Chapter 30 CHAPTER 30

Chapter 30 CHAPTER 30
Bronte's POV

I slip out of my room at 11:58.

The pack house is quiet, just the usual night sounds of old wood settling and distant patrol footsteps outside.

I move down the corridor as quietly as I can, taking the back stairs that servants use, avoiding the main hallways where pack members might still be awake.

When I reach the library, the door is closed but there's light coming from underneath.

I push it open.

Sebastian is standing by the window, his back to me, still wearing the clothes from patrol though he's cleaned most of the dirt off.

"You came," he says without turning around.

"You knew I would."

"I hoped." He turns to face me. "I wasn't sure."

I close the door behind me and lock it. "We shouldn't be doing this."

"I know."

"If Alexander finds out—"

"He won't."

"You don't know that. He's already suspicious. He came to my room right after you left asking if someone had been there."

"What did you tell him?"

"That I was alone."

"And he believed you?"

"I don't know. Maybe." I move further into the room. "Why did you want to meet here?"

"Because we need to finish the conversation we started in your room."

"There's nothing to finish. You said what you wanted to say."

"No, I didn't." He takes a step closer. "I barely scratched the surface of what I wanted to say."

"Sebastian—"

"Let me talk. Please. Just let me say this and then if you want me to leave, I'll leave."

I nod because what else can I do?

He runs his hand through his hair, the gesture I'm starting to recognize as his tell when he's nervous.

"I've been trying to figure out when this started," he says. "When I started feeling this way about you. And I realized it wasn't when you came here two weeks ago. It's been longer than that."

"How much longer?"

"Years." He lets out a breath. "I've known you were Alexander's intended mate since we were teenagers. I've watched you visit the pack, watched you grow up, watched my brother fall in love with you or whatever version of love he's capable of."

"Sebastian—"

"And I told myself it didn't matter what I felt because you were his. The Moon Goddess chose you for him and that was that. So I stayed away. I kept my distance. I was the perfect brother who never looked at you twice."

"But?"

"But then you came here for the engagement and something changed. Or maybe it didn't change, maybe I just couldn't ignore it anymore." He takes another step closer. "You were in the library that first night, remember? Reading. And I came in and we talked about books and it was the first real conversation we'd ever had."

"I remember."

"That's when I knew I was in trouble. Because talking to you felt like breathing. Like something I'd been holding back my whole life finally let go." He's close enough now that I can see the exhaustion in his eyes. "And every day since then it's gotten worse. Every conversation, every look, every time you're in the same room I feel like I'm drowning."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because you asked me in your room what I want. And I gave you the simple answer. But you deserve the whole truth."

"Which is?"

"I'm in love with you." The words come out quiet but certain. "I don't know when it started or how it happened or if I even have the right to feel it, but I am. I'm in love with you and watching you marry my brother is going to destroy me."

I can't breathe.

The strings under my pillow, the spell Irina did, the bond that connects us.

It's all real.

"Say something," he says quietly.

"I don't know what to say."

"Say you don't feel the same. Say I'm crazy. Say anything."

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because I do feel the same." The words are out before I can stop them. "I've been trying not to. I've been trying to convince myself it's just nerves or cold feet or confusion. But it's not. It's real and it's terrifying and I don't know what to do about it."

He closes the distance between us in two steps.

"Don't marry him."

"What?"

"Don't marry Alexander. Don't go through with the ceremony."

"I can't just not marry him."

"Why not?"

"Because he's the Alpha. Because our packs have an alliance. Because the Moon Goddess—"

"The Moon Goddess made a mistake."

"She doesn't make mistakes."

"Then explain this." He gestures between us. "Explain why I feel like I can't breathe without you. Explain why every time he touches you I want to tear him apart. Explain why standing here with you feels more right than anything else in my life ever has."

I don't have an explanation except for the one Irina gave me.

Dual mates.

Split bond.

A choice I have to make.

"Sebastian, it's not that simple."

"It is that simple. Do you want to marry him?"

"It doesn't matter what I want."

"It's the only thing that matters." He cups my face with both hands. "Do you love him?"

"I—"

"Not do you care about him. Not are you fond of him. Do you love him the way you should love someone you're binding yourself to forever?"

I close my eyes. "No."

"Then don't marry him."

"And what? Run away with you? Abandon my pack, my family, everything I've ever known?"

"If that's what it takes, yes."

"You're asking me to give up everything."

"I'm asking you to choose yourself. Choose what you want instead of what everyone expects you to want."

"And what about Alexander? What about your brother?"

"He'll survive."

"Will he? Or will losing me destroy him the way you said watching me marry him will destroy you?"

Sebastian's hands drop from my face. "I don't know."

"Exactly. You don't know. None of us know what will happen if I don't go through with this."

"But you know what will happen if you do."

"What?"

"You'll be miserable. You'll spend the rest of your life wishing you'd chosen differently. And so will I."

We stand there in the library with all these words between us and no solution that doesn't hurt someone.

"I need time," I say finally.

"How much time?"

"I don't know. But I can't make this decision right now in the middle of the night with you standing this close to me."

"Why not?"

"Because when you're this close I can't think straight."

"Good." He leans in and I know what's about to happen, know I should stop it, know I should step back.

But I don't.

His lips are inches from mine when we hear it.

A door slamming somewhere in the house.

Voices.

Shouting.

We break apart and move to the library door, listening.

More shouting, getting closer.

Alexander's voice, angry and commanding.

"Check the perimeter again. They couldn't have gotten far."

Sebastian and I look at each other.

"Who is he talking about?" I whisper.

"I don't know."

More voices, pack members responding, footsteps running through the house.

"There's been a breach on the eastern border," someone shouts. "Two unknown wolves spotted near the territory line."

"Lock down the pack house," Alexander commands. "No one leaves until we find them."

Sebastian moves to the window and looks out. "There are warriors everywhere."

"What do we do?"

"We wait. If we try to leave now, someone will see us and it'll look suspicious."

"So we're trapped in here?"

"For now, yes."

We move away from the door as footsteps pass by in the corridor, voices discussing the breach, the unknown wolves, security protocols.

"Do you think they'll search the library?" I ask.

"Maybe. Probably." He looks around. "If someone comes in, you were here reading. Couldn't sleep. I came in to check on you after hearing the commotion."

"And you just happened to be fully dressed in the middle of the night?"

"I was on my way back from checking the borders. Heard the alarm and came to make sure the pack house was secure."

It's a weak cover story but it's all we have.

We wait in tense silence, listening to the chaos outside, the search continuing, Alexander's voice giving orders.

Finally, after what feels like hours but is probably only twenty minutes, the commotion dies down.

"They caught them," someone says in the corridor. "Two rogues. They're being held in the cells."

More footsteps, voices fading, the pack house slowly settling back to quiet.

Sebastian and I stand in the library, neither of us moving.

"That was close," he says finally.

"Too close."

"We should go. Before someone realizes we're both missing from our rooms."

"You first. I'll wait a few minutes."

He moves to the door, then stops and looks back at me.

"What you said before. About feeling the same. Did you mean it?"

"Yes."

"Then we'll figure this out. Somehow."

"How?"

"I don't know yet. But I'm not giving up on this. On us."

He leaves and I wait five minutes, then slip out and make my way back to my room.

When I'm safely inside, I lock the door and lean against it.