The Truth Revealed – 1

Sebastian’s POV

I drummed my fingers against the table, trying to focus on the conversation around me but failing miserably. My mind kept drifting to the balcony where I’d just spoken with Thea. Her words still echoed in my head: “Any love I had for you is dead. You successfully killed it.” Why did that bother me so damn much?

From the corner of my eye, I caught Aurora rising from her seat, her expression tight with barely contained anger. Under normal circumstances, I might have ignored it, but something about her purposeful stride as she followed Thea’s path set off alarm bells in my head. My wolf, who’d been sulking since our encounter with Thea, suddenly perked up. “Follow her,” it urged. “Something’s not right.”

“Everything okay?” Damien asked, noticing my distraction.

“Fine,” I muttered, pushing back my chair. “Need some air.”

I tracked Aurora’s scent through the crowded ballroom, past chattering groups of Pack members, and walked out. Thea and Aurora were standing face to face outside, so focused on each other they didn’t notice my presence.

“You think you’re something special now just because you’re the founder of the Dawnhaven Foundation?” Aurora sneered, stepping closer to Thea.

“Goddess, I’m too tired for this shit,” Thea sighed, running a hand through her honey-brown hair. “Just move, Aurora. I’ve got nothing to say to you.”

As I watched them, my certainty began to crack. The story I’d believed for years suddenly seemed…wrong. The facts no longer fit together neatly.

“You’re still nothing, Thea. I’m telling you, having money doesn’t change the fact that we all hate you, especially Sebastian,” Aurora mocked.

I heard Thea’s bitter laugh. “You know what? I don’t have the time or energy to deal with your bullshit. The only thing you care about is that Sebastian is looking at me instead of worshipping at your feet.”

She attempted to move past Aurora, but Aurora grabbed her arm with enough force that I could see Thea flinch. My wolf quickly awoke from its silence, hackles raised at the sight.

“Sebastian is mine,” Aurora hissed. “Stay away from him. Don’t start thinking you’re worthy of him now.”

Thea wrenched her arm free, her eyes flashing with anger. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m not pursuing Sebastian? How can I get it through your stupid head that I’m over him? You can have him, I don’t care. I don’t fucking want him!”

My wolf became dejected again at her words, while an uncomfortable feeling spread in my chest.

“I don’t believe you,” Aurora spat. “I saw him follow you to the balcony. You ruined us once before, and I won’t let it happen again.”

“Is that why you’ve been lying to him all this time?” Thea asked, her voice quieter now.

“Why do you keep playing the victim when you’re the one stirring up trouble? Did you tell him that those two times you accused me of hurting you, you were the one who started it both times?”

I froze, the accusation hitting home. Aurora had come to me, tearful and upset, claiming Thea had threatened her, had pushed her. Like a fool, I’d never questioned it.

“It doesn’t matter what really happened,” Aurora said with disturbing confidence. “Sebastian will always take my side against you. He’ll always believe me over you because he loves me, and you’re nothing to him.”

Each word was like a knife, cutting through the fog of denial I’d been living in. I closed my eyes, not wanting to face the truth. Because of what Aurora told me, I automatically assumed Thea was wrong, but now it seemed she wasn’t. How many times had I believed others over her?

I began to feel how unfair I might have been. I hated that possibility.

“Honestly, it’s fucking sad,” Thea replied, shaking her head. “You have to be so underhanded to keep him. You say you love him, yet you manipulate him, lie to him. What kind of love is that? His love for you might be genuine, but I doubt yours is.”

The Truth Revealed – 2

Before Aurora could respond, Thea pressed on: “What happens when Sebastian discovers your lies? When he finds out what you said about Leo?”

My entire body tensed at the mention of my son’s name. My wolf, previously conflicted, now united with me in sudden protective fury. Our pup? he growled. What about our pup?

“He’ll never find out,” Aurora said with chilling certainty. “He believes anything I tell him. That’s how much he trusts me.”

“A trust you’ve broken countless times,” Thea shot back. “I might hate Sebastian for everything he’s done to me, but even he doesn’t deserve to be manipulated by someone who claims to love him.”

When Thea turned to leave again, Aurora grabbed her more roughly. I’d seen enough.

“Let her go, Aurora.”

Both women spun toward me, shock evident on their faces. Thea used the moment to break free, and without a backward glance, she disappeared into the building.

Aurora stood frozen, the color draining from her face. “Sebastian? How… how long have you been there?”

“Long enough,” I said, struggling to keep my Alpha voice under control. “Long enough to hear that you’ve been lying to me. Now, I want the truth, all of it. And if you dare lie to me, Aurora, I swear you won’t like the consequences.”

After a moment of stunned silence, she nodded weakly.

“Did Thea hit you two weeks ago?” I asked.

“Yes,” she admitted hesitantly.

“Why?”

Aurora stared at the ground, suddenly mute. The contrast between her earlier venom toward Thea and her current silence was infuriating.

“Damn it, Aurora!” I roared, my patience shattered. “Answer me!”

She flinched, finally looking up with tears in her eyes. “I… I told her Leo needed to be kept on a leash,” she whispered. “I said I wouldn’t let that brat ruin our relationship, and that I’d convince you to send him to boarding school if I had to.”

I staggered, trying to steady my breathing, unable to believe what I’d heard. My wolf howled furiously, snarling in my mind: She threatened our pup! Our blood!

The full weight of my mistake crashed down on me. I’d believed Aurora without question, had gone to Thea’s house and angrily spewed a bunch of crap at her, accused her – all based on lies.

The only truth she’d told was about the slap, but even then, she’d manipulated me to keep me by her side. I now understood why Thea had slapped her. She was protecting Leo, just as I would have.

How had things come to this? Aurora had always been good. She was once the kindest she-wolf I knew. There wasn’t a malicious bone in her body. That’s why everyone loved her.

The woman standing before me was the complete opposite of the girl I knew and loved. She was spiteful, jealous, bitter. These were character traits I would never have associated with Aurora.

“We’re done,” I managed through clenched teeth.

“What?” Shock and disbelief filled her voice. “No, Sebastian, please—”

“No one threatens my son,” I cut her off. “No one. The only reason I’m walking away instead of doing worse is our history.”

She lunged toward me, grasping at my jacket. “Please! This was supposed to be our second chance.”

I carefully disentangled her hands from my clothes, stepping back.

“Maybe it was, maybe it wasn’t,” I told her, then walked away.

Her sobs echoed behind me, but they couldn’t touch me now. For the first time in years, my wolf was at peace with my decision, no longer fighting against me.

I moved through the garden, my mind racing with uncomfortable questions. Questions about Aurora, about Thea, about myself. Most unsettling of all was the question that kept circling back:

What if everything I thought I knew about Thea – about us – had been wrong? And if I’d been wrong about her… what else had I been wrong about? My feeling for her?