Chapter 97 A DANGEROUS TRUTH
SEBASTIAN’S POV
The silence stretches so long it becomes unbearable for me but I don’t move an inch.
Elder Torin doesn’t move as well.
The lantern above us sways slightly in the breeze and if not for that, I would swear the entire world has frozen.
My brain is screaming at me to say something.
To fix it or come up with something.
“You’re… an ancient wolf?” Torin repeats slowly in a slow and careful way.
Like he’s speaking to something unpredictable or to a mad wolf.
Fantastic.
I swallow as my throat suddenly goes dry.
“Uhm I–”
Nothing comes out. I'm totally a blank slate after that because what exactly am I supposed to say?
Just kidding?
Oops, wrong conversation perhaps?
Torin studies my face with an intensity that makes my skin prickle.
“Sebastian,” he says quietly, “that is not a claim anyone makes lightly.”
“I know that.”
My voice comes out sharper than I intended.
I drag a hand through my hair as I start pacing two steps away before stopping again.
Oh Moon goddess I should just leave right now before this gets any worse.
Before he decides the safest solution is snapping my neck and reporting it later to the very willing pack.
“You should forget I said that,” I mutter.
Torin’s brows rise.
“That is not how information like this works.”
“Worth a shot.”
I rub my temples.
This night just keeps getting better and better for me.
When I glance back up, Torin is still watching me with that same unsettling calm he has.
“You did not sound like you were joking.”
“I wasn’t.” Did he think I just made it all up?
The words slip out of me before I can stop them.
Brilliant Sebastian, just keep digging your own grave. Why the hell did I not just say I was joking.
Torrin exhales slowly.
“Ancient wolves,” he says, “are creatures of legend. Folklores passed down from the earliest days of our kind.”
“I know what they are.”
His gaze sharpens.
“So you probably understand the implications of what you just told me.”
My stomach twists.
“Oh, I’m painfully aware of it.”
Torin studies me for another long moment, then he asks the question I was hoping he wouldn’t.
“How long have you known?”
I laughed once. “Less than twenty-four hours.”
That actually makes him pause.
“…Excuse me?”
“Give or take.”
His eyes narrow slightly.
“You expect me to believe you only discovered something like this yesterday?”
“I didn’t say I expected you to believe anything,” I mutter.
For a moment neither of us speaks, then Torrin says quietly, “Explain yourself.”
Every instinct I have is screaming at me to shut up and leave but whatever. I already told him the most dangerous part of it anyway.
And the way Torin is looking at me makes it clear he’s not going to just let this go.
“This morning I thought I was a completely normal omega.”
Torrin raises a brow. “You're sleeping with your pack leader.”
“Okay, fine. Slightly dysfunctional omega.”
His mouth twitches faintly.
“I woke up,” I continue, “went about my day before the news was dropped on me and now everyone keeps looking at me like I’m about to destroy the pack.”
Torin’s gaze flickers slightly at that.
“You’re referring to the Alpha.”
My shoulders are stiff. That too is true.
“I’m referring to everyone.”
“And somewhere in the middle of all that,” I add, “I find out that the reason everyone is so nervous is because I’m apparently some ancient wolf nightmare that would kill everyone.”
Torin watches me carefully.
“You say that like you don’t believe in it.”
“I didn’t ask for it.”
“That is not the same thing.”
I look away.
The lantern light flickers across the ground between us casting big distorted shadows.
“Do you feel any different?” Torin asks finally.
The question catches me off guard.
“Like what?”
“Different,” he repeats. “Any stronger I suppose.”
I hesitate.
“Sometimes I guess,” I admit.
My fingers curl slightly.
“There are moments where it feels like my wolf is different from me.”
Torin’s expression sharpens instantly.
“Something else.”
“Yeah.”
I regret the words the moment they leave my mouth but then again, it's too late.
His voice lowers.
“Sebastian… ancient wolves were meant to survive this long.”
My stomach drops.
“I know.”
“Then you understand what that implies for you.”
I nod once again. I'm going to end up dead.
Alisander remains silent in the back of my mind which is incredibly unhelpful right now but that's not a surprise.
Torin exhales slowly.
“This situation,” he says carefully, “is far more serious than I initially believed it to be.”
“You think?”
“That was sarcasm.”
“I’m well aware.”
For a moment something like reluctant amusement flickers across his face and he huffs before it fades.
“Does the Alpha know?” he asks.
My jaw tightens.
“Yes.”
“Of course he does.”
That answer seems to settle something in Torin’s mind.
His posture shifts slightly to be a bit slouched now.
“You understand why this information cannot spread any further than here,” he says.
“Oh, trust me. I get that.”
“If the rest of the pack discovered an ancient wolf was walking among them–”
“Panic,” I finished.
“At best.”
I grimace. “And at worst?”
Torin doesn’t answer immediately but his silence says enough. There's a reason most people are afraid of ancient wolves.
Wolves have been killed for less crimes.
“Great,” I mutter.
“Sebastian.”
His tone pulls my attention back to him.
“This places you in an extremely dangerous position in the pack especially with the challenge coming up.”
“I’m starting to notice that.”
“And it places the pack in one as well.”
There it is again, pack stability.
The very important thing here, not me or my survival.
I cross my arms.
“So what now?”
Torin studies me carefully before having a short laugh.
“You think I’m going to have you executed.”
The bluntness of the statement makes me blink in surprise.
“Was that not the direction this conversation was heading?”
“No of course not I'm not a killer, well at least not anymore.”