Fated: The Alpha's Unwanted Luna-Chapter 126: Bad habit

Viola didn’t know how to escape Sebastian, who refused to let her go. He kept her lying on top of him, one arm wrapped firmly around her waist while his other hand held her wrist securely. It was still unbelievable that just one call from last night had been enough to mend the broken bridge between them and push them into what he called a friendship zone.

But what she didn’t know yet was how many boundaries were allowed in this so-called friendship, for she didn’t think it was appropriate for him to hold her on top of him on the bed like this. Did friends cuddle? She had never actually cuddled with anyone in such an intimate position where she could feel the hard plane of his body pressed against her front.

His skin was impossibly and addictively warm, and she liked it, as she was the type to easily get cold even in mildly warm temperatures. However, she couldn’t dare relax her muscles completely and enjoy it, because at the back of her mind she was aware of how inappropriate this was. Should she tell him to let go now?

Nonetheless, the fact that she wasn’t entirely uncomfortable, since the blanket was between them, didn’t make her fight to stand up. Instead, she rested her head against his solid chest, where his heart was beating steadily, until she heard the deep vibration of his voice in her ear as he said,

"Doesn’t it hurt you to peel the skin around your nails?" he asked, looking at the raw red skin around her nails as if she had recently peeled them again. When had she peeled it? It looked fresh. Was it last night when she had been in that state of mind?

Viola lifted her head from his chest, looking at her fair hand in his tanned one and noticing how small it looked in his grip as he studied her chapped, damaged nails, nails she had ruined with her own hands. Embarrassed and ashamed, she curled her fingers inward to hide their ugliness, feeling self-conscious about her habit of unintentionally disfiguring her nails and not allowing them to look as pretty as a normal woman’s nails should. She didn’t even have polish on them.

She began to yank her hand away from his grip, and when he let it go, she quickly hid it where he wouldn’t see her fingernails.

"It’s an impulsive habit... I can’t control it. I only realize it after the damage is done. I should get up," she muttered quickly, trying to stand as it was already morning and she didn’t want their conversation to get too deep and force her to reveal things about herself. She had a bad feeling she must have babbled and rambled to him last night, since she had the habit of speaking from her heart and pouring everything out when drunk. How much had she told him last night?

Hopefully nothing. She couldn’t let anyone see the skeleton inside her body, the deep, despicable woman she hid from the world, the selfish woman who would step on her own twin to get a better life. People ran away from women like that. People didn’t make friends with villains.

As she began to rise, his arm tightened around her waist, keeping her down, and she turned mildly displeased eyes on him. "Let go," she told him, her lips pursed.

"I don’t want to," he replied with a mischievous smile. Was she still trying to run away from him? This little woman. Couldn’t she stay on top of him a little longer? It was so satisfying that he could keep her there for the entire day. The delicious spark, the soothing scent, it was heaven.

Having her lying on him was the most comfortable feeling he had ever experienced in his life, and though it was slightly torturous as he could feel himself hardening within his trousers, Sebastian would rather endure the discomfort of an erection than the emptiness of not having her beside him.

"If you don’t let go, I am going to pinch your skin," Viola said with a tight smile, bringing her hand to his upper arm in warning.

She didn’t want to remain here and have to talk about herself or her habits. Maybe one no longer considered themselves worthy of discussion after going through what she had? Because Viola would rather talk about anything than herself to anyone. If she could, she would trade her own shell for another one entirely. If it were even remotely possible, she would be the first to do it.

That was how much she hated every single thing about herself.

Sebastian, who was looking into her reflective eyes, saw a flash of self-hatred in them that made him frown. He knew better than anyone that she was suffering from internal conflict and unstable, dark feelings about herself. Did she truly hate herself that much? Was it possible for him to ever heal this damaged little woman of his, to make her comfortable enough to open up to him?

There was always this belief that people who were deeply damaged were hard to fix and heal, and that in trying to mend them, you might end up damaging yourself along the way. Fortunately, Sebastian himself was a damaged soul, so there was nothing about him left untouched that she could possibly damage further.

Not liking the look he had glimpsed in her eyes, he smiled and teased, "My skin is made of stone. Pinching me won’t have any sort of effect on me. It won’t make me release you, darling." He was about to reach up and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear when he suddenly let out a sharp yelp of pain as she pinched and squeezed with all her strength, the sting shooting all the way to his head.

Viola chuckled at his yelp, and when he looked up at her, she gave him a smirk of victory. "No skin is immune to my pinching, Sebastian. Now let go if you don’t want to suffer more of that."

Before Sebastian could challenge her to pinch him again, just to see her smile and laugh at his expense, he was interrupted by the sound of the door opening as his sister walked in.

"Hermano, I wanted to give you more time, but it seems you will never allow Vee to leave the bed and try on the sample I brought so I can get on with my own work. It’s already past twelve now, and I really need to go back to—" Zoe’s words trailed off when Sebastian shot her a dark glare.

How unfair that he was being so sweet to Vee and glaring at her like she had done something wrong! Zoe thought.

Yes, yes, mates came first, but she was also his sister. He should give her those sweet smiles too. She rolled her eyes at his dark glare, which barely fazed her as he didn’t apply his Alpha aura to it.

Honestly, Zoe had given him more than enough time and had gone to sit in the living room in hopes that he would let Vee leave the bedroom, but it was starting to look like he planned to stay in bed with her all day long without giving her the chance to do the work that had brought her here, nor giving her the opportunity to bond with her friend.

She liked them together, but she also needed to harden her heart enough to steal some moments with her friend and not let him have her entirely to himself. Not to mention with the ceremony so close, Viola’s perfect dress needs to be ready.

’I thought you left already,’ Sebastian said through their sibling mind link, and Zoe rolled her eyes.

’How can I leave when I haven’t completed what brought me here? By the way, the supplements will be delivered tomorrow.’

’Good. Now go back to your fashion house,’ he dismissed her. But Viola, whom he had been trying to keep in bed, had already scrambled away from him at the sound of Zoe’s voice and went to stand beside the bed.

"Oh, when did you get here, Zoe?" Viola asked, feeling awkward and utterly embarrassed that she had been caught in bed in that position with the Alpha, especially when she had always made it known to Zoe that she didn’t like him, and she was only fighting to marry him because she needed the Luna position to secure her future.