Chapter 144 BACK INTO THE WILD
SEBASTIAN’S POV
The smell of blood won’t leave me, it clings firmly to my skin and my throat.
No matter how far I walk or how deeply I breathe, it’s still there.
It's a pungent thick and metallic thing that has seeped into me since the first round of the challenge.
I shouldn’t have stayed to watch it all.
But out of sheer stubbornness to prove something to Alpha Lance, I did.
And now, I can’t unsee it.
The way they fought each other was not like men, it was like they'd regressed into volatile animals and forgot about their human side.
With claws tearing through flesh and bones snapping under force, it was gruesome.
There was enough blood pooling into the dirt as if the ground itself demanded it for a sacrifice.
And the worst part?
No one stopped it, hell they even cheered it on especially when it was bloody.
That’s the law, that’s what I’m supposed to walk into and defend my pack.
My stomach churns as I keep walking faster away from the arena, ignoring all the stares and the noise.
I don’t even remember how I got this far, I only know that I need to get away.
Alisander…
My voice is barely a whisper in my own head as I don’t know what to do.
For a moment, he's still silent.
Is he going to ignore me?
“You finally admit it.”
His voice slides in, low and familiar and carrying that usual tone of mockery beneath it.
I exhale shakily with relief.
“This isn’t a joke,” I mutter. “You saw all of that too.”
“I did.”
No humor or sarcasm this time, just the plain truth.
“Then tell me what to do,” I press on with my steps slowing slightly as the trees begin to thin around me.
“Because I can’t fight like that. I can’t–”
“Then simply don’t.”
I stop and blink.
“What?”
“Don’t fight like them,” Alisander says simply.
I let out a hollow laugh.
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Then it should be easy for you to understand,” he counters. “You are not them so why fight like them?”
My jaw tightens.
“That doesn’t matter. I’m still in it. I still have to survive it.”
“Then you will need power to rival an Alpha.”
Power, the word settles heavily.
Something I don’t have.
“You should go back to the forest,” he says before I can blink
Silence.
“Are you insane?”
I can feel him flinch slightly at the sharpness in my tone.
“Last time we went into that forest, we nearly died!”
“We managed to kill that wolf,” he argues weakly.
“Under the influence of a drug that nearly destroyed our mind,” I snapped. “Do not twist that into some kind of victory.”
My chest tightens as I remember it all happening.
The loss of control and the way everything blurred into rage and instinct like these wolves currently fighting in the arena.
“We were left in critical condition for days,” I add quietly now. “We almost didn’t wake up.”
I swallow hard.
“But it worked,” he whispers.
A dangerous silence follows.
“And the reaction was only because the dose was incomplete.”
I frown.
“What do you mean Alisander?”
“You took only one part of it,” he explains.
“That substance was never meant to be taken alone. There are balancing agents and compounds that stabilize the mind to prevent what happened last time.”
My heart starts to pound.
“And I didn’t take them.”
“No,” he confirms. “Which is why you lost control.”
A chill runs down my spine as I begin to entertain a stupid idea.
“If I take it again… and properly this time…”
“You should survive it.”
It’s not a complete guarantee but it's something compared to last time.
And right now, something is better than nothing.
So I started walking faster again.
The path toward my cabin fades as my steps instinctively shift in another direction toward the trees and into the forest.
“We’re really doing this,” I murmured.
“We don’t have a choice,” Alisander replies.
The forest looms ahead with a certain silence and darkness that makes me hesitant.
But I remember what's at stake and I enter.
The air changes immediately into something cooler and damp like it wasn't hot a little while ago for me.
Every sound feels sharper here with the crickets and the birds everywhere.
I keep my head down as I move deeper, following no real path, just instinct from when I was here previously.
“Remember to avoid people,” Alisander reminds me. “Stay out of sight Sebastian.”
“I know.”
And I do.
Every time I hear movement in the distance, I shift direction and follow a different longer path just in case.
I don’t want to be seen now, and not like this when I have a rather shameful reason I'm here.
The forest has always been a place where things don’t go as planned, especially for me.
UNKNOWN'S POV:
Lily spots him before he even notices her as she was here for her secret rendezvous with someone her family didn't approve of.
She had been moving quietly through the outer edges when she spotted him moving alone from afar.
He appeared cautious with his head down and slowly looked around causing her to duck and hide so he didn't see her.
Sebastian.
What is he doing here?
Suspicion flickers immediately as her eyes narrow at his direction.
He shouldn’t be here, especially when he should be preparing for his death in two days time.
Is he trying to run away?
With his movements, it's like he’s planning something, but what could an Omega be planning?
Her lips press into a thin line as she watches him go further in towards the thicker part of the forest.
This isn’t right, I need to tell someone.
Without another thought, she turns and slips back through the trees as she heads back to the pack.
There’s only one person she needs to tell.