Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna

"You don’t actually think I’ll let you keep my mate’s child, do you? You were never even supposed to be in his life in the first place, and I intend to fix that." She said, her voice deceptively soft, as she began striking Viola across the face, pressing her head hard into the ground as though she planned to make her one with the ground.

Victoria was unbelievable so strong that Viola could hear the ground cracking against her ear.

Through all of it, Viola’s eyes kept drifting back to Sebastian, who watched with soulless eyes, as though nothing lived behind them anymore, or perhaps he simply no longer cared what happened to her to stop this crazy woman.

However, Viola had a feeling it was more than that, because moments ago, he had looked so much like her Sebastian again, holding her face with such care and pleading for her to breath, right up until Victoria walked in and he turned into this heartless person.

When Viola noticed Victoria’s hits shifting toward her stomach, she curled herself into a protective ball, refusing to let them land where they could do the worst damage, all while still watching him, silently pleading.

Do something, she thought desperately, stop her. But he never did, not once, not until Viola thought she truly couldn’t take any more. Finally, Victoria seemed to have had her fill and stepped back with a kind, satisfied smile on her beautiful face. She delicately tucked her hair behind her ears, looking as though she had just finished sampling a meal that had left her thoroughly pleased.

"What a stubborn girl. Take the medicine or not, you’ll die tomorrow either way, and it right along with you. Let’s get out of this filthy place, mate." She grabbed Sebastian’s hand and pulled him from the cell. He never once turned to look back at her.

Viola groaned in pain. She hadn’t fought back against a single one of Victoria’s blows, believing her suffering alone might be enough to break Sebastian free again, but it hadn’t worked.

Her entire body ached so badly that she genuinely doubted whether the pregnancy could survive this. But rather than let herself sink into self-pity, she pushed herself upright, biting back a groan as another set of footsteps suddenly echoed toward her cell, making her tense with alarm once again.

She quickly curled into the corner for protection, bracing in case they’d come back to hurt her again, but this time, she recognized the voices as the cell door creaked open.

"I hope she’s okay." Came Laila’s voice. "I told you both to follow my plan, but you didn’t listen, and now look what happened."

Viola relaxed the moment she realized it was Laila and Matt, letting her head fall back against the wall behind her as they rushed toward her, both dropping to their knees.

"Supreme Luna? Are you all right?" Matt asked, seeing the blood streaked across her face.

Viola looked up at him, the torchlight in his hand illuminating the bruises across his own face, and nodded. "I’m fine..." She said, though her voice sounded weak. She felt as though her heart were breaking, her throat closing with unshed emotion. "What happened to you?" She asked him.

Matt let out a short, humorless laugh. "I got punched for announcing your pregnancy to the Alpha, and again when I tried to stop him from forcing Gilbert to hand over something meant to kill the child, all on Victoria’s word. Did he feed you the medicine?" He asked worriedly.

Viola shook her head. "I didn’t let him, but I am not sure I am still with the child..." She let him know her concerns.

"We will find that out later. We need to get you out of Silver, it’s not safe for you here anymore. Sebastian is never going to be the same again."

Matt said, already beginning to help her up, intending to carry her out, but Viola put a hand out to stop him. "I can’t leave him."

Laila, still helping steady her, scoffed. "Don’t be a fool, girl, he’ll kill you without blinking an eye, all for that bitch. I know love can blind a person, but he’s not your mate. You can find your real mate someday, rather than clinging to a man who’s already found his and turned a blind eye to everyone else."

It wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, someone finding their fated mate and turning into an entirely different person overnight, especially when the bond hit that hard. Laila had learned, through her own painful experience, to force herself to move on faster than most, and she believed Viola could do the same, if only she’d let him go, because for some reason the wolfless woman was braver than she was.

But Viola shook her head. "You don’t understand. My Sebastian is still in there. Something is wrong with him, he’s not himself. I can’t leave him with her. She’ll destroy him, destroy his entire world. We need to help him."

"He doesn’t exactly look like someone who needs help, considering he nearly killed Gilbert a little while ago just to get his hands on that bottle he tried to force down your throat. You’re not safe here, I don’t even know why I’m bothering to stress myself over this so much, but you need to leave."

"I never thought I’d say this, but I actually agree with Laila," Matt said. "Staying here is far too dangerous."

Viola, who had witnessed with her own eyes how soulless Sebastian had looked while she was being beaten, and how he’d seemed to fight something the moment he’d seen her crying, unable to breathe, refused to leave him behind.

Maybe she was only giving herself an excuse, because loving him so deeply made a life without him feel unbearable, unbearable enough that she was grasping at any reason to stay and fight for him, to at least try.

"Help me get away from here, but not away from Silver. Matt, he’s your friend, you can tell this isn’t really him. You know him better than anyone. Haven’t you noticed something out of the ordinary too?" She said, as they helped her out of the cell, Matt lifting her into his arms.

"When he tried to force it into my mouth, he... he came back to himself for a moment, looked so devastated by what he’d done to me. But the second she walked in, he became someone else entirely again. We need to get her away from him and test that theory again. She’s doing something to him. I know it." Viola said desperately, looking up at Matt’s thoughtful expression.

Matt’s brows knitted together. "I think you might be right. When I went to tell him about your pregnancy and asked to speak with him privately, she refused to allow it. She’s always right there beside him; she never leaves his side," he said. "Furthermore, if he were truly angry with you for releasing the creature, he wouldn’t have asked me to look after you in his absence or told me to take good care of you. He sounded genuinely concerned about your safety before he left, but when he returned...the hatred had come with him, along with Victoria."

"Hmm. Interesting." Laila, deep in thought herself, murmured along with them. "A mate bond doesn’t work that way. It never flickers, never wavers like that. If he had stopped caring about you, he would never have come out to worry about you. If what you’re describing is true, then I think we’re dealing with an imposter!"

Laila exclaimed, her eyes widening as everything suddenly began clicking into place. "Cruella is a fucking imposter!"

"But why would she do that? I mean, impersonate his prophesied mate? Where did she even come from in the first place, and how did she know about what identifies the prophecy?" Matt muttered, as they made their way down the long corridor, climbing the narrow stairs leading out of the underground.

They passed through easily now, since Matt had already knocked out the Gammas guarding the place, along with Laila’s help, the men left sprawled across the ground behind them.

"That’s exactly what we need to find out. Who she really is, what she wants, and how to get her away from him as soon as possible, before she hurts him further, or worse, makes him hurt everyone around him." Viola said, feeling lightheaded, dizzy, as though she might pass out, but she fought against it, knowing she couldn’t afford to lose consciousness now, not when she finally had a real reason behind her husband’s sudden change.

This had nothing to do with the mermaid she’d freed after all. This might be something far bigger, and she needed every bit of her strength left to face it, to fight it properly.

"Can you take me somewhere for treatment first? I think I’m about to pass out." Viola murmured, her head falling weakly against Matt’s shoulder. "But don’t take me away from Silver when I do. Sebastian needs me..."

Everything went black after that, and she lost consciousness completely.

"What are we going to do now?" Laila asked, as they slipped out of High Tower through the back doors and side corners, making their way toward the car Gilbert had waiting outside.

"Let’s get her treated first, then work out a plan to deal with the imposter."

"I like the sound of that. Oh, I am going to enjoy dealing with the Cruella." Laila announced, as they climbed into the car, unaware that the so called Cruella was watching them from a glass wall with her eyes narrowed in displeasure.

"I will kill them all for ruining this for me!"

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