Viola stood in the kitchen with Zoe, going through everything they had talked about regarding Sebastian. She tried to find a reason for his absence on the 30th, settling on the idea that he went to grieve, but his own words came back to her, that he didn’t hold on to people who were gone, and she found herself more confused about him than before.

Where did he go? This was her first time being with him during this particular absence, unlike his sister who had witnessed many of his strange disappearances over the years. Viola let out a quiet sigh, unable to piece it together, and reached out to help Zoe put away the snacks and food she had brought for them, having heard there were no omega workers to cook in the main quarter, and when it came to cooking, Zoe was as bad as her brother was gifted.

Though Viola could cook for them, especially now that she was more confident after Sebastian had eaten her cooking without complaint, she did not like wasting perfectly good food when there were so many people starving somewhere out there.

It would be best to store the takeout in the refrigerator and heat it up later.

"Nick is devastated too. He was with me when I was crying over Sebastian’s death and your whereabouts," Zoe said with a tired sigh, catching Viola’s wandering attention. "I wanted to tell him the truth after Matt told me everything was fine and it was all a cover, but the Beta said it was confidential and shouldn’t be shared with anyone, even the closest family members. So I only let him know that you weren’t hurt."

Zoe trusted Nick and knew that whatever was going on, he wasn’t among those driven by greed for the Alpha position like his older brother. But as much as she would have liked to tell him that nothing had truly happened to Sebastian, she had kept that from him and only confirmed that Viola was safe. Just like her, he had been relieved.

Viola smiled hearing that. "I am glad you assured him about me. I wouldn’t want him thinking I was dead too. And—" Viola’s words trailed off when the front door suddenly unlocked again and she exchanged a quick look with Zoe, who frowned and shrugged. They were the only ones currently in the house aside from the men guarding the perimeter outside, and those men never came in.

Even if they want to come in, they couldn’t have unlocked the passcode of the door.

"Are you expecting someone else?" Zoe asked and Viola shook her head, wiping her fingers on the kitchen towel before reaching instinctively into the drawer cabinet for the butcher’s knife and pushing Zoe firmly behind her.

After the assassination attempt she had lived through with Sebastian, her instincts had sharpened considerably and she now associated anything unusual with danger. The last thing Viola wanted was to be caught unprepared and have another person she cared about get hurt. Though her heart was slamming like a drum against her ribs, she held Zoe’s hand with one hand and gripped the knife with the other as they moved cautiously toward the entrance.

"Do you think we are going to be assassinated, Vee?" Zoe asked fearfully from behind her as they crept forward. The house was soundproofed and any commotion outside wouldn’t have reached them if someone had managed to get in.

"I don’t know, just stay behind me." Viola whispered, raising the knife. She had almost hurled it at whoever had come in without invitation, and she would have thrown it if she hadn’t belatedly heard two voices she recognized and seen two familiar figures walking out from the corridor connected to the front door.

"Holy shit!" Matt exclaimed, stopping short in his tracks and pulling Gilbert to a halt beside him as his eyes landed on the two women, one with a raised knife and the other hiding behind her. "What are you doing with a knife, Luna?" Matt questioned, his gaze moving from the gleaming blade to her alert face, which was already beginning to soften with relief as she lowered the hand holding the knife and brought it down to her side.

"I thought you two were assassins..." Viola muttered, though even as the words left her mouth, she realized how foolish they sounded. With the level of security surrounding the quarters, how could assassins possibly have gotten inside?

Matt exchanged a look with the doctor, who arched a brow, equally taken aback at being greeted at the door with a blade and mistaken for assassins.

Only then did he belatedly remember that neither of the two women possessed full wolf senses sharp enough to detect that it was them approaching.

Zoe, whose entire body was shaking terribly was so relieved that she slumped straight down to the floor, patting her chest to calm her heart, before peering up and saying, "What are you doing back here? I thought you dropped me off and left already? Do you have any idea how much you two scared us?!"

"Our apologies, it was never our intention to frighten you. I came back for something urgent and found Doctor Gilbert also on his way here to bring the Luna some supplements he had prepared to add to her medication list from yesterday." Matt said, looking toward Viola with an apologetic smile, quietly admiring her instinct to want to fight rather than flee at the thought of intruders.

Viola gave him a nod, equal parts embarrassed and relieved that they weren’t about to be attacked in their own house. She was embarrassed because if she’d had a wolf, she would have immediately sensed the two men and recognized their presence, instead she had made a fool of herself wielding a kitchen knife in her own hallway.

"It’s okay." She said, then invited them in as she reached down to give Zoe a hand and pull her up from the floor.

"We haven’t been officially introduced, Luna." Doctor Gilbert said as they followed her to the kitchen, where she put the knife back in the drawer and turned to face them, her blue eyes now composed, the brief murderous look he had glimpsed in them completely gone.

"Now that I think about it, we indeed haven’t been formally introduced." She muttered.

"I am Doctor Gilbert, the pack’s chief physician. My work also extends to forensic medicine and biological research." He held out his hand and she took it with a warm, friendly smile. Whenever Gilbert had come around after she regained consciousness, the Alpha had not allowed him to see the Luna, as if he feared the doctor would somehow steal her attention away with a single glance.

He would take him straight to the study room and dismiss any idea of Gilbert doing a quick check-up on her.

Unknown to Gilbert, the Alpha had no intention of allowing the doctor too much time around his wife. He did not want her becoming smitten by the man’s good looks and easy charm the way his sister had.

Possessive and overly protective by nature, Sebastian was unwilling to take that risk. Otherwise, he feared he might one day end up strangling the doctor to death.

"It’s nice to finally meet you, Doctor Gilbert. I have heard a lot about you." Viola remarked, and Zoe nudged her sharply from behind, warning her not to reveal that she had heard it all from her.

The doctor looked far younger than Viola had imagined, and far more handsome, with a dimpled smile that would send any woman’s heart spinning. That face belonged on the cover of a magazine, just as Zoe had always told her, but though Viola could appreciate his looks and respect his intelligence, her heart now longed only for one particular person, and everyone else’s handsomeness fell a distant second to that.

Her heart had recognized and stored only Sebastian in it’s shell...