Chapter 21

(**Sebastion’s POV**)

I tried calling Rayne after my mother left me to go to bed. The call went straight to voicemail, so I left a message telling her my idea and hoped she could get back to me soon. I decide now is a good time to get some work in, as there is no way I will be able to sleep after the confrontation with Arianna. I had to shut down our link after she stormed out since she kept trying to get me to see her side.

The problem is, I can see her side. I understand her worry. There is so much at stake here. What she doesn’t seem to get is that none of it is my fault. I am angry that she wants me to ignore all those suffering and reject my mate. Yes, she may not have phrased it that way, but her meaning was clear. That will not happen. Second chance mates are not common, getting a third is unheard of.

There is no way I will reject Irina. What also makes me angry is that Arianna wants me to not get involved in the battle at all. I get where she is coming from about what would happen if I were to die. That was one of the driving reasons I pushed to make her co-Alpha. After I died from that bullet wound and came back, I knew Redwood needed a solid leadership team.

I thought we were achieving it until today. I won’t be going back on making her co-Alpha. That would make me look like an asshole. I sigh and turn back to my computer. I go through all the files relevant to the distributor and transportation companies, send them to Arianna, then shut down my computer. There isn’t anything more I can do from here, the rest is up to her to sort out when she gets to Virginia.

**Mate** Aries growled in my head as I was walking into my bedroom.

*She isn’t here, man, relax* I tell him after I look around my room.

**She is close** Aries tried to get control. Out of curiosity, I let him.

We go downstairs, out the front door, then he takes full control and I don’t stop him. He runs full speed towards our western border where he can sense Anya, Irina’s wolf. I want to know why she is here, but Aries only cares about the fact that she is here. He races past one guard on patrol without stopping, and there was nothing I could do to let the guard know everything was alright. I will just have to deal with that once I find where Irina is.

Aries takes a sharp turn north as he picked up her scent. There was another scent with her that made him angry and he picked up speed. The scent was one we didn’t recognize, but it was male, making Aries growl as he ran. Soon we were in a small clearing north of pack borders. The sight that greets us with makes Aries go berserk.

Irina was on her knees in the middle of the clearing. The man behind her has a knife to her throat and a smile on his face as Aries lunged forward. Aries stopped in his track when the scent of blood hit him as the blade sliced across Irina’s throat. It was a superficial cut, but it was enough to have blood trickle down Irina’s throat.

“If you value her life, I suggest you shift back so we can talk, Sebastion.” The man stated in a deadly calm voice.

*Aries, shift back and give me control* I demand.

**He hurt our mate. He must die!**

*Let me talk to him first, then we will decide, please* I beg him.

Aries growls at me but does as I ask. “Who are you? What do you want with me?”

“My name is Eric, I am Vicktor’s tracker.” Eric glares at me as he stands there with a knife to Irina’s throat.

The look in her eyes makes me want to give control back to Aries so he can rip Eric’s throat out. “Why have you brought her here tonight?”

“To confirm something that I picked up on earlier this evening,” Eric removed the knife from Irina’s throat. He pulled her up by the arm he was holding behind her back. Irina screamed in pain as her shoulder popped out of the socket.

**Kill him now!!** Aries struggled for control as Irina screamed in pain.

“Confirm what?” I ask Eric once I force Aries back.

“That was well done of you. Controlling your wolf that way. I am very impressed. It is now wonder Vicktor wants you for his collection,” Eric mused.

“Get to the fucking point here!” I yell at him, my frustration growing the longer Eric drags this out.

“Oh, that temper!” Eric inhaled deeply, then shuddered.

What the fuck?

“If Irina here wasn’t your mate, and you weren’t straight as an arrow, I might try to have a taste of what she clearly has had.” Eric smiles at me in a way that got his meaning across crystal clear. Then he shoved Irina away from him.

I rushed forward to catch her so she didn’t land on her face, careful not to jostle her injured shoulder as I wrapped my arms around her.

“Call your guards off, please, or I will take what I know to Vicktor instead.” Eric nudge his head to the east of the clearing.

I caught the Flint’s scent with several of our scouts and fighters.

*Have all your scouts hides their scents, send the warriors home, and mask your scent. Then retreat about a quarter mile away. If you hear my howl, come running will everyone with you* I send a message to Flint through our link.

After a few moments, Eric nodded his head as he lost the scents of my guards. “Very good. Now, let’s get down to the reason I am here. I caught your scent on Irina as I followed her to her apartment like I was ordered to. That didn’t surprise me since it was what she was told to do. Fuck you until you were putty in her hands. What surprised me was how your scent lingered on her. It wasn’t just sexual.”

Fuck! I hadn’t thought my scent would linger on her after she washed up this afternoon. Our bond is getting stronger so it would make sense that other wolves could catch my scent on her. How did Eric figure out I am Irina’s mate?

“I have a more heightened sense of smell. I can tell you are trying to figure out how I knew you two are mates,” Eric answered my unasked question.

“How is that possible for a werewolf?” I ask him, confused at what he was telling me.

“I am more than just a werewolf. I am a hybrid. Something even Vicktor doesn’t about. He thinks I am just an ordinary werewolf,” Eric laughed.

“A hybrid? I didn’t know it was possible for supernaturals to produce children with other species.” That knowledge shocked me.

