"So what are we going to do about Javier taking the throne?" Matt asked after a short moment of silence, because if he wasn’t the rat then there was no reason for his ass to come anywhere near that position.

"Nothing." Sebastian announced.

"Excuse you. What do you mean nothing? I will be dead before I serve that fucker. You’re joking, aren’t you?"

"No. I mean it. We will do nothing. Let him have the seat. In fact I want you to support his rise to it." Sebastian instructed nonchalantly.

"What is your plan?" Matt asked, certain that Sebastian wouldn’t hand Silver over to someone like his cousin without a plan. Sebastian had worked hard for the pack with his sweat and blood, had fought pack battles, built the world from the ground up, giving it up now wasn’t something Matt believed he would ever do, not unless there was a plan behind it. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"Whoever made that assassination attempt on me wants the seat. And if Javier takes it, what are the chances that they wouldn’t come after him too? Sometimes we need to use one thief to catch another. Their focus will no longer be on me but on Javier. I will give it one month, and if the culprit doesn’t make a move, I take back the seat."

Sebastian had quietly thought through everything, and besides, this outcome wouldn’t be all that bad given that he would be away. At least in his absence he wouldn’t have to worry that someone would come after his hellcat or target her because of him, all assassination attempts would be redirected to whoever sat in that seat, and right now that would be Javier.

At the same time, he would have men planted so this hidden rat in his pack would finally come out, for this person was the most dangerous adversary he had ever encountered in all of his twenty years of being Alpha.

"I hope to hell this plan won’t backfire on us, man." Matt said.

"I hope that too." Sebastian sighed, glancing at the time and realizing it was already well past afternoon, the hour of his departure approaching far faster than he wished.

He had planned to cook a meal for his wife before she woke up since they had both skipped breakfast, but that might no longer be possible. He had wasted far too much time simply lying there watching her sleep in his arms.

Perhaps he could at least make something quick for her to warm up later when she woke.

Knowing her habits, she would rather stay hungry and unintentionally starve herself than remember to eat on time, Sebastian thought with a faint frown, already considering ways to break her of that habit.

If only he did not have to leave today.

The thought left a sour taste rising in his mouth, and he had to force it down before continuing the conversation with Matt.

"What is the report on Nightshade?"

"We are making great progress. The men have found real traces of mermaids and are following the lead. And about the orphanage, the Nightshade Alpha is planning to destroy it and put the children to work on pack duty, as he believes the orphanage is bringing unwanted attention to their pack after what happened."

Sebastian was thoughtful for a moment before he ordered. "Tell the men to speak to Miss Lara. Tell her that if she is willing to give out the information about what happened to Ivy, she and the children will be welcomed into Silver as full members. They will be given everything." Sebastian said, his jaw set with quiet determination, still resolved to bring this woman all the happiness she deserved, and having that twin here would give her that.

They were still discussing plans on how to get the truth out of Miss Lara about Ivy when Sebastian heard Matt curse sharply and he asked what it was.

"Laila. She’s here knocking on my door. I have been ignoring her since yesterday, but she keeps insisting on talking to me about you. It seems I can’t ignore her any longer."

"Then deal with her," Sebastian said flatly, not having the energy to hear anything about Laila anymore.

And before Matt could start complaining again, he added, "Take care of my Luna while I’m away. And get Zoe here before tonight."

With that, he closed the link.

Matt, who was at his apartment, dragged his fingers through his hair as the door knocked again, louder this time, rattling with impatience. He cursed Sebastian in his head for putting him in this situation. That is why you don’t keep multiple women, man, it always backfires!

He contemplated ignoring her but he knew better than most how persistent Laila could be when she wanted something, which left him with no choice but to answer. He did not have to come up with an excuse for Sebastian’s absence this time around, Matt reminded himself. As far as everyone else was concerned, Sebastian was dead.

He went to the door and unlocked it, expecting to find a glaring, furious Laila, but what met him instead was a slap that snapped his head sideways, and a tearful Laila who looked like she had walked through hell itself to get to his door.

Her eyes were red and swollen, her hair disheveled, her chest heaving like she had been crying for hours.

Matt barely recovered from the first slap before a second one landed hard on the same cheek. It was when the third came swinging that he caught it, his fingers wrapping tightly around her wrist.

"You had better have a very good reason for that, Miss Serrano." Matt gritted out, tasting blood on his tongue, for she wasn’t just an Alpha female wolf by title, she had the strength to match it and had put every bit of it into those slaps.

Laila jerked her wrist free from his grip and glared at him through tear-soaked lashes.

"How could you have let him go alone and get assassinated? Why my Sebastian and not you?" She cried out, her voice cracking under the weight of her rage, wishing she could rip this useless Beta’s head clean off for letting her Seb travel alone to his death along with that bitch.

She didn’t know where to pour her anger on but on the incompetent head beta.

"Whoa, that is a pretty strong thing to say about someone else’s life, Miss Serrano." Matt remarked, his eyes narrowing slowly. So she wished him dead? What exactly had he done to her?

"I can’t believe you allowed them to bury him without bringing his remains back...oh god, I should have gone with him instead of that weakling Luna. Why did he have to leave Silver?" Laila cried out, stumbling on her heels so violently that Matt had to reach out and catch her before she fell, but she shoved his arms away like his touch burned her.

"That bitch doesn’t deserve to even be anywhere near him to begin with. She couldn’t even protect him from his enemies, she—"

"Watch how you speak about the Luna." Matt said before he could stop himself, because he had seen with his own eyes exactly what Viola had done for the Alpha, had watched a woman with no wolf do what trained warriors hadn’t, and he doubted very much that Laila, with everything she had shown during the Luna competition, would have done anything other than run and leave Sebastian to face it alone.

"Luna?" Laila scoffed, the word dripping with contempt as it left her lips. "Sorry to break it to you, she’s no longer that. And wherever you have left her, I hope she stays there, because if I see her I will send her to her grave to join Seb. And I will find whoever harmed my Seb and give them exactly what they fucking deserve!"