Chapter 599: Did It Stay?

"He didn’t die?" Viola asked, a tremor running down her spine. Nick was like a bitter medicine she wished she could forget, and the thought of him brought back painful memories and a desire for vengeance.

"He didn’t. He confronted Laila outside the Sunny Mall today. The fucker must have something up his sleeve if he could meet Laila in a public place without fear. I don’t want him anywhere near you or the children, I want his dead body, and we have to plan everything carefully to get him." He said, looking into her eyes.

Viola’s body had already turned cold at the mention of Nick, and she hugged her arms around herself, running her hands up and down them as she said, "We need to kill him. He is too dangerous to be left alive. What’s your plan?" she asked, her expression so serious and determined that Sebastian could see just how deeply she hated him.

She spoke of killing without the slightest hesitation, but then, his wife had never been one to let things slide when someone wronged her. Back in Moonwillow, she had a history of hiring thugs to deal with her rivals and enemies whenever she wanted to get her way.

Only Nick wasn’t someone they could easily send people to kill, especially after what he had taken from them.

"We’ll leave the werewolf world for a while and have Alex pretend to be me. Your sister can pretend to be you, if she’s willing to agree to the plan. We need to make Nick believe we’re still here and lure him out of hiding so he makes a move," Sebastian mused.

Viola frowned at him. "And what happens after that?" she asked, thinking logically about the plan.

"I don’t know yet. We just have to find a way to kill him. We can’t catch him by hunting him down, but I can’t go through with this plan if you don’t agree to it." He looked into her uncertain eyes. "What do you think?"

"I don’t want to run away from him. I want to face him and kill him with my own hands, but I also don’t want him to hurt my children." Viola looked a little defeated. She knew she couldn’t afford to act recklessly or confront Nick without considering how much she had to lose.

"How did he even survive?" she asked.

"I don’t know, but I suspect he must have been living in the water all this time while we were searching for his body. Alex found his tracks leading out of the water on the same day we visited Zoe’s grave. He’s up to something, and we need to act fast."

Viola knew she had no choice but to act like a coward for once and leave. However, she couldn’t help wondering how a werewolf had managed to remain underwater for more than two months and still crawl out alive.

"Do you think someone might have helped him while he was underwater? For a werewolf, surviving down there for so long should be impossible unless a mermaid helped him somehow," she voiced her concerns, unsettled by the thought that a mermaid might be working against them and deliberately hiding Nick beneath the water.

"That was my thought when I realized it. He couldn’t have survived on his own, and if a mermaid is helping him, it only makes our enemy bigger, because we can’t tell who it is."

Viola became thoughtful for a moment before saying, "Once we get to the human land, I still need to visit the sea. Maybe I’ll find something out when I get there."

"Why do you have to visit the sea again?" Sebastian’s expression quickly changed at her words as he didn’t want her going down there.

Viola could immediately tell that he didn’t like the idea, but she couldn’t spend her entire life running from her identity and rejecting what she was out of fear. It was time she discovered what she was capable of and explored the extent of her abilities. With that in mind, she decided to show him.

"There is something I want to show you." Viola moved away from straddling him on the bed and settled on the edge of it. She then held out her hand toward the glass of water on the bedside stand and, using her ability, lifted the water out of the glass, making it float in the air before forming it into a ball.

"Since when could you do that?" Sebastian asked, his eyes fixed on the ball of water suspended in the air.

"Since yesterday." Viola looked at the floating water before turning her gaze to him. "Does this mean my ability could be coming back? And is there a chance I could bring the dead back to life?"

Sebastian stared at the ball of water before shifting his gaze to his wife. "If you can do that, it also means there’s a chance. What about your werewolf side?" he asked as she released her hold on the water, allowing it to fall back into the glass.

"It’s still in me." She explained how she could somehow switch between her two sides, and he listened quietly before taking her hand and pulling her back onto the bed. He had something to discuss with her as well, and seeing her ability only made him more eager to share what he had discovered.

"Come here." He motioned for her to sit in front of him. "I learned something from the witch yesterday. She said my mark can’t stay on you because you’re half-mermaid, just like Azmira’s never stayed. I need to mark you now because I want to find out if she was right or wrong. Are you okay with that?"

Sebastian had originally wanted a special setting for the marking, one where the entire pack could witness his mark settling on her skin. However, with everything changing again and Viola’s abilities beginning to return, he knew he could no longer afford to wait. If he marked her publicly and the mark failed to stay, it would only stir up unnecessary drama. It was better to find out in private first. If the mark didn’t stay, they would know what to do. After all, Sebastian had no intention of letting her go simply because a mark refused to remain on her skin.

Viola, on the other hand, hadn’t expected him to bring up the marking so soon, but she wasn’t going to stop him when it was something she had looked forward to for so long. She couldn’t have been happier. Gladly, she moved onto his lap, raised a hand to sweep her hair away from her neck, and exposed the right side to him.

"Go ahead. I’ve waited so long for this, and I hope it stays." She bit her lower lip, her excitement mingling with the nervousness of finally having what she had wanted for so long. Her fingers rested lightly against his shoulder as she looked at him, waiting for him to make the first move.

Sebastian raised his hands and gently touched her neck, running his fingers over the spot where he intended to mark her. "It’s going to hurt like hell, but I need you to bear with me, okay?" he asked.

She bobbed her head in agreement.

Sebastian leaned down and first kissed the spot, his warm tongue licking it and making her blood run warm, before Viola felt the sharp graze of his fangs against her skin. She stiffened, bracing herself, before she felt him pierce her skin, and she tightened her fingers into his shirt, digging in as the pain shot all the way through her blood and heart.

She moaned as she felt the flow of his venom going into her. It was warm at first before it turned unbearably hot, as the mark formed like a red-hot iron being branded into her skin.

Viola’s eyes flashed between dark blue and light blue, and it was all she could do not to cry out loud from the excruciating pain. When she thought she couldn’t hold it in any longer, it began to ease slowly, and the heat became warmth, and then she felt Sebastian’s tongue run against the spot, licking and nibbling to soothe away any pain.

"I am sorry," he whispered against her skin as his fangs went back in and he licked the spot, and her forehead dropped against his chest, her labored breathing falling into his ears.

He tightened his arms around her until he was certain he had licked and soothed away the pain, and then he pulled back slowly to see if his mark had stayed.

Sebastian dreaded it so much that he didn’t look straight at it until he could no longer hold back, and when he looked, his eyes narrowed.

"Did it stay?" She asked him, placing her hand over her sore neck, unable to help but feel anxious.

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A/N

I’m so sorry for uploading only one Chapter today. I’ve been a little busy lately. Thank you for your understanding!