Sebastian’s POV
Through the narrow alleyway between the marble pillars of the hotel courtyard, I watched my half–brother sway stiffly with his new wife. One hand rested on her waist, the other curