Chapter 13

Seb's pov

"To test these hypotheses and demonstrate proof of concept for this methodology, we produced immersive-" The lecture has been going on for the past thirty minutes with the professor reading off of a PowerPoint.

Not surprisingly everything flew right through my head with my mind not even trying to process the words. I was busy concentrating on the unfamiliar weight on my finger. Despite having it on for a week, the feel of the ring still felt new and ever so distracting.

" At this point, you are gonna bore holes into your own hand,if you keep staring at it like that. " Frederic interrupts nudging my shoulder.

As his words click, I quickly hide the hand with the ring on. He makes a non committal groan at that as if he has caught me red handed.

" By the way you are staring at it with the giddy look, I might have thought it's a engagement ring. " He says making my eyes go wide. " If I didn't know better." He adds, thankfully calming my nerves.

" Don't be silly. It's a gift from mom. "

" You seriously expect me to believe that? " He pins me down with an amusing look.

" I do cause that's the truth. " I reply diverting my attention to the lecture faking non-chalance.

He grins even wider at my poor attempt at acting and thankfully just as he is about to say something, the lecturer instructs us to follow him for a demonstration. That was a close call.

Familiar guilt clutched at my heart whenever I found myself lying to him. Frederic is the only one I considered a close friend. He is the only person outside the pack. Despite the complications, he is the only human friend I managed to keep throughout the years.

I wish I could tell him everything as it is. If I had the chance he would have been the first one to call to share the news but I don't know where to start. He would be beyond confused if I told him suddenly that I am engaged to a guy. I don't think he'd have much of a problem with the latter part, I know he's a very open minded guy and would accept me anyway but the thing is more complicated.

Everyone in our world are advised against revealing our identities despite any circumstance. That's the main reason the friendships between us and humans are not fairly encouraged. So to explain to him everything it would need me to reveal my identity first and that's something I can't risk. Not just for me also for the sake of my people.

The next hour passed in a blur and then we are finally free to exit the class. Picking up my things, I rush to the door like everyone. Fred is nowhere in sight so I assumed he's already left to meet his gamer friends.

Somehow the dreadful feeling that usually consumed me after the class didn't show up. Instead my heart felt jittery at the anticipation, against my will as I searched for the familiar figure amongst the crowds. Keeping his word, Leo made a habit of Dropping me off and picking me up these days despite my protests.

When I don't find him at the usual spot he used to park, I convinced myself I wasn't disappointed at all. Fishing out my phone, I check for any intimations from him but found none, there are only missed calls from mom, multiple missed calls.

While I am no stranger to receiving two or three repeated calls from mom. Fifteen of them is almost rare unless...My mind races with the all possibilities that might have led her. I press the call back with shaking hands while I prepare my nerves for the worst.

One ring passes, two ring pass, three rings-

"Seb! hello Seb- " Her voice breaks with frantic breaths.

" Mom! Is everything okay ? "

" Lyra- She is missing, her teacher called and she said-- she-- after the lunch hour-they can't find her. " she replies inbetween her sobs with frantic breaths.

Something cold lodges in my throat.

" and you didn't pick up the calls so I...You didn't pick up so Leo- he said he'd go- "

Goddess

My sanity crumbles at the words, legs turning numb as they threaten to give out.

" Mom! " I gathered whatever strength I had left in me to talk to her but all I managed was a weak tone. "Calm down okay? Lyra- she will be fine, nothing won't happen to her.

Right? She is okay, I will be there in five minutes."

Her reply only came out as broken sobs.

I cut the call before I sprint in the way that leads me to the train station with my heart in mouth. I should take a cab probably or just search for a nearest patch of barren land where I could hide and shift. And that's when I hear an engine revving up and is coming towards me.

My frantic mind couldn't decide whether to run from it or towards it as I stay plastered to the spot.

"Sebastian." The helmeted man calls my name as he halts the bike beside me and starts to undo the helmet.

"Glen!" I found myself saying as I stare at him in confusion.

" Leo sent me to pick you up. " He states with no explanation so he might be already aware it.

I hop on to the bike and he restarts the engine. "Lyra- "

"Leo is already on it, she will be fine. Trust me. " He says with a composed tone as if he isn't talking about someone kidnapped.

" Leo? He went alone to search."

" He said it's better to keep it discreet to avoid any false alarms."

" He might be in danger. He can't- He can't go there alone. "

" Danger?" He chuckles as if I have said something funny." It's Leo we are talking about. He'll be more than fine. "

Gaping my mouth at his unbotheredness I tried to retort but decided against. Maybe it's good to absorb his complacent attitude at times like this and closed my eyes as the bike sped up more.

___________________

Glen takes us to the outskirts of the town, the road getting narrower as we travelled with trees looming over making the way more secluded than as it is. The setting sun provides only scattered brightness as the rays make their way between the leaves.

I take full notice of the surroundings only when the bike is being parked. The eerie nature of surroundings felt unsettling to say the least.

'' Are they- '' I turn to ask Glen but he's shushing me and signalling me to crouch down.

" I followed the tracker Leo has and it showed this location, they must be here somewhere. " he answers.

I follow his gaze and it leads me to the particular part, there's no motion around there, no rustlings, no commotions in the trees, it seemed as eerily calm as the other parts making me suspicious.

"Are you sure? "

" He asked us to surround it once he signals, so we are waiting for it." He says still focused on the said spot.

" Wait! We? "

Regaining my senses, I looked around suspiciously, it's only after few passing minutes, I felt more than heard the presence of others. Arhin and Stephan are hiding behind a nearby bush in the similar position as us and probably few other guys, even though they are not in vicinity I can sense them.

Relief washes over me and hope arises that I could get my mate and sister out of this unharmed.

Nothing will happen to them

Nothing will happen to them

Chanting the same thing repeatedly in my head, I brace myself for the things to come. We lose the track of time as we remain in the same position for God knows how long. I can feel the dissipating patience from the guys as they waited for any threat to show up. Glen though out of all remained as determined as ever, his hawk like gaze still on the same spot.

I don't know what exactly happened, but everyone is moving suddenly in the same cautious manner but structured and planned as a unit. I got up to do the same, but glen warns me against it and orders me to hide. Theres clear rustling in the nearby trees but no other noticeable commotion until someone screams fills the void of the silent space forming an echo.

It seemed like a kid's.

Its Lyra's. I recognise and my heart stops beating altogether.

Her screams grow louder and closer as seconds pass by and my legs start moving, chasing the noise but few hands grip my shoulders by stopping me to do so. I try to shake them off with as much strength as possible but they are over powering.

" you cant go there, its not safe" one voice says.

" Sebastian, please. Calm down. We cant move, yet."

" I will go to her." Glen starts putting his armour on before running towards the direction her screams are coming from.

He moves swiftly still being cautious, looking out for any other threats. I fall back, only helplessly hoping he'd find her safe. Arhin whos holding me loosens his hold, his eyes pleading me to stay strong while others make plans to approach the expected threat. I refocus my attention to Glen when his moving figure suddenly stop in tracks.

Beep beep

The tracker suddenly goes off making all of us warn and Glen's voice is shouting something into the microphone in panic. Everything goes muffled and my body starts trembling in fear as I witness the horrifying sight in front of me.

My sister is running towards us, the sight doesn't manage to bring the relief its supposed to when we see the beast that is three times bigger in size than her is chasing her only few feet behind. I want to run towards her, scoop her up into my arms away from the wolf but none of my muscles move as I remain freezed in horror. I cry at my inability to do anything looking at everyone frantically to help her.

My move stays agape as the beast almost gets near her, my eyes shut before I can do anything. The horrific sight plastered at the back of them and then my whole system blacks out in defeat. The pain of losing my sister claws my insides separating every part and crushing it violently. I can only lay there like a corpse and accept the worst.

A loud growl makes my eyes stir open.

The wolf that is chasing my sister earlier is now on the ground writhing in pain and being crushed by a bigger wolf. Much bigger. The animal infront of us is nothing like anything ive seen before, its massive in size, almost as tall as some of the trees, its rigid build covered with black fur, pitch black fur almost making it one with the darkness but its golden eyes are what making it stand out. The very familiar pair of golden eyes that are now glowing with rage as they crushed the beast beneath them.

MATE! OUR MATE! - Venus roars, proudness reverberating in his tone.

Leo fought with precision and unrelenting strength as he pounced on the enemies and tearing their parts. His gaze is ever so vicious not showing any signs of mercy. I can only stand there and stare at him in utter shock.

" We don't have to worry anymore." Arhin exclaims in an elated tone.

Raw tears fill my eyes taking all my cynical emotions with them as now they are replaced with relief and something serene even its only momentary. Tearing my eyes from my mate, I start searching for my sister if she is unharmed she must be hiding somewhere.

" where's Lyra?? I should go look for her." I tell no one in particular before moving but Arhin stops me.

" There." He points, with a relieved smile.

Glen is walking towards us with the shaking figure of my little sister in his arms, her fragile body tightly holding him with exhaustion. When he reaches us, he calmly hands her to me and she attaches herself so quickly before wrapping her little hands around my neck. Her whole body is still shaking in tremors.

" Seb- " she calls meekly, sobbing lightly.

" ssh baby! It's okay. I'm here, I'm here. "

I assure her, rubbing her back to soothe like I used to do when she was a toddler.

Once she had calmed down, I took her to the car parked nearby and placed her in the seat. "stay here. I will be right back." I tell her with a shaky smile,her helpless eyes look at me in exhaustion and she nods her head. Arhin and Stephan are already outside the car helping me to guard her.

The strong smell of blood abuses my nose as soon as I get down making anxiety spike and look at the source. No one are in their human so it's hard to differentiate them. The clear contrast in the way they fought might be a one sign.

Something feels off when I don't find my mate among them. It's black fur nowhere in sight making my anxiety spike.

He is fine, I can him feel him. - Venus comforts but still not being able to find him made my heart fall into a deep pit.

The enemy wolves are mostly injured or dead by now and are lying on the floor amidst pool of blood. My stomach turns at the sight and my blood goes cold at the thought that Leo might be found in the similar situation. I quickly push the thought away.

Never

I tell myself.

CRASH

A loud sound can be heard from the distance followed by a painful growl. Before I can even decipher whose it is, sirens in the background are blaring off and everyone is shifting into their human forms.

Glen is the first one to shift and appear before ordering the others to do the same and others follow. Gradually all of them are gathered at a spot. No emotion on their faces, not until...

A tall figure comes into view, his silhouette is the only thing that can be made out in the shadows of the night. His face becomes visible only when he moves forward and moonlight puts itself into use by falling on his gracious figure.

I needed none of that, I can recognise him even with mere shadow scent. I can find him immediately among the sea of people. I know him like one could sense their own heartbeat.

I can see him with my eyes closed.

There stood the man that is responsible for my still beating heart,safe and unscathed. There are large splashes of blood on his body, just a few on his face. His posture still reeking of aggression and a stoic expression on his usual handsome face somehow making him familiar, also like a distant stranger at the same time. Right now he looked nothing like the one I have come to know all along. Now he looked like the alpha. The true alpha that he is.

His stoic expression dissolves as soon as he sees our people waiting for him, he goes to them and starts saying something but I can hear none as I looked at him in daze.

I found myself moving, my legs taking me on their own volition, they only until they reach him. I lift my hand to reach for his bloodied one and as soon as I did, he covers it with his other hand and pulls me close to him even though he is still talking to them. My heart soared at that and there are suddenly tears in my eyes. He turns his attention to me in panic probably to see why I'm crying.

" -so keep what I said in mind. " He insists on something and they are nodding before they disperse.

" Sebastian." He says my name with a wary smile and I am already in his arms, sobbing.

I cling to him like he is my only life line. He gasps probably surprised by my outburst but I can't help it. I can't help it when he is finally in front of me. I can only hold him and cry instead of telling him how scared I was at the thought of losing him.

" Hey. " He whispers before wrapping me in his arms.

" I was so scared, so scared. " I admit clutching his shirt tight.

"ssh It's okay, I'm here. Look!"

He stretches his arms to show he's fine and my eyes fall on his bloody knuckles.

" Does it hurt ? " I ask, carefully looking at them and he nods,that only makes me cry more making his sheepish smile slip and he lets out an surprised gasp before pulling me back into the hug and he keeps whispering i'm fine-s into my ear but they don't help.

" Seb! "

My sobs come to a sudden halt and the ringing in my ear subsides. Seb. In the back of my mind, somewhere I know he just called my name and I should reply but--

"Seb! I'm really fine so, so please stop crying." He consoles and my body listens somehow, my breathes become normal and rhythmic. My extremely cold hands gradually became less like ice as I still clung to him to absorb his warmth and that's how our ride to home went me clinging to him like a lifeline as he whispered sweet nothings into my ear while my little sister slept in my lap.

Mom is waiting for us at the door, timidly. She didn't move an inch until we made our way to her exiting the car. She runs towards us, her eyes are swollen from all the crying and her hair is a disheveled mess as scoops Lyra into her arms while tears continue run down her cheeks. My heart breaks at that and Leo is quick to squeeze my hands with his, comfortingly and guides us into the house.

She pulls Lyra to her chest as she wept in her arms.I sit at the other end of the couch with Lyra's feet in my lap, giving her little feet the massage she always liked. I realise with a bitter feeling that we have settled in our perpetual positions whenever we had to deal with any hurdle we have been put through. Now, with one more person added, Leo sat in the chair across, watching us with a concerned look on his face.

Earlier,He offered to give us some privacy by waiting outside but I immediately refused because I was not ready to let him out of my sight, yet. My fear probably must have shown on my face so he obliged immediately even though that meant sitting there awkwardly while he witnessed one of the most vulnerable moments of us.

" They said they'd leave us alone last time. " she cries out loud and I quickly need to stop her. Leo stares at us with curious eyes, his eyes meet mine and I avert them fast and he clears his throat loudly before standing up and saying

"Seb, I will wait wait outside."

I wanted to stop him and tell him he doesn't have to and most importantly tell him about the ones behind the attack but I couldn't bring myself to and he is already out the door.

By the end of the night, I am both physically and mentally drained. All I wanted to do was go to home and crawl into our and just sleep but I can't leave mom and Lyra here alone like this.

I walk up to mom after she puts Lyra to bed to tell her I am staying. While I expected her to say no and coax me to go to our home with Leo, I wasn't expecting her to look at me with a genuine concerned look.

" I need to talk to you. " she said in her most serious tone.

A soft knock on my door gets my attention, I look back to see mom crossing the room in hurried steps before she stands infront of me.

"Mom? You wanted to talk about something. " I ask to which she just smiles.

" I want you to go back with Leo. "

" What? Mom! You know I can't do that."

" You have always been a good son and a good brother and I also want you to be a good mate and a good Luna for the pack. " She says with a wary expression.

" I am- " I stop myself.

Are you? My inner self questions.

Am I a good mate?

Good mates don't throw their partners into danger and they also don't give them silent treatment whenever something goes wrong unless they are in need of them.

My conscience mocks me in the face. That's what I have been doing. Wasn't I?

Taking my silence as an answer, she continues. " You are having misunderstandings with Leo? "

" Not misunderstandings exactly, I don't know mom... We just don't know each other well, it's like there's something missing in our bond and it doesn't- doesn't feel complete. " I tell her even though it's not entirely the truth.

She chuckles gently, her eyes turning soft as she looks at me with the same adoration she always had before speaking." Do you know why they symbolize the bond with moon? "

I shake my head no.

