Chapter 150 CHAPTER 150
Sebastian arrived at Lunaris earlier than usual that morning.
The parking lot was still half-empty, the air cool and quiet, the kind of calm that only existed before the school woke up and swallowed everything whole. He shut his car door and stood there for a moment longer than necessary, hands in his pockets, staring at nothing in particular.
His head still felt strange. Not painful, exactly. Just… foggy. Like his thoughts were wrapped in cotton, distant and slow to respond.
He had just started walking toward the main building when the soft hum of another engine cut through the quiet. He looked up without thinking.
A sleek black car rolled smoothly into the lot, polished to a shine that caught the morning light. Sebastian recognized it immediately. Everyone at Lunaris did.
Princess Lisa Ashvale’s car.
The driver stepped out first, straight-backed and alert. The guard in the passenger seat followed, scanning the area with practiced ease before moving around the car. The rear door opened, and Lisa stepped out, calm and composed, her posture effortless in a way that reminded everyone who she was without her having to say a word.
Sebastian’s chest tightened, an old reflex he hated that his body still remembered even when his mind didn’t want to.
Then the guard moved to the other side of the car.
Before he could open the door, it pushed outward from inside. Isabel stepped out on her own, adjusting her bag on her shoulder as if this were the most normal thing in the world.
Sebastian frowned.
He didn’t recognize her.
She wasn’t dressed like staff. She wasn’t dressed like a visiting noble either. Just a girl. Nervous, maybe, but trying not to show it. She said something to Lisa, and Lisa tilted her head back slightly and laughed, soft and genuine.
Sebastian found himself staring before he even realized it.
“Wow.”
The voice came from behind him, sharp and amused.
“You’re staring.”
Sebastian blinked and turned around. Sarah stood there, her arms crossed loosely over her chest, her expression already knowing. They had driven in together, but he hadn’t even registered when she’d stepped away.
“What?” he asked.
She followed his gaze easily, eyes landing on Lisa and the girl beside her. A slow smile curved her lips.
“The princess,” Sarah said, then added with deliberate emphasis, “Cindy.”
Sebastian’s jaw tightened. “I didn’t know there was another new student,” he said instead. “Why is she arriving with… them?”
Sarah snorted softly. “We didn’t know either. Cindy’s drama never ends.”
She watched Lisa walk ahead, the guards falling into step behind her. “Now that she’s a princess and owns half the world, she thinks she can bring anyone here. Lunaris has become her personal playground.”
Sebastian frowned. “Anyone?”
Sarah tilted her chin toward the girl. “She’s not like us.”
He looked again. The girl laughed at something Lisa said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked… normal.
“What do you mean she’s not like us?” Sebastian asked.
Sarah lowered her voice. “She’s human.”
That made him look at her properly. “Human?”
“Somehow Cindy picked up a stray human,” Sarah said casually. “Dragged her into the palace, and now she’s enrolled here too. I guess rules don’t apply when you’re royalty.”
Sebastian didn’t answer right away.
Something about the way Sarah said it - stray human, doesn’t belong - scraped against him in a way he hadn’t expected. His gaze drifted back to the girl walking beside Lisa, her steps careful, her shoulders slightly tense, like she was trying not to take up too much space.
Human.
The word settled heavily in his chest.
For a split second, an uncomfortable thought surfaced, sharp and unwelcome.
If humans didn’t belong in Lunaris… then where did that leave him?
Kael was gone. His wolf was gone. Whatever he was now, it wasn’t what he had been born to be. He was still walking these halls, still wearing the same uniform, still pretending nothing had changed - but how long could that last?
He wondered how long it would take before someone noticed. Before someone smelled it.
The idea made his jaw tighten. He didn’t like the feeling creeping up his spine - the sense of standing on borrowed ground, of being one wrong step away from being exposed. He shoved the thought aside quickly, irritation flashing through him instead. He wasn’t her. He wasn’t weak. He wasn’t some stray.
And yet, when he looked at the girl again, there was an odd, fleeting recognition there. A familiarity he didn’t want to name.
He said nothing.
The girls were already heading toward the main building, Lisa leaning closer to Isabel as they talked. There was something… easy about them.
Sarah’s voice cut through his thoughts again.
“Have you thought about what we talked about?”