“Hybrids are rare, but they happen. Werewolves, shifters, and vampires are usually the parents of hybrids. I am the result of a vampire and werewolf. I didn’t realize this until I was already in Vicktor’s control. I was weak when he broke me, not having come into my vampiric powers yet.” Eric smiled, but this time it was different. This time it wasn’t creepy or full of malice. It was like he dropped the facade he was hiding behind to show the authentic version of himself.

There was that look I was becoming familiar with. Eric was just as broken as Irina was when she came to me. He was as much of a victim of Vicktor Treadstone as she was. What does he want from me now that he knows she is my mate?

“What do you want from me?” I ask him calmly.

“I want you to kill me,” his voice cracked as he stated his desire.

The emotions swimming in his eyes made me angry again. Not at Eric, but at Vicktor Treadstone and all the other Collectors out there.

“Vicktor took me from my home, killed all of my family, then he broke me down. He turned me into a monster! Tracking my own kind, other species, even killing humans if they stood in his way. When my vampiric abilities came online, I thought I would have the strength to fight back, but I was wrong. All I got from my vampire side was heightened senses, but not strength. He still owns me!!!” Eric wailed as he fell to his knees.

Should I offer to help him or give him the death he wants? Am I willing to kill him for all he was made to do? I don’t like that my answer to that is yes. From what I sense from Eric, even though he was forced to do those things, a part of him enjoyed it.

**Before you kill him, find out all he knows about Vicktor** Aries says rather calmly. Too calmly for my liking.

*Flint, bring three of your scouts with you and join me at my location* I order him.

“Will you really kill him?” Irina asks me as I stand there looking down at a still crying Eric.

“I am debating. I think he wants to die for a few reasons. He hates what he was forced to do, but at the same time I think he hates that fact that he liked it too.” I look down at her briefly before I look back to Eric.

“You picked up on that too, huh? That was one reason I disliked when Vicktor would send Eric with me as my tracker. He smiled when he inflicted pain,” She shivered as she told me that.

Flint and his scouts stepped up behind me a few minutes later. Confusion was all over their faces. “Take him to the cells under the pack house, use the cell with the silver bars, but don’t hurt him. I need to question him.”

Without hesitation, my scouts quickly surrounded Eric. He didn’t struggle at all as they pulled him up, but at Flint’s order, they knocked Eric unconscious. “We will scan him for tracking devices when we get him to the cells,” Flint tells me as they walk away.

I lift Irina up in my arms and follow behind them.

“I can walk on my own,” Irina growls at me as I walk.

“Just let me have this moment, please. I am having a hard enough time controlling Aries as it is. Just let me hold you,” I nuzzle my head in her neck to calm myself and Aries.

“I am fine, Sebastion. Everything he did will heal. The cut on my neck is already healing. Relax.” Irina whispers, but she wraps her arms around my neck anyway, making Aries purr in my head.

*You love sick puppy* I laugh at him as he is practically drooling in my head.

**I am NOT a puppy! You also have no room to talk. You are just as crazy about her as I am.**

He has a point. I am falling faster than I thought I would for Irina.

Once we are back in pack territory, I head to the boat house rather than my room. I want to pop her shoulder back in place and have some alone time with her without being interrupted by anyone in the mansion. When we reached my destination, I kicked the door open, then walked across the small space to put Irina down on the divan that was facing the water.

I left her there to find a pair of shorts. There was a dresser against the wall by the door we keep spare clothes in. I find a pair in my size and pull them on, then I walk back to where Irina is sitting. I need to set her shoulder now before it heals wrong. “Here, stand up so I can tend to that shoulder.”

Irina does what I ask. Once her shoulder is in place, she sits back down to stare out at the water again. “This is an exquisite spot. I would love to come here and watch the sunset over the water. It has been so long since I could just enjoy the sun setting.”

“I imagine you haven’t thought much of what life will be like if you were ever free of Vicktor,” I sit next to her. I lean back against the back of the divan with my legs on either side of it, then pull her back against my chest. She tensed at first, but then relaxed against me with a soft sigh.

“I haven’t thought of anything much other than how to get my child free of him,” She whispers.

I wrap my arms around her as I let the silence fall between us. As much as I want to press her for what she sees for our future, I know that imaging that now would be presumptuous of us. There is so much ahead of us that is shrouded in darkness and uncertainty. To make plans for our future now would be foolish.

“Sebastion?” Irina’s voice brings my attention back to her.

“Yes?”

“If we come out of this alive and with Zasha safe, will I live here with you?” Her voice is so quiet, like she is afraid of my answer.

“Yes, I would bring you both back here to live. You would become the Luna of this pack,” I tell her without hesitation. I feel her tense instantly when I tell her about being the pack Luna.

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that part. I wouldn’t even know what to do. Can I live here with you and not be the Luna?” Irina turned around in my arms as she asked me the last part. The fear in her eyes of becoming my Luna made my heart flutter.

Here was the one woman who wanted to be with me but not be my Luna. How the fuck can I not fall in love with her? I lean forward and capture her mouth with mine. When she opened her mouth in surprise, I slip my tongue inside to taste her sweetness. Irina turned her body further to me, pressing close to me as our kiss spun out of control.

Irina broke the kiss only long enough to straddle me, then she plunged her fingers into my hair to bring my mouth back to hers. Desire flared between us as we eagerly tear each other’s cloths off. I want to make love to my mate until the sun comes up. Irina seems to have other plans as she takes control. Hard and fast, it is. I lean back on the divan as she rides me until she screams my name as she orgasms.