend.

“Vee made him do it…” Nick said.

Before Zoe could recover from the shocked gasp that escaped her, he continued.

“I made the mistake of confessing to her about the old crush I had on her when we first met. I never expected her to get angry and accuse me of ruining our friendship. I wasn’t asking her to like me. I was only being honest and letting her know because I planned to start dating someone else, but she blew everything out of proportion.”

Zoe couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She massaged her forehead.

“Did this happen while we were at Grim Pack?” she asked, suddenly realizing it explained why Viola had gone missing at exactly the same time Nick had disappeared from the hall.

“Yes. I told her in the garden while we were having one of our usual conversations, and I was drunk…”

“Why would you tell her that, knowing she’s in love with my brother?” Zoe scolded. “You did the same thing with Sofia, remember? She turned you down because she loved Javier and said she was in love with—”

“Sofia didn’t blow it out of proportion and run to tell my brother. She understood it was just an old crush that would eventually pass. But Vee didn’t. She got so angry and told Cousin Seb that I had feelings for her. He didn’t think twice before throwing me out of the pack as though I meant nothing to him. Zoe… I’m homeless.”

Zoe felt her heart twist with pity and conflicting emotions. She didn’t know whose side to take, and honestly, she didn’t want to choose sides at all because she truly loved both of them.

She didn’t believe everything had happened exactly the way Nick described it because Vee wasn’t that heartless.

Though she would never doubt her brother’s capability for harsh decisions, because Sebastian was capable of something like that. Maybe Viola had simply told him about Nick’s confession, and Sebastian had acted on his own without Viola ever intending for things to go that far.

“I’ll talk to them and convince him to revoke your banishment. I’ll—”

“That’s not what I want, Zoe. Your brother has already made up his mind. He even wants me dead now. He sent men to kill me today.”

“Oh, dear Goddess…” Zoe muttered, covering her throat with her hand. Sebastian… she had hoped he would stop killing family members she cared about after Alex.

“Can we meet, Zoe? I need to talk to you about something.”

Wave looked at the she-wolf, expecting her to refuse.

Instead, proving him right once again that werewolves were hopelessly dense, she asked,

“Where?”

“I can’t come out today because I don’t know if they’re still out there looking for me, but I’ll send you the location where we can meet. Don’t let them know I called you, please, Zoe. Promise me you won’t tell him? I don’t want to die.”

“I won’t tell my brother. Calm down, Nick. I’ve always had your back, and I’m not going to abandon you now,” she said compassionately, every word coming from a place of genuine sincerity, while his own words were nothing more than carefully calculated lies after Sebastian had ruined his original plans just few hours ago.

“Thank you, cousin. I knew I could rely on you. I’ll talk to you again.”

With that, he ended the call.

Zoe remained staring at the dark phone screen, hating how her family was slowly falling apart when all she had ever wanted was for them to stay together and be happy.

She didn’t know why Nick had chosen that moment to confess his feelings to Vee, and she didn’t understand why Vee would tell Sebastian about it.

“I’ll have to talk to her tomorrow,” Zoe muttered, knowing Sebastian would listen to whatever his wife said. Even though she had promised Nick she wouldn’t tell anyone, she would have to speak to Viola if she wanted any hope of getting Nick welcomed back into the pack.

Zoe’s eyes drifted to Alex’s twelve-year-old photograph on her nightstand, and she whispered,

“I wish you were here. Maybe things wouldn’t have turned out this way, Alex.”

Wave watched tears roll down the she-wolf’s cheeks as she placed her phone on the nightstand.

His watery eyes slowly shifted to the device.

Then he crawled toward it.

A long arm of water stretched out from his body, wrapped around the phone, and pulled it into the middle of himself before he quietly crawled away with it toward the sink.

That was all he needed from her.

He needed evidence to show his Mermaidia. He needed to prove that the monster who had hurt her was hiding inside this strange little thing and poisoning the she-wolf’s mind against her.

Wave only hoped he would find his Mermaidia’s room this time.

To squeeze through the sink drain, Wave crushed the phone until it was small enough to fit.

Once he slipped through the drain with it, he happily sang to himself, proud of how clever he had been and excited that he had finally managed to help his Mermaidia, who would surely be proud of him once he reached her with the monster who had hurt her while he wasn’t there to protect her.

“You’re in trouble, Nick. I’m taking you to her!”

•••

Meanwhile, in Viola’s room, where she had been disturbed from her sleep by a strange noise and the violent slam of her bedroom door flying open, she instinctively reached for the gun. As the shadow stepped through the doorway, just as Sebastian had instructed her to do when he had given her the weapon days ago for her protection, her finger moved to the trigger, nearly pulling it, when the figure suddenly collapsed onto the floor.

The smell of blood and a familiar scent reached her nose before she fully registered what had happened. She hurriedly switched on the lights, gasping at the sight before her.

The gun slipped from her hand as she cried out, “Sebastian!” She rushed to his side, where he lay slumped on the floor, bleeding heavily, his face as pale as a ghost and twisted with pain and barely restrained rage.