Chapter 517: Shifter corruption

Whenever Matt let himself think too long about the fact that she was truly gone, something inside him twisted so violently he wanted nothing more than to hunt for Nick himself, to tear him apart with his own hands, and this felt like the perfect outlet for it.

But watching the way Sebastian carried himself now, Matt knew they might never be close again. Tonight, they would only fight to avenge someone they had both cared for and loved since childhood, and after it, it might be the end of their relationship.

Matt looked up at the sky, seeing no stars in it. It looked dull for a night sky, and he felt a huge lump form in his throat.

You’re not seeing this, are you? You said you would one day become the brightest star, but there are no stars on the day you die... I shouldn’t have made you believe in such bullshit, because now I’ll try to look for you all over the sky too, Matt thought as he blinked repeatedly, trying to stop the sting at the back of his eyes from turning into tears.

He looked away from the sky and simply fell into step beside Sebastian, hardening himself for whatever came next and promising himself that he would rather not come back if he couldn’t avenge her tonight.

"We scour every inch of werewolf territory until we find him, or no one comes home. Do you understand me?!" Came the Alpha’s command, and every warrior answered as one voice.

"YES, SUPREME ALPHA!"

"NOW MOVE!" he ordered.

As the warriors began to spread out, shifting into their wolf forms one after another, Sebastian turned to Jace and said, "I need you to stay behind, oversee the execution, and make sure it’s carried out with none of them spared."

"Yes, Supreme Alpha." Jace bowed, and right before him, Sebastian shifted. But instead of pure silver, his wolf now carried unusual streaks of black running through its fur. Before the warrior could get a proper look, the Alpha had already sped off with his men, their collective howling echoing out into the night.

(Music recommendation: The untold II by Greg Dombrowski, Nathalie Bonin.)

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Back inside the building, Viola had just left Alex, still turning his words over in her mind, whether to give Sebastian the space he’d asked her to give, or go to him and force him to talk about what he was feeling, when she heard the collective howling rise up outside and felt the shift in the atmosphere around her. She frowned, moving to peer through the nearest glass wall, and caught sight of a pack of wolves tearing down the streets, heading toward the woods, Sebastian unmistakably at the front of them.

Viola hurried outside, finding Jace and a handful of men still left behind, and the moment they spotted her, they bowed.

"Where are they going?" She asked, though she already suspected the answer, needing only to hear it confirmed.

"A wolf hunt, Luna. For the man responsible for Miss Zoe’s death." Jace replied.

Viola stared out at the wolves already vanishing into the distance. She’d known there was no chance Sebastian would sit still with Nick still out there somewhere, that he’d bury his feelings the only way he knew how, by pouring everything into this instead.

What she didn’t like was that he’d left without telling her. But maybe, she thought, that was exactly why he hadn’t, because he knew she’d want to come with him, and her being there was one more person he could lose, one more risk, and with the state his mind was in right now, she had no idea how he’d react to that.

"Luna," Jace called, and Viola pulled her gaze back from the darkness where they’d all disappeared, the cold fog swallowing the distance whole.

When she turned to look at him, she noticed the concern etched plainly across his face. "What is it?" She asked, a thin cloud of fog escaping her lips as she wrapped her arms tighter around herself against the cold, she hadn’t even noticed had settled in Silver as well.

"Just now, when the Alpha shifted, I noticed black streaks running through his fur, unusual ones. You know what that means, don’t you?" He asked, and Viola felt her eyes tremble slightly at the question.

"Shifter corruption." Jace confirmed, even though she already knew, since every werewolf was taught about it from a young age.

Like many supernatural creatures, werewolves carried the risk of a sickness known as heart corruption, one that could eventually turn them into a rogue, something closer to a rabid animal than a person, losing all control of themselves, becoming what werewolves called the Lost Ones. Eventually, those who fully turned were put down, since the danger they posed to everyone around them, once the change completed, became too great to risk.

Corruption rarely struck werewolves out of nowhere, except in those who had lived exceptionally long lives, sitting dormant in some corner of the heart until something struck close enough to trigger it. Sebastian and his brother were only thirty, yet their hearts had proven far too easy to corrupt, and Viola found herself wondering whether that was somehow normal, or something specific to them that made it happen so fast.

But then, understanding settled over her. Sebastian’s heart had just endured something far too heavy for anyone to carry, and losing his sister was exactly that kind of weight. The same corruption that had once taken hold in his brother’s heart was now beginning its slow work in his.

Worry gripped her, since this was something that needed addressing before it worsened, and he’d already left, likely without even realizing it was happening to him at all. She turned to the warrior beside her and said,

"Don’t let anyone else hear about this. Keep it between us, for now."

"I won’t, Luna. But he’s ordered me to execute the children along with the women. I believe there are innocent people among them, so..."

Viola understood exactly what he was asking without him needing to say it outright. "Don’t execute the women or the children. I’ll deal with the guilty ones myself, and the innocent will be spared, or better yet, don’t execute anyone at all yet. Let me talk to him first."

Once she’d finished with the warrior, Viola made her way back inside, where, for the first time since she’d come to Silver, the building stood completely empty of pack members, everyone having already retreated for the night.

She went straight back to their penthouse, and once inside, made her way to the kitchen, pouring water into a glass. She was raising it to her lips when her eyes caught the bin now filled with all of Zoe’s things, and suddenly the water felt impossible to swallow.

That night, Viola ate dinner alone, the food catching in her throat every few bites. She had no real appetite left, forcing herself to eat only for the sake of the child growing inside her, but every bite felt like swallowing a stone, one that dropped straight into her heart and pressed down, heavy and unmoving in her chest.

She cleared away the dishes afterward, each one carrying some memory that surfaced unbidden behind her eyes that made her bite so hard on her bottom lips to keep the emotions down.

Later that night, once she’d finally settled into bed, she turned her face into the pillow and cried herself to sleep, until exhaustion finally dragged her under, into dreams she welcomed without resistance.