Chapter 477: Waking the wolf

Viola saw the hurt in Natasha’s eyes and the disappointment in the others, but there was nothing she could do about it. When it came to making a choice like this, she knew she was bound to disappoint them.

"We can’t force you to embrace the powers of the sea, since you have to do it willingly, with your heart in it. But I hope someday you won’t regret this, Serena. Awakening that wolf will suppress your mermaid side, and you might never be able to come here again or be a part of us."

Why did it feel like she was being disowned by the mermaids in the subtlest way? Viola thought to herself.

"Will I lose my mermaid abilities?" she asked.

"I don’t know. We’ve never had a Child of the Sea who was a half-breed, and time might be the only thing that tells us what you will lose and what you will keep. But you won’t be able to come down here, that much is certain, and I think it will be for the best for all the merfolk who had their hopes raised."

That was the least Natasha could do for her sister’s daughter: give her the freedom of choice she hadn’t given Maddy, a decision that had ultimately led to her death when Natasha took her daughters away.

Viola turned to her sister, who gave her a small smile.

"I will come to you if you miss me."

Viola turned back to her aunt. "I agree. Give me back my wolf, please." She said softly, and watched as Natasha looked toward her daughter and son-in-law.

"She’s made her choice. We all have people we wish to bring back, but she has made her choice, and now we need to give her what she picked." Saying that, the mermaid took her daughter’s hand, then her son-in-law’s, and said, "Let’s unchain the beast by countering her mother’s song."

Viola watched them take their places, her sister joining them, and she was soon placed in their middle as they began to sing together. Almost immediately, she felt the strongest, strangest sensation building in her chest, one that knocked her to the ground.

"It’s going to be a very painful process, Serena, your bones will break and reform to welcome your new form. It might take some time to end." Came her aunt’s belated warning, arriving only after she was already deep in the throes of the pain.

•••

Sebastian fell to his knees, spitting out a mouthful of blood onto the floor as he breathed heavily, as though he’d run a marathon, his heart pounding like it would burst from his chest. He slumped against the wall, his shoulders sagging in defeat, knowing there was no way to fight the thing inside him, every time he looked at her picture, he went savage and destroyed it.

Now his eyes stared at the broken frames scattered on the floor, her smiling face cracked in two, and he felt a kindling of rage stir in his gut. It was the picture they’d taken at the amusement park, the one he’d later framed and hung in his rooms and office, and now it lay shattered. He couldn’t tell if the rage he felt was because she was still alive, or because he’d destroyed something so precious to him.

He reached out a trembling hand to pick up the broken image, but the moment he brought it closer, Sebastian felt like a murderous monster again, wanting, wishing, she were there so he could strangle her to death.

He flung the frame away and began striking himself instead, all the rage in his heart turned inward, wishing he’d never lived to see a day like this.

"You love her, bastard! She is your beloved, feel affection, not hate! That feeling is not yours! Viola Kade is your fucking wife, a woman you would give your life for, lay it down for! Do you understand that, Sebastian Kade? Wake up!" He yelled, the walls around him trembling and shaking with his outrage, until he felt they might collapse on him.

But when the rage finally left his body, he fell weakly to the floor, blood now trickling from his nose as well. For how long, he thought. For how fucking long...

As though his thoughts had been heard, the door to his cell opened, and the elders filed in one by one.

"You can put an end to this, Alpha. You have suffered enough." Came the words of Elder Brenna, as she looked at the bloodstains on the ground, some dried, some fresh. It was a wonder he had any blood left in him at all.

He looked at them without moving from where he lay, then rolled onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "What brings you here?" He asked them, masking his emotions to keep a hard look in his eyes.

"We came to free you of this, since your wife isn’t going to." Said Elder Calum.

"How is she?" Sebastian asked.

"Still in the healing house. It’s been four days now, and we haven’t heard from her, Gilbert says she’s fallen unconscious. You did quite a bit of damage to her, boy." The head elder told him, and saw no reaction from him.

"I see..." Was all he said. "Is that what you came here to tell me, then?"

"No." Elder Natasha sighed. "I’m here to talk to you about the grim reality. Time is ticking away. Our pack has been falling into all sorts of misfortune and bad luck since your spell took hold, and it’s said such curses carry bad luck with them that will affect people around them if not dealt with. We’re starting to get people’s complaints and a huge fall in our pack, and things aren’t looking good, not with the fear that you’ll kill your wife before she can even give birth."

Sebastian listened to their words, staring at the specks of dust floating through the air around him, illuminated by the light streaming through the small window.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"You know what to do, Alpha. You and I spoke about this two days ago." She said, watching how haggard and exhausted he looked.

Sebastian barely reacted, even though he understood her perfectly. If the bad luck kept mounting and his wife didn’t find a way through it, like she’d promised them, then he should give up. Agree to be executed. It would free Viola of worry and give her the chance to focus on herself and their unborn child, as they had offered to wipe her memories of him afterwards.

Sebastian felt a sting at the back of his head that traveled all the way to his eyes, a burning sensation rising in his throat until his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down.

"I suppose making the decision myself will spare her from having to make it, in the future. Can I ask you for a favor, Natasha?" Came his dull voice, carrying no emotion, even as his eyes shimmered.

"Anything." She said.

Sebastian turned to look at the elders. "If she gives birth to our child, I don’t know if they will be twins, but regardless, don’t burden either with my responsibility until they’re old enough. Let them be children, let them be happy. And tell my wife... I’m sorry."

Saying that, he held out his hand, and the elder dropped an empty small bottle into his palm. He brought it to his canine teeth, which grew longer, and a black liquid slid from them into the bottle, one that would turn into a mark the moment it touched a female’s blood.