Chapter 51
She shouldn’t be standing around. She should fight another round.
Viola told herself this and reached for her bow again, even though every part of her body was burning into numbness, her muscles screaming in protest. She didn’t care. Ignoring the pain, she spoke to the system again, ordering it to bring up another threat.
Sebastian frowned, realizing how much she was straining herself. It was almost like she was planning to torture herself, because by now she should have been asking for rest and not another round.
He looked down at his wristwatch and saw it was 1:31 a.m. His frown deepened as he looked toward her, waiting for the system to activate.
“Four eyes, it’s past midnight. You should go back to your house,” Sebastian finally spoke, but if she heard him, she didn’t make any indication that she did. He pushed himself away from the wall he was leaning against and began to walk up to her.
When Sebastian reached her, he grabbed the bow from her hands and threw it aside, then deactivated the system.
“Return to your quarters—” he began to command, but then noticed her cheeks were drenched with tears, and her blue eyes looked anguished and pained. There was so much pain in her eyes that it caught him off guard.
“Leave me alone. Please. Go away,” she said, beginning to reach for the bow again, but she froze, grabbing her temple as her eyes suddenly swam before her, her vision blurring.
Dark dots began to dance at the edges of her sight, and Sebastian’s words, at least she knew he was talking because his lips were moving, could no longer be heard as they faded and turned distant in her mind.
She felt her legs giving way beneath her before she could control it, her strength abandoning her all at once, and she began to fall as everything turned dark before her eyes.
Sebastian saw it coming even before she fully swayed and moved instantly, swiftly wrapping his arms around her as she fell unconscious into his hold.
He pulled her up against his body, instinctively securing her, his hand circling her small, tiny waist as if she might fall and hurt herself more if he loosened his grip.
Frowning deeply, he grabbed her shoulders and tried to shake her awake. “Hey? Are you all right?” he asked, but only silence met him.
It immediately dawned on him that she had exhausted herself into unconsciousness. It was deeply surprising that she hadn’t collapsed after running a hundred laps and then pulling off that amazing feat of winning an A-plus in something impossible for a wolfless.
He’d never seen such determination in any she-wolf, not to mention a wolfless.
He bent and swiftly lifted her into his arms, carrying her in a princess style without hesitation. Sebastian held her a little too high, her head nestled securely in the crook of his neck, her warm breath fanning his skin and raising his awareness of her presence in a way he didn’t want to acknowledge, yet he didn’t mind.
“Idiot, you need your strength to fight and win the competition,” he scolded softly as her hand unconsciously came up to grab the front of his shirt, fingers curling into the fabric, and a small moan of discomfort slipped from her lips.
For how long had she been pushing herself this much? Sebastian wondered grimly, his jaw tightening. And that bastard Kelvin had gone ahead and trained someone who didn’t need it instead of monitoring this one from killing herself.
He didn’t even realize how concerned he was until he turned back and began to walk out of the training grounds in long strides, unconcerned that someone might catch sight of him holding and carrying the girl in public, a thing he had never done before, never allowed himself to do, yet now did without a second thought.
Alphas don’t carry or touch anyone below them.
Sebastian first took Viola back into her penthouse, thinking she had fallen unconscious from stress and needed some sleep and rest. But by the time he arrived at her penthouse and put her down on her bed, her body was trembling violently, and she was burning up with a fever, at least he knew it was a fever, as his sister had them occasionally.
He wanted to lay her fully on the bed, but she didn’t let go of the front of his shirt, which she had grabbed like a lifeline, her hand trembling. Her face had turned red from the fever, and Sebastian felt his insides tighten with both anxiety and helplessness.
“Fuck, what will I do with you now?” he thought, his deep frown darkening his handsome face as he looked down at her distressed, flushed expression pressed against his chest. Her eyes were squeezed shut and pressed tightly.
’Do something, man, she’s sick,’ his wolf exclaimed. ’If you let anything happen to her before she participates in that competition and wins, so you can eat my shit like we bargained, I will never talk to you again. I will exile myself from you forever p>
Sebastian gritted his teeth and sat down on the edge of her bed with her on his lap, as she still refused to let go of his shirt. Supporting her with one arm, he reached out mentally to Matt, but realized the line was sealed. He must be sleeping. Damnit.
Sebastian touched his pocket for his phone and realized he had left it at his office because he had left with so much on his mind himself. Muttering a curse, his eyes fell on her phone on the nightstand, with a pink case and bunny ears, and he reached for it.
He tapped the screen and was taken aback to notice that she had used his sister as her wallpaper. Was their relationship really that close? He scoffed in amused disbelief.
She had a fingerprint passcode that required her finger to unlock it. This girl was really careless. She had even put her own name as the password for her door, and now her fingerprint for her phone. If she ever became his wife, there was no doubt it would be easy for enemies to steal her away.
“Careless, mouse,” he muttered, taking her hand and removing her glove. He paused at the raw, red skin around her nails, and his insides clenched. It seemed she was fond of hurting herself. He fitted her finger to unlock the phone.
She moaned in distress and rubbed her face against his chest. Sebastian subconsciously tightened his hold around her as he dialed Matt’s number. Hopefully, his loud ringtone would wake him from whatever slumber he was in.
The phone rang a few times before it was answered, and Matt’s sleepy voice came from the other side. “Who is this? Can’t you see it’s late for a call p>
“Shut up, Matt. It’s me,” Sebastian said, cutting off his complaints of being disturbed.
Matt’s sleep immediately flew out the window at the sound of Sebastian’s voice. A call from Sebastian in the middle of the night, from an unknown number, could only mean he was either kidnapped by his enemy and calling for backup from a captured phone, or something had gone wrong. Shit.
Matt quickly sprang into action. “What happened? Where are you, and how many warriors should I bring?” he asked urgently.
“You don’t need to bring any warriors. I need you to get my car ready outside without anyone noticing. I’ll be out there immediately,” Sebastian said, ending the call. The line went dead, and Matt frowned, staring at the screen. Just what was Sebastian up to at this hour? He should be resting after returning from weeks away.
Why would he need Matt to get his car when he could go down himself and prepare it? Something was definitely wrong, and Matt would only find out by going outside. Without even changing his nightwear, a matching pair of wolf-print pajamas he shouldn’t be seen wearing in public but liked because they were comfortable, he slipped on his home slippers and ran out at speed.
Matt had spare keys for all of Sebastian’s cars. He grabbed one, brought it to the front of the tallest skyscraper in Silver, and sat inside, waiting to see what had caused this unusual late-night call.
Was Sebastian injured? Had he been attacked inside his quarters? Did p>
Matt’s thoughts trailed off as he noticed his friend running out of the building, holding something, no, someone, in his arms, with a distressed, urgent expression on his face, one that was starkly highlighted by the glow of the night street lights.