Chapter 40
He gave her a dark warning look, and without giving her time to prepare, he lifted her injured hand toward his mouth.
Viola’s eyes widened when he bent his head, and she felt his warm mouth close over the wound.
Color burst across her cheeks and spread all the way down her neck when she felt his warm, wet tongue run gently against and around the injury, licking it with deliberate care. In spite of herself, a thread of heat coiled low in her stomach, unfamiliar and so disorienting.
“Wh-what are you—” she tried to speak, attempting to pull her hand away, but he whispered against her palm, his breath hot against her skin.
“Stay still, stupid. I’m trying to heal your wound. It’s an eyesore p>
His saliva and blood carried healing properties meant for his mate alone, and in that moment he realized that no matter how much this little woman annoyed him and how much he didn’t want her or welcome her, he didn’t like another man’s scent lingering on her because it tormented him just as much as her scent did.
According to fate, she was supposed to be his.
When he finished tending to the wound, he lifted his head and looked at her flushed face. Was she angry, or simply embarrassed? He couldn’t tell. He only knew that the color suited her far better than the sickly paleness from before.
He felt her fingers curl inward against his own that still held her palm, and just as her action was unconscious, his grip tightened around hers unconsciously as well, neither of them realizing it or being aware.
That spark he didn’t like, but his body craved, surged inside him again, and his other hand around her waist tightened even more.
“Where was I again?” he asked, looking into her eyes behind the frame of glasses that made her look innocent. Yet something told him there was more to Viola Linden than met the eye. If he hadn’t already been taught a brutal lesson about keeping weaklings close, he would have been into her, curious enough to want to uncover her layer by layer.
“You were about to let me go?” she put in, wanting nothing more than to get away from him.
What was wrong with this man? Shouldn’t he be getting away from her since he hated her and didn’t want this bond? Why was he invading her space and holding her like this? It seemed he indeed had no sense of what personal space meant.
“Oh, I remember why I am here,” he said, releasing her waist but not her hand. “I am curious. Do you see yourself winning against Laila?” he asked, and without giving her the chance to reply, he continued.
“My offer still stands,” he whispered, releasing her hand now and using his fingers to move a few strands of dark hair away from her face, tucking them behind her ear.
Viola jerked her head away from him and narrowed her eyes. “What offer?” She had an idea what he meant, but she feigned ignorance.
He smiled, a smile that didn’t reach those cold eyes, yet somehow made his face look even more handsome. Only then did Viola belatedly wonder what his face would look like if that smile ever reached his eyes. She mentally shook the thought from her head and focused on what he was about to say.
“My offer to send you away from here to live with the humans. You can forfeit the competition right now, and by tomorrow you’d be out of here without facing anyone,” he told her, watching as her expression hardened and she glared at him.
Didn’t she know he was trying to save her? This life wasn’t meant for someone like her.
Though as much as Sebastian was cold toward people and could kill without blinking an eye, there was still a small fragment of compassion left in him, only not many ever received it. He was showing her that rare compassion now, trying to save her life from the hell she was walking straight into. The hell that came with being the Luna and his wife.
“You’re underestimating me again,” Viola said with a dry laugh, though if anyone had looked closely at her hands, they would have seen they were balled tightly into fists.
“If I didn’t know you were the almighty supreme Alpha many are afraid of… I would say you are afraid I will win. If you’re not afraid and don’t give a damn about a weakling like me, you wouldn’t be here offering me a way to run like a coward. Are you afraid I will be your wife?” Viola asked with a half-smile and deliberately indifferent eyes.
Did he think she was a coward who would flee in the middle of the night? She knew she had no chance, but she wouldn’t go down without at least trying.
Sebastian let out a small laugh. “Me? Afraid,” he scoffed coldly to her face. “First, have the chance of winning before you can talk about being my wife, four eyes,” he whispered, his gaze briefly flicking to the hickey he had left on her neck the night before. He couldn’t help but wonder what she thought had caused that mark on her skin this morning.
“If I were not so desperate, I would never have fought to be your wife, because you are annoying and a very unlikeable person,” she snapped. “And just because of how much you look down on me, I want to promise you right now that I will be the winner. I will become your wife and share the same quarters and bed with you p>
Okay, that came out wrong, but she didn’t care.
She spoke with fierce determination, poking at his chest with her finger to emphasize each word.
Oh, she had already imagined how she would get back at him once she became his Luna. How she would make him regret every single moment he had taunted her. He was the one bound by the mate bond, and she would make him suffer so much he would regret these moments.
Sebastian smiled, leaning down to whisper into her ear, his breath fanning her earlobe. “I have withdrawn my offer because of your arrogance, four eyes. But here is another offer. If by some luck you win this competition and become my wife, which I strongly doubt, I will grant you three wishes. Everything and anything you want in this world will be yours. Anything p>