Viola took the milkshake from Nick with a quiet thanks and looked between them both. She could see how much her teasing words had suddenly worried them and it genuinely warmed her heart, reminding her again just how much she meant to these two, when she hadn’t meant anything to anyone in a very, very long time.

Zoe even had tears gathering in her gray eyes and her pink plump lips were quivering like a toddler whose candy had been snatched away by an adult, and Viola found it so adorable it almost made her feel guilty for joking about it in the first place. Meanwhile Nick, the ever playful Nick, looked so serious that his silver eyes had gone hard and unreadable. Were these two really this worried? She was only joking. Besides, Sebastian hadn’t marked her so she was safe from any unexpected death tied to the bond.

But of course they didn’t know that, and she needed to reassure them before Zoe actually started crying. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"Can you two stop looking at me like that? I am just joking, so relax. Nothing is going to happen to me." She patted Zoe’s arm gently and then Nick’s, offering them both a small reassuring smile.

Nick let out a long breath of relief and then turned his hand over to cover Viola’s where it rested beside him. "Still, whenever there is anything fishy going on, I don’t care how small or insignificant it seems, just reach out to me. I will be there in a second, if not faster, to help you."

Had Nick had any real idea of how his cousin disposed of his wives, it would have been one thing, but to make matters worse, the Alpha killed without ever leaving bodies behind, and the elders would pull whatever strings were needed and release the news that they had been properly buried.

He had never actually thought to question whether there were real bodies in the graves carved out for the past Lunas, but now he cared deeply, because his best friend might one day find herself in that same position and he needed to stay alert in a way he had never bothered to be before.

Viola laughed softly. "You are becoming just as paranoid as Zoe, but stay at ease. Sebastian won’t hurt me."

As much as her relationship with Sebastian had settled into an awkward and uncertain place now, where she was pulling back to protect her own heart and he was keeping his distance for reasons she hadn’t yet fully figured out when he hadn’t gotten her with a pup, she still trusted that he wouldn’t hurt her.

Not the Sebastian she had come to know. Not the one who had laid on his couch and told her quietly about why he had gotten ink into his skin. Not the one who had kissed her and set her entire body burning for something more than she knew how to name.

Not the one who had slid this shining wedding ring onto her finger and cooked porridge for her during her period and held her with a gentleness that didn’t match the cold and terrifying Alpha the world believed him to be. Not him. Had it been the version of him she thought she knew before she actually knew him, she might have believed it easily. But not now.

And so she tried her best to put her friends at ease on that matter. Besides, if he had truly wanted her dead, he would have simply given her his mark without explaining a single thing to her first.

"Oh, you two are on a first name basis, I see." Nick mused with a small laugh. "I am glad you believe in him, even when I don’t."

"Hey, my brother is not that evil, you know." Zoe defended him immediately, turning on Nick the way she had done a hundred times before.

"He is only ruthless to his enemies and sometimes to family members who cross him, but he is the most loving person when he wants to be." She was well aware that Nick lived in quiet terror of the Alpha and believed him to be the worst kind of person, the kind who had killed his own twin for the seat of power.

Nick smiled, slow and unbothered. "Whatever you say, dear cousin. Whatever you want to believe about your brother. But I am going to protect our friend if it ever comes to that, even if it’s against him."

"You two should drop this conversation, it’s making my head spin." Viola said, not entirely truthfully, just wanting them to let the topic of Sebastian go. Because just like Zoe, she was feeling a strong and inconvenient urge to defend him, and wherever that feeling was coming from she had absolutely no interest in exploring it or thinking about the man behind it right now.

Nick turned to look down at Viola on the couch where she sat gripping the protein shake cup with both hands on her lap. He found himself quietly spellbound looking at her face, her natural pink lips and cheeks, her eyes framed with long lashes behind the lenses he believed she wore, which he had always thought suited her far better than the glasses ever had.

Viola pursed her lips at the way he was looking at her and asked, "Is there something on my face?" She touched her face and the corners of her lips self consciously, frowning a little.

He shook his head slowly. "There is nothing on your face. I am just thinking that the Alpha is lucky to have someone like you, and I hope to hell he doesn’t mess things up or hurt you, or attempt to use you as a sacrifice the way everyone out there is saying he will. Because if he does, I will spend the rest of my life regretting that I didn’t steal you away from him when I had the chance, mi amor." He mused, reaching out to touch her cheek, but Zoe swatted his hand away before his fingers could make contact.

"Nah, no flirting with my sister-in-law, dude. Hands off." She said with a mock strict face, glaring across at Nick, who clutched his hand dramatically to his chest.

"Ouch, did you have to hit me that hard? She has been mi amor long before she ever married your brother and she still is. Isn’t that right, Vee?" Nick asked, dropping down onto the couch beside her.

Viola laughed, completely oblivious to the realness of the feelings threading through Nick’s words, assuming as always that he was joking the way he always liked to do around her. She didn’t see herself as anything a man would genuinely desire.

She wouldn’t even have believed that Sebastian would treat her kindly if they didn’t share the mate bond pulling him toward her, let alone entertain the idea of being desired by two men at once. There was nothing about her that she believed anyone would truly want or chase after. That kind of thinking had never been something she allowed herself.

But Zoe saw straight through it, knowing her cousin better than most anyone else did. Though even as she noticed it, she wasn’t too worried, because just as he had once developed feelings for his brother’s wife Sofia years ago and then watched those feelings quietly fade away on their own, Zoe was fairly certain the same thing would happen again.

Nick had one of the most confusing hearts and minds she had ever known. He could be taken with someone entirely one moment and then the feeling would be completely gone the next as if it had never existed at all.

It had happened with Sofia, whom he had developed a quiet crush on when she first came to the Silver Pack before she married his brother. The moment she got married his feelings for her had vanished and they had become total strangers to each other almost overnight.