Chapter 65
The sun was setting when Hardin finally found Sebastian.
Sebastian was standing outside the training field, giving orders to two warriors, trying to look calm even though panic still lived in his eyes. Hardin didn’t wait for those warriors to leave—he walked straight up to Sebastian without stopping.
“Where is she?” Hardin asked, voice low and sharp.
Sebastian stiffened. “I don’t know.”
“Try again,” Hardin said. “Where is Rhianna?”
Sebastian clenched his jaw. “Hardin, this isn’t the place—”
Hardin grabbed his shirt and slammed him against the wall of the weapon shed.
Warriors nearby froze.
Damien swore under his breath, ready to jump in, but Hardin’s voice cut through the air like a blade.
“You let her fall into this mess.”
Sebastian’s eyes widened slightly. “Hardin—”
“You let her weaken,” Hardin hissed. “You let the council drag her into their politics. You let strangers whisper about her. You let her name become a joke in this pack.”
Hardin pushed harder, his forearm pressing into Sebastian’s chest.
“You replaced her before she even healed.”
Sebastian swallowed, breathing uneven. “I didn’t want any of this.”
“Then why didn’t you protect her?” Hardin snapped. “You were her mate. You were supposed to keep her safe.”
Sebastian closed his eyes briefly. “It wasn’t my choice. The elders—”
Hardin cut him off with a bitter laugh. “The elders. The council. The title. Everything except Rhianna mattered to you.”
Sebastian opened his eyes slowly, jaw trembling. “You think I don’t care?”
Hardin leaned in. “If you cared, she wouldn’t be missing.”
The words hit like a punch.
Sebastian looked away.
Hardin lowered his voice, but somehow it became even more dangerous.
“I warned you. I told you that day I carried her into Alden’s house—if anything happened to her, I would come for you.”
Sebastian’s eyes snapped back to his.
“And now something has happened to her,” Hardin continued. “So listen very carefully, brother.”
He stepped closer.
“I am taking everything from you.”
Sebastian’s breath stopped.
“What?” he whispered.
Hardin didn’t blink. “Your power. Your position. Your throne. Everything.”
He stepped back just enough to let Sebastian breathe.
“You don’t deserve the Alpha title,” Hardin said. “You don’t deserve this pack. And you sure as hell don’t deserve to call yourself Rhianna’s mate.”
A muscle in Sebastian’s jaw twitched.
“I’ve already spoken to the elders,” Hardin said. “I told them I will accept the challenge for the Alpha title.”
Sebastian inhaled sharply. “Hardin—”
“It’s too late,” Hardin cut him off. “I’m done watching you ruin everything you touch. She trusted you, and you failed her.”
His voice shook—not with softness, but with suppressed fury.
“When I find her—and I will—she won’t come back to you. She won’t even look at you.”
Sebastian’s eyes went dark.
Hardin finished the blow quietly.
“I will bring her home.
I will protect her.
I will fix what you destroyed.”
Sebastian stared at him, stunned, chest rising and falling fast.
Hardin took a step back, expression unreadable. “Your reign ends soon.”
Then Hardin turned and walked away, leaving Sebastian frozen in the dying light, surrounded by warriors who didn’t dare breathe.
SEBASTIAN — ALONE WITH THE TRUTH
The training field was empty now. Everyone had scattered the moment Hardin left.
Sebastian stood alone, hands shaking, breathing hard.
Hardin’s words echoed in his head.
I am taking everything from you.
Your power.
Your position.
Your throne.
And the worst:
She won’t come back to you.
Sebastian sat on the steps of the shed, elbows on his knees, fingers running through his hair.
He felt sick.
Not because Hardin challenged him—Hardin had always been strong, maybe stronger than him. That wasn’t the part that twisted his heart.
It was the truth hiding underneath everything:
He couldn’t fight the elders.
He couldn’t go against the council.
Not without losing everything.
He couldn’t lose the Alpha title.
Not now.
Not after everything he’d built.
Everything he was supposed to become.
Everything expected of him.
And Rhianna…
She was gone.
Missing.
Maybe dead.
The word slipped into his mind like a knife he didn’t want.
Dead.
If she was dead…
Then he had nothing to fight for on her side.
Nothing to protect.
Nothing to hold on to.
Nothing worth breaking the council for.
He leaned back against the wooden wall and exhaled shakily.
If he fought the elders, he would lose both things:
Rhianna
and
his Alpha title.
He would lose the pack.
His future.
His birthright.
And for what?
A girl who wasn’t here.
A girl he had replaced.
A girl he had already failed.
Sebastian swallowed hard.
“I can’t lose everything,” he whispered to himself.
He wasn’t talking about her.
He was talking about the title.
The throne.
The position.
Everything the elders promised him.
His fingers tightened into fists.
He had to stay calm.
Stay quiet.
Stay loyal.
At least for now.
He could not defy the elders.
He could not risk everything for a girl who might never come back.
Rhianna was gone.
And the Alpha title was still here.
He stared at his hands.
“If she’s gone…” he whispered, voice breaking for a second before he forced it steady, “then I will keep what’s left.”
His future.
His power.
His name.
If Hardin wanted a war…
Sebastian would survive it.
Even if it meant burying the part of him that once loved her.