Viola woke up the next morning smiling like a fool, with the urge to scream it to the world that Sebastian had told her he loved her, that they had danced to three of her favorite songs under the stars and kissed until she could no longer feel her own lips and was completely breathless.

Butterflies stirred in her stomach as she lay there recalling everything that came after, how he had taken her back to his car, and how, true to his word, she had ended up having the most wild, unrestrained, breathless sex with him in the backseat of his Range Rover SV.

They had steamed the windows completely, and afterward had pulled the seat flat and lain there with her draped over him, her head on his chest, both of them bare and still joined in the middle, listening to each other breathe and to the soft music drifting from the car speakers, as though they were deliberately weaving the moment into memory, choosing a song to mark it by so neither of them would ever forget it.

It had been wonderful. It had been crazy and warm and unlike anything she had ever experienced, including the way they had laughed trying to figure out different positions to try in the limited space.

She smiled to herself remembering how they had eventually drifted off, and woken somewhere around four in the early morning darkness, and how they had scrambled for their clothes in a laughing, half-awake rush before returning to the reality of the pack and their responsibilities, where, despite how many had been banished, new members had already begun filling the empty apartments in the building.

Sebastian had helped her clip her bra, pull her shirt over her head, and smooth her hair, and they had ended up kissing again anyway and laughing at themselves for getting hopelessly, ridiculously aroused all over again. When he drove them back to the high tower, he held her hand the entire way and didn’t let go, and they had both sat there for a while just staring at the building in front of them.

"Shouldn’t we go in before the sun rises?" Viola had asked in a whisper, even though the last thing she wanted was to leave the warmth of that bubble they had been living in all day. She already had the feeling he wouldn’t be coming up to her penthouse with her. The whole day had felt like a dream, and going back inside felt like returning to real life.

"Let me hold your hand a little while longer. I like holding you." He had turned to look at her, bringing her hand to his lips and kissing each finger slowly, lingering longest on her ring finger, his favorite, he had told her, because it carried his mark, even if it wasn’t the physical one he should have given her by now.

"Are you coming up with me?" She had asked, and he had groaned, tightening his grip on her hand before saying, "I want to. But I neglected some important work yesterday that Matt can’t handle alone, so I have to get back to it now. I will see you later."

The sadness had come quietly and she had scolded herself for it immediately. It was only a few hours apart, not a goodbye, and yet her heart had treated it like one, which was completely ridiculous.

But then that was how the mate pull had always worked, even from the beginning of time before pack life became what it was now, mates had once spent every waking hour beside each other, working together, protecting their pups and their shelter. Civilization had simply changed the shape of things but the body of the werewolves had not adapted like the mind.

What Viola couldn’t fully understand was why she felt this pull so deeply when she didn’t even carry the bond, but then she thought perhaps it was simply what falling in love did. Love, real love, was strong enough to mirror what a mate bond felt like.

"Promise?" She had asked, and he had nodded. "I will see you later. And before I forget, I want to meet the water creature you told me about. I’ll send you a location later where we can meet. There are things we need to understand about what you can do with the water abilities so we can work on finding some control over them, before it happens again and you drain someone. If it does happen again, it won’t be long before people start suspecting things, and I don’t want them coming after you."

With all the happiness of the day behind her, Viola had completely forgotten about that part of herself, about what had happened just before the beautiful moments had begun. His words brought it back, and she belatedly realized how too much happiness could delude one’s mind into thinking they had no problems anymore, because she had a lot of unsolved problems that she began to remember at his words.

"I wanted to ask you, but I didn’t get the chance." She had looked across the seat at him. "Did Miss Lara tell you what happened to Ivy?"

Sebastian had shaken his head. "She didn’t. But Julia did." He said quietly, interlocking their fingers as though bracing her for what he was about to say, watching her face carefully.

"Your suspicion back in Nightshade was right. Your sister was taken by the body of water." He had watched her gasp and press her hand over her mouth, and he had weighed his next words carefully, debating whether to give her the rest of what he had uncovered from the girl at the orphanage.

"I don’t want to ruin this day for you, sunshine, but she told me some pretty fucked up things that I don’t think I should keep from you either."

"Tell me, please..." She had said quietly, her eyes already filling as she steadied herself. This was her sister, her twin, someone she had missed and suppressed the thought of missing for the past months. "It’s best I know and understand everything. Tell me, Seb... please."

Sebastian had let out a slow breath and said, "Julia told me Ivy was tied up for two days so she couldn’t run, they were waiting for the creature to come for her, the way it had been arranged with Miss Lara. She said Ivy was sick and vomiting for those days, but they couldn’t risk releasing her from her binds because she had already figured out something was wrong, even if she didn’t know the full details. The creature came on the third day. Julia said she was pulled to the river, I believe the same one that tried to take you, and dragged under. She never surfaced again, and the creature never told them what became of her. Her body was never found."

He had paused, watching his wife stare into the distance with suspended, unblinking tears sitting heavy in her blue eyes.

"Julia also said..." He hesitated.

"What did she say?" Viola asked quietly.

"Don’t make me continue. Let’s leave it here, you’re already hurting, love, and I—"

"Tell me what else she said. Please." She turned to look at him directly, and the tears finally fell, trailing silently down her cheeks and dropping one by one onto her pink shirt.

___

A/N

Hey, guys. Before I forget again, like I seem to always do lately, and the code ends up expiring, here is this month’s redeem code. You can redeem it as usual, and I am sorry for letting all the others expire before realizing I hadn’t given them out.

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