Lilith’s POV

“And this is the end of this decision,” Sebastian said.

But his hands were shaky, his eyes still on me as though it was the last breath he was allowed to take. He stepped backward, but his eyes still stayed on me. When his feet reached the doorpost, he came in again.

“Lilith… you're my mate. You should have no doubt about it.”

What was I supposed to do?

I simply nodded as my instincts told me it was the best thing to do, like accepting that I'd become his mate.

“Nothing changes that. Not even me, not even you.” He turned back to face Talon and Rhea. “Not even them can change it.”

“O… Okay?”

I had to accept all he was saying. My instinct told me to, like I was supposed to please him? Maybe that was the case. But what if that connection of a mate bond really existed? Was the bond making me try to please him at this moment?

Or what if it was just the way I’d become?

Whatever.

His palms walked up to my jaws. I did not move. I didn't flinch like the first time he’d touched me. He smiled, but what for?

“Our connection is strong.” He kissed my forehead.

And my mind seemed to blur for a moment. It was like no one else was standing outside the room, looking at us, like it was just us. I placed my arms on his lower arms, and if truly no one was staring at us, it would have been a heated session of intimacy.

I suddenly craved his touch… for someone I barely knew that called us mate…

I placed his arms on my boobs, urging him to knead them.

“Lilith!” Mira’s voice pulled me off this entranced state.

I jerked back, pulled his hands off my boobs and got on my feet. His face twitched a bit, but he covered it up with a smile, his palm touching my jaw.

“It's okay.”

And again, I nodded, not intending to offend him by suddenly shifting to a sane state.

Then his skin… the strange fur was starting to grow out of his skin again. But he didn't react the same way he did the last time it happened, like he was containing it?

I was starting to feel the heat from his body creep into me.

“Hmm…” He bit his lips so hard that I could see his jaw tightened. “It's no longer about the curse…”

“You're becoming feral.”

“And does that matter?” He let out a soft chuckle.

But the pain was evident on his face.

He shut his eyes, his heart panting hard against his chest. The sound was loud. He opened his eyes, and sweat was starting to drip down his face.

“Alpha Sebastian… You aren't okay… Your body.” Talon rushed into the room, the candle burning on a saucer almost going off.

“Don't!” He said through gritted teeth, gesturing for Talon not to come closer to him.

He was barely standing straight, but his eyes refused to give me a break. He was ignoring the pain going through his veins. His eyes… they were starting to get wet.

His face hardened. “I brought this upon myself… everything. I shouldn't have gone on an endless search for revenge.”

He withdrew his hand from my face, hugging himself tightly. The tears rolled down his jaws, but the tears weren't because of the sensations of pain that came with the effects of the curse affecting him, but from his mind, thoughts like regrets?

“I should become feral.” His words were shaky. “I would lose control of myself, and that shouldn't mean anything.”

He staggered backward, and Talon came closer to hold him.

“Don't!” His voice was loud, but his breath weakened at the same time.

He managed himself a step outside the room door.

He turned back to take another look at me. “Lilith.. take care…”

Again, as though my lips were sealed, I nodded.

Rhea was still outside the door. Sebastian's attention on me and the faint candlelight had made me forget she was present. But now, as I looked at her, her eyes were swollen, and her palms were pressed against her lips to suppress the sound of her sob.

Sebastian stood close enough to hold her, but he didn't. When she moved closer, he stepped back.

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Sebastian… you shouldn't become feral… I love–”

“Stop.”

He walked out, Talon following behind him, but Rhea stayed behind. The light faded save for the other candle Mira was holding.

Rhea walked inside.

“He suddenly became your mate, isn't that?” She wiped her face with her palms, swallowing the lump down her throat. “And he suddenly cares so much that he betrayed himself… Crazy.”

I didn't speak.

“Dear Human.” Her eyes let out tears again, and she didn't try to wipe it off. “You have destroyed everything I built with him… You have destroyed our relationship.”

While she still sobbed, she went over to the window, and placed her hands on the wall as though the wall could give her answers to whatever questions she had in mind.

“Is it because you stayed in this room?” She blurted out. “Tell me this secret…” She returned to take my hand in hers. “Tell me something, please…”

“I don't know.”

But she wouldn't believe it, would she?

I had to accept that she was obsessed with him. Or if there was something deeper than an obsession. On further look at her, she appeared to be shaking, struggling to breathe as her mind wouldn't give her that freedom.

In just a short time, the strange turn it events had made me become an enemy to someone I never knew.

“You should have been his cure,” she said. “But you! You made everything worse!”

She screamed, going to her knees, then sitting on the bare floor.

The candle Mira was holding fell off her hold.

Darkness enveloped the room.

Rhea’s eyes glowed in this darkness.

She sprouted on her feet while my eyes tried to adjust, and she dug her fingers into her hair. “Nothing… Nothing should happen to Sebastian!”

She barged out.

Mira got on her knees in search of the fallen candle, and when she finally found it, she lit it back up.

Her eyes and the candle got close to my eyes, her expression stern. “Whatever all this is, don't let it get to you. Don't let emotions get to you, you hear me?”

At first, I didn't speak, just studying her.

“Do you hear me?” Her voice hit me softly, but firm.

My brows furrowed. “Why? Why all these?”

“There is… there's so much I have to tell you.”