" Even when we cannot see the full form of the moon everyday, we know it's always there, like you said- complete. The same goes for our bond, we might think there's something missing and lacking, but it is not. It is always whole, complete within you and glowing."

"Son, I know you don't have the great example of a relationship growing up " she stops, her lips turned into a sad smile before looking at me and saying"but please don't project that onto your own. "

Every relationship the goddess blessed us with is sacred on its own until the ones involved decide to ruin it and she gave the most perfect one for my boy. He cares about you so much, Seb. He does.So go, go talk to him. Tell him how you truly feel and give him some time, most importantly give both of you more time and figure things out. " she finishes by kissing my forehead.

Her words keep ringing in my ears for the whole ride.

Give him some time

Give both of you more time .

He unlocks the door letting us in. He guides me to the couch with his hand on my back. I sit there idly when he disappears in to the kitchen and coming back with a glass of water before handing me the glass.

I stare at him as my heart constricted in weird rhythm at his actions. The guy that stood infront of me is not the old Leo I have met. He is not the aloof guy he used to be, the one who absconded conversations, locked himself in a room and only talked to me when he needed things.

Now he does things for I wouldn't even do for myself. Like bringing me a glass of water when I am dead tired and don't want to move an inch, asking me if I prefer Ketchup or mustard and risking his life to save my sister.

" You haven't asked me about the people behind the attack. " I state when he finally takes his seat beside me.

" I figured you'd tell when you wanted to and you don't have to right now, Seb. " He shrugs as if it was no being deal.

No big deal after he ripped their bodies.

Only this man.

" Leo!" I call into the silent night, later we lay in our bed and he responds with a hmm.

"I should have told you this earlier but thanks, thanks for everything you have done for us. "

" You don't have to thank me for what I should be doing. " He says warming my heart. " I don't know if you realise this yet but we are a family, Sebastian and nothing happens to my family. "

How do I even respond to that. I get up from sleeping position and switching on the bed side lamp. The bed beside me dips as he mimics my position and looking at me with worried eyes.

" Do you need anything? "

" Yes. "

" What is it? I will go- " I grab his hand before he can sprint off the bed to get the thing I am about to ask. There's no need for that.

" You asked me to give you a chance. To give us a chance? "

He nods suddenly not being able to look me in the eye.

" I don't want us to be in a constant tug of war where we pulled the rope at both ends constantly, picking at eachother. If we are going to make it work and we are going to do it right. I want us both,to be an equal part of it. "

" I can do that. " He says smiling shakily.

"So.... Can we give us a chance. There's still three months until your ordination. If we... If we don't workout- " He didn't let me finish as he tackles me into a tight hug, making the words die on my tongue.

If we don't workout, we can pretend we never happened and maybe then I can try to stop loving him.

But can you really put a deadline to your heart?

FINALLY!!!!

IT IS OUT. I KNOW THIS IS A LONG ASS CHAPTER BUT IT IS MOST CRUCIAL ONE SO I'VE TOOK MUCH TIME FOR THIS. I HOPE YOU WILL LOVE IT.

THIS IS THE POINT WHERE LEO AND SEB'S RELATION PROGRESSES SO FUTURE CHAPTERS GONNA INCLUDE A LOT OF FLUFF... HOPEFULLY. THEY HAVE SUFFERED ENOUGH. SO PLEASE LOOK FORWARD TO THEM.

ALSO IT'S CHRISTMAS MONTH FINALLY, WHICH IS MY FAVOURITE SO I WILL TRY TO UPLOAD AS MANY CHAPTERS AS POSSIBLE. LOOK OUT FOR THEM.

LITTLE TRIVIA: MY FIRST CHOICE FOR THE TITLE OF THE BOOK IS INITIALLY HEART'S DEADLINE BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE SO MELODRAMATIC AND DECIDED AGAINST IT.

ANYWAY THANKS FOR READING. LOVE Y'ALL ❤️