Chapter 76

Sebastian’s POV

Still, with the power of the moonstone surging through him, Sebastian found it difficult to break his eye contact with Magnolia. His wolf was trying hard to detach the energy, but he found himself not strong enough.

“Lock yourself away in the dungeon,” Sebastian found himself ordering her; she seemed to be compliant with his orders.

“Yes, your majesty,” she said.

She finally broke her gaze from him and walked toward the basement door that led into the dungeon. At that point, the moonstone wasn’t as strong and Eric was able to break through the barriers, bringing Sebastian back to his normal state of mind.

He finally felt the moonstone weakening and the surging went down.

Sebastian blinked a few times, looking around the foyer confused as to what happened. His memory was wavering a little bit, but he remembered that Magnolia told him that Jack was in the woodland forest. He was going to gather rogues to fight.

That wasn’t going to happen while Sebastian was still alive. He allowed himself to shift and he took off from the palace. He ran quickly until he reached the woodland forest, and he caught the scent of Jack. He was alone; he hadn’t quite gotten to the rogue town yet, but he was close.

He saw Jack in the distance, he was cautiously walking toward the riverbed, probably trying to figure out how to approach the rogues. It was a stupid idea in Sebastian’s mind. Jack was still technically part of the royal family, and the rogues despised the royal family.

Sebastian didn’t slow down when he saw Jack, he sped up. He leaped through the air and attacked. Jack was ready and attacked back. Jack swiped at Sebastian, digging his claws into the side of his body but it didn’t seem to faze Sebastian. He retaliated by biting into Jack’s shoulder blade, making him fall to the ground. Sebastian swung and punched Jack across the face; Jack struggled under Sebastian’s strength. He attempted to get himself to his feet, but Sebastian refused to let him move.

He was fighting with emotions; all he could think about was Hannah. Her bruised face came into his mind and the fact that she was practically dead and lying in a puddle of her own blood. He She was hardly holding onto life and this asshole did that to her.

Jack kicked Sebastian in the stomach, jolting him back enough to wiggle his way out from underneath him. Sebastian growled loudly, feeling Eric taking over. It wasn’t the full moon, but they were so fed up with Jack’s bullshit that it was making them go mad.

“You can kill me,” Jack spat. “But you will never be the king that this Kingdom needs. You will always fail. Just like your father.”

“Shut the hell up!” Sebastian roared, punching him in the face again. “You don’t have the right to speak about my father.”

“Why do you think my mother wants me to be the king? Because she knows you are nothing but a failure!” Jack hissed.

Sebastian punched him in the face again to shut him up. He was done listening to Jack; he was ready to end him once and for all. He wanted to rip his throat out and eat it like the beast he was. They wanted him to be a monster, so he was going to be a monster. He was going to show them the kind of monster he can truly be.

“Sebastian!” He heard a familiar voice going through his mind; it was Arnold.

Sebastian knew Arnold was at the hospital and would update him if there were any changes with Hannah. Just hearing Arnold’s voice made Sebastian pause in his fighting. He stumbled away from Jack for a moment, trying to catch his breath. He expected Jack to attack him, but he didn’t. He lay there like he was unconscious, but he was still breathing so Sebastian knew he was still alive.

“Hannah is awake,” Arnold breathed. “And she’s asking for you.”

Sebastian’s heart sped up.

“Hannah’s asking for us…?” Eric repeated, his tone coming out as a growl.

They both knew they couldn’t keep her waiting any longer. Sebastian needed to be with her, and Eric needed to see for sure that his chosen mate was alive and well.

Sebastian was only distracted for a moment, but that was enough for Jack to take the opportunity to escape. Once, Sebastian remembered where he was and what he was doing, it was too late; Jack was gone.

…

Hannah’s POV

Everything hurt, from head to toe.

I don’t even remember coming to the hospital, but I was lying in the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling and feeling every fiber of my body aching with pain. I had a small incision in my chest where they sliced into me. I was told, by Dr. Davis, that I almost died. If I hadn’t come to the hospital when I did, it would have been too late for me.

“Try not to move too much,” Dr. Davis told me as he adjusted my pillow. “You’ve been through a lot. You need to rest.”

“Where’s Sebastian?” I asked, hardly recognizing my own voice.

“He had business to attend to,” Dr. Davis said, trying to keep his tone even.

But I could see through him; I knew what “business” meant. Sebastian was going after Jack. He was angry because he knew Jack was the one who did this to me. I closed my eyes, squeezing them shut tightly, trying to keep the tears from spilling from my eyes.

The thought of my brother went through my mind and a jab of pain shot through my heart. Jack told me Liam was dead. He was dead. I saw him right before I lost consciousness. He took my hand and lead me somewhere, but once we got there, he disappeared. I was calling for him and crying, begging for him to return to me. But he was nowhere to be seen; I couldn’t even feel him anymore.

My heart ached at the very thought of my brother. He must have been so alone when he died. I looked at Dr. Davis, I wanted to ask him how my brother looked when they announced him dead. I wanted to know every detail of how my brother was brought to him. But I couldn’t bring myself to ask. I wasn’t sure if it was information I wanted to know; I didn’t know if I could handle it.

Just as Dr. Davis left the room, Sebastian ran into the room. He was breathless and his mask looked a bit dirty like he was rolling around in the dirt.

I was happy to see him; I wanted to reach out to him and hug him. But my body hurt so badly and all I could think about was how my brother was no longer with us.

I allowed the tears to stroll down my face, clouding my vision.

Sebastian looked so concerned for me; I had never seen that look in his eyes before. If I wasn’t in so much pain and so heartbroken, it would have given me warmth on the inside. But I felt numb to anything and everything.

He came over to me, wrapping his arms gently around me and nuzzling his face in my hair, taking in my scent. I felt his body relaxing immediately.

“I thought I lost you…” he whispered; I could hear the fear in his voice. “I thought I would never get to hold you again. Never get to kiss you…”

I opened my mouth to speak, but only a sob came out of my lips. He stilled for a moment and tucked his fingers under my chin, lifting my gaze to meet his.

“But you’re alive and I’m never letting you go again,” he whispered, bringing his face closer to mine. He was going to kiss me.

“My brother…” I whispered, stopping him. “He’s gone…”

“Gone?” He asked, narrowing his eyes at me. “What do you mean he’s gone?”

“Dead…” I said in return, peering at him through my misty eyes. “His dead body was found. You found his body…”

His eyebrows furrowed together.

“I found his body, yes. But Hannah, I brought him here alive.”