Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

Chapter 291: Sea creatures

Deep into the forest, Elder Halvrek was seen walking away from the city and into the trees. The leaves crushed under his shoes as he moved with only the moonlight guiding his way. When he reached a certain part in the trees he stopped, as a figure revealed by the moon stepped out from behind a tree.

"Supreme Alpha," Elder Halvrek greeted with a slight bow, not wanting to come across as offensive to this person whose aura was flaring through the atmosphere.

After the assassination attempt on Sebastian, they had begun meeting in places where no one would suspect them, as they couldn’t risk this person’s identity being revealed to anyone before he took the position he had been silently fighting to claim for himself for years.

But Sebastian had always been in the way, taking control of matters and leading the family, leaving him in the background and overshadowed at every turn. Not only had he left him in the background, he had taken away someone of his he would never forgive or let go.

"You called for me?" Elder Halvrek said.

"Hmm." The person hummed. "Things are taking longer than planned to happen. I should be sitting in that position by now but it seems to be getting even more complicated. What is with the new death and chaos In Silver?" He asked calmly, looking at the elder’s bowed head.

"Ember, as you may have heard, died hours ago. The cause of her death was strange and unnatural enough to raise questions from the other elders." Elder Halvrek said to the person powerful enough to humble him, he who didn’t bow to anyone easily.

"What is unusual about it?" the person asked.

"She dried up like a leaf in autumn, with flaking skin. I saw her body, and if it weren’t for the silver found in her stomach, I would have bet my life that she had been killed by a sea creature. But sea creatures are just as sensitive to silver as we are. It has left the elders baffled as to what was used to kill her."

The person’s brows knitted together as he retrieved a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. He took a slow drag and blew the smoke out into the dark air.

"You are an expert at betting, just like you bet your wealth away during the competition. I don’t trust your judgment when it comes to bets."

Elder Halvrek’s jaw tightened at the subtle insult, but the person continued.

"A sea creature has no business being here in our world. They are not stupid enough to live among us and attack someone using powers that would immediately give them away. From what I have heard, they cannot survive out of water for long periods and eventually die from land suffocation."

Elder Halvrek clenched his fingers but then reasoned, "There could still be a chance that the wolfless sought a sea creature’s help to do something..."

"What about your niece?" he cut the elder off. "She is an accomplice in the killing of the future Luna. Are you telling me she is in contact with one of these creatures? And speaking of your niece, you don’t still believe I will make her my Luna after all of this if I take the seat, do you?"

He chuckled softly, bringing the cigarette to his lips again and letting the smoke drift into the wind, his eyes carrying a grim look.

Elder Halvrek felt his insides twist. This was exactly what he had wanted to avoid. He had gotten this person to agree to marry his niece through a sheer stroke of luck, but it seemed that possibility was no longer on the table.

"I don’t think Laila is responsible," he said carefully. "I think we should look more closely into the wolfless and find out more about her background. You are looking for a sea creature. Who knows, we might discover some connection between them or find something useful."

The person stayed silent for a moment, as though digesting some piece of information, before he looked at the elder with bitter eyes and a half smile.

"I want him dead."

He made the announcement without elaborating on who he meant, knowing the elder already understood exactly who he was referring to.

"We have wasted too much time. He has lived long enough. And I want his death to be even more painful, so I will do the work myself. He doesn’t suspect me, which means I will finish it."

He said it with the quiet certainty of someone who had already made up his mind long before this meeting had even taken place.

Elder Halvrek couldn’t help the shiver that ran down his spine at that declaration. If this person decided to kill with his own hands there was no way it wouldn’t be carried through, and this time he would be getting that seat no matter what stood in his way.

"What about the wolfless?" Elder Halvrek asked.

"What about her?" The figure questioned with a dull look as he stared at the elder like he was losing his mind. "She has committed a crime she will have to pay for. Let those in power handle it."

"And Laila?" Elder Halvrek pushed, not wanting to lose this chance because it was his last one and he couldn’t afford to blow it. But from the look that fell over the person’s eyes at the mention of his niece, Elder Halvrek already had his answer before it came.

"She is no longer my business. I don’t need a she-wolf who lets jealousy rule her enough to kill." He said. "I have someone else in mind to be my Luna." Saying that, he turned his eyes toward the moon in the sky and blew out a long puff of thick smoke, coming to the quiet conclusion that when you wanted something done right, you had to do it yourself. It was time he took decisive action and brought everything back to the way he wanted it.

___

Sebastian stepped under the shower and stood beneath the spray, allowing the water to fall over him and wash his body clean. Dark red ribbons bled into the stream running over his skin, gathering at his feet before slipping between the tiles and vanishing down the drain. He remained there for a long moment, letting the cold steady his thoughts before he reached for the soap.

He did everything automatically, the way he had done it for so many years of his life in this underground place. However, unlike the many times before, Sebastian was actually looking forward to stepping out of here, because he knew there was someone waiting for him on the other side. He hadn’t had the capacity to miss her during the past two days, but now that his curse was over for the month his heart longed for her in a way that surprised even him.

It almost felt like he hadn’t seen or touched her in years when in truth it had only been three days. How ironic that he, Sebastian Kade, a man who had never truly known what a genuine mate bond felt like until now, was standing here looking forward to going back into the arms of his mate, when he had spent his whole life avoiding commitment so he would never fall into the same state his twin had fallen into after losing the woman he loved.

Many had believed Sebastian had loved only one woman, Natalie, and that no other mate could ever replace her. But what they didn’t know was that Natalie had never been his. It was Alex who had found her, given her the world, and loved her to the end of the moon and back.

It was Alex who had loved deeply and lost bitterly. It was Alex who had been surprisingly kind to every mate that came into his life, giving them everything they ever wanted. And not wanting to give away their differences to other people, Sebastian had often followed his lead and given every she-wolf he felt a connection with the same treatment and generosity.

It was Alex who had made the less violent choices for Silver and built relationships with many of their pack members, when Sebastian would have ruthlessly killed anyone who crossed him. They had balanced each other so completely that Sebastian had often found himself following his twin’s lead in the way things were done, all to maintain their secrets and keep anyone from noticing the differences between them.

But on that fateful night that caused the rift between them, the one he didn’t think time could ever fully heal, Sebastian had taken away the love of his brother’s life.

He had never known what truly loving a mate beyond sexual desires felt like, even though he had come across many over the years. He had never felt this kind of deep connection until now, and he was beginning to understand, terrifyingly, the possessive protectiveness that consumed a man when his heart and soul genuinely chose someone.

He didn’t want to think about what had led to him marking Natalie and killing her in the process, because it made him hate what had led to it in the first place. It had been an accident that never should have happened if he hadn’t...