Sebastian looked at her. “About what?”
She sighed, like he was being deliberately slow. “About her. About Cindy. About what she did to you.”
His shoulders tensed. “What do you want me to do? Confront her?”
He glanced toward the guards. “She’s always surrounded. And I don’t exactly have my wolf anymore. I wouldn’t last two seconds if things went wrong. The last time her brother touched me, I almost died.”
Sarah leaned closer. “Do you want me to deal with her for you?”
He turned sharply. “What?”
“I’m a girl,” she said softly. “There are places I can go where guards can’t follow. Places she’d never suspect.”
Sebastian shook his head. “No. Leave it for now.”
Sarah studied him for a long moment, her eyes narrowing slightly. Then she asked, very carefully, “Do you still think Cindy is innocent?”
He scoffed. “I rejected her. A long time ago. She doesn’t want anything to do with me.”
Sarah raised a brow. “Doesn’t she?”
Sebastian hesitated.
“She should have moved on,” Sarah continued. “You have nothing to offer her anymore. She’s powerful now. A Lycan princess. Not even like normal wolves like us.”
She leaned in, her voice dropping. “So why hasn’t she accepted the rejection?”
Sebastian swallowed. “What are you implying?”
“Think about it,” Sarah said gently. “Why doesn’t the bond affect either of you? Why don’t you feel anything when she’s close? Why doesn’t she react when she sees you with me?”
She smiled faintly. “When we’re together… she should feel it. Pain. Jealousy. Something.”
Sebastian’s heart started to race. “I also don’t feel anything around her,” he admitted quietly.
Sarah’s eyes softened, like she’d been waiting for that. “Exactly. Why not?”
She let the silence stretch. “Don’t you think she did something to the bond?”
His head throbbed faintly. “You think… she put a spell on me or something?”
“I’m almost certain,” Sarah said. “Bonds don’t just disappear. Something like that doesn’t break on its own.”
She tilted her head. “Maybe that’s why your wolf left. Maybe it’s the same thing that’s messing with your mind. She must have done it to get back at you – probably only works if the bond remains intact.”
Sebastian rubbed his temple. “Maybe… maybe you’re right.”
Sarah smiled, slow and careful.
“And think about this,” she added. “Your parents told you to stay away from me. Why?”
He frowned. “They said it was for my own good.”
“And when Commander Liam came to ‘help’ them with the guards,” she pressed, “didn’t he visit your home personally and even stayed for dinner?”
Sebastian’s stomach twisted. “Yes.”
“What if he did something to them – your parents?” Sarah whispered her eyes glinting with something unexplainable. “What if he influenced them? What if that’s why they suddenly turned against us?”
Sebastian’s breathing grew shallow. “You think commander Liam is involved?”
“Would it surprise you?” she asked. “He’s always around Cindy. Always protecting her.”
She placed a hand on his arm. “We should investigate. Find out what she did to you. Reverse it. Make her accept the rejection. Then you’ll be free, and maybe even Kael will come back after that.”
Her voice softened. “You deserve peace, Sebastian.”
He nodded slowly, comforted by the certainty in her tone.
“You have to believe me,” Sarah said. “You can’t trust her. Not now. Not after everything.”
Sebastian looked at her, really looked at her.
And he believed her.
“Then what should I do?” he asked.
Sarah smiled.
“First,” she said, “you stop thinking you owe her an apology. If anything, she owes you one. For almost killing you. For ruining your life. And don’t let your parents separate us, you can’t trust anything they say now until we find out what was done to them and reverse it too.”
Sebastian felt something settle inside him then. A decision. A direction.
As they walked toward the building together, Sarah’s fingers brushed his hand, and he didn’t pull away.
He didn’t see the satisfaction flicker across her face. He didn’t notice the invisible thread tightening around him, drawing him in by degrees so small they felt like his own steps. Sarah had done it again - looped him neatly around her finger, gentle and precise, until resistance felt unnecessary. Until doubt felt foolish. She had finally guided him exactly where she wanted him to stand.
Sebastian walked on, believing the person he trusted most was right beside him. He didn’t know that trust, in this moment, had been misplaced - that the one whose presence felt safest was the very one he should have feared. He thought he was no longer alone.
He didn’t realize he was walking straight into the hands of the person he should be running away from.