Chapter 156 What He Couldn’t Let Go Of

Luna Margaret and Isabella were gone.

Alpha Sebastian hadn’t moved. Head in his hands, then his fingers laced behind his neck, then back again, like there was no way to sit that made the last ten minutes hurt any less.

Serena spotted him from down the hall and got it completely wrong. She figured his mom and sister had been on him again about the money. She softened her steps and her eyes and came over.

"Sebastian, honey. What happened? Was it your mom and Isabella again? I’m so sorry, I—"

He lifted his head.

His eyes were red and raw, like an animal about to snap its chain.

The words dried up in her throat.

He just looked at her. Like he was trying to see straight through to whatever was underneath.

Serena had no idea what she’d walked into, so she kept talking to fill the quiet.

"I just got out. They ran a urine test, my back’s still bugging me, results come back tomorrow, but honestly I feel a lot better, so you really don’t have to—"

"Serena."

She couldn’t remember the last time he’d called her that, and everything in her went tight.

"Isabella just told me an interesting story." He held the anger on a short leash, giving her the same chance to explain that he’d once wanted to give Eira. "You want to tell me your side?"

The prescription slip started shaking in her hand.

"What story?" It came out as a whisper.

"The night Eira was drugged and almost assaulted. Were you in on it? Did you get Isabella the pills? Did you find the man?" He stood up, and now he had a good foot on her, his voice coming down cold. "Yes or no."

This was the leash Isabella had held on her the whole time.

Serena just never thought the girl would yank it this fast. Over money, of all things. Money they could have worked out. And she’d blown the whole thing up in one afternoon.

Serena bit down hard on the tip of her tongue. The pain flooded her eyes, and she let it show.

"I didn’t—"

"No?" He stepped closer. "Then chew on this. You know why I was so sure Eira was gunning for Isabella that night? Because everybody knows that girl isn’t sharp enough to pull something like this off on her own."

Eira had warned him. She’d hinted at it, right in front of Serena.

And he’d waved it off.

Four years. Four years he’d never once dragged his feet for Eira.

He’d just been angry that night. Too busy being angry to ever get around to being scared. Because every single time, Serena had been right there at his side, soft as could be, feeding the fire.

"So was it you?" It came out as a roar, the veins standing out in his neck.

Serena had seen him this angry only once before.

The last time was when she slipped out of California without a word, and he finally tracked her down.

That time it was about her.

This time it was about Eira.

"Sebastian. You’d really yell at me like this over her?"

"Don’t change the subject."

He watched the tears well up, the lip start to tremble, the whole wounded-bird act. And for the first time he saw it for what it was. A performance.

Her tears spilled over. "You already think it was me. So why bother asking?"

"Do not change the subject." He bit off every word. His patience was gone. "Yes or no. That’s all I want."

"Can we take this outside?" She wiped her cheek. "People come through here all the time, and with who you are, if the wrong person snaps a photo—"

"Let them." He knocked her hand off his arm. "I asked you to explain and you won’t. I asked you yes or no and you won’t. You want me to dig it up myself? Or do you figure I can’t?"

He leaned in.

"And if I can’t, you think the cops will have the same problem?"

Serena did the math in a heartbeat.

Cops. If he was only threatening to call them, that meant coming clean might keep them out of it.

She couldn’t afford another black mark.

Her grandfather was already sidelined, no project of his own to hide her under for years.

Any lab worth joining ran a full background check, and Vincent had bailed her out once already. There wouldn’t be a second time. One more incident and it stuck to her for good.

She set her jaw.

"Fine. Yes. It was me." Then, fast: "But not just me, Sebastian. Isabella too. The whole thing was her idea."

Chaining herself to the girl. Betting he’d never throw them both under the bus over one Eira.

He heard it for exactly what it was. She’d confessed and threatened him in the same breath.

Cute.

His mouth twitched. "It really was you. Why? Why would you do that?"

"You honestly don’t know?" She looked him dead in the eye. "I love you. You can’t see that? I never said it out loud? I didn’t want to lose you. I wanted to marry you. That’s all."

"You’d give me anything. Everything. Everything except your name. Was I supposed to be the other woman forever?"

"You know who I am, Sebastian? I’m a Winthrop. From a powerful pack. And I threw all of it away to be your dirty little secret."

Her face crumpled.

"I love you. I don’t care what anybody says."

"Then why her?" he said. "You’ll walk away from anything, but not Eira. Why is it always Eira you can’t let go of?"

She’d been dying to ask it for months. She asked it now.

"Are you in love with her?"

"Yes. I love her."

It was out before he could stop it.

The one thing he’d refused to look at, refused to name. Serena had backed him into a corner and pulled the answer right out of him.

The whole hall went dead quiet.

Serena kept crying, no sound to it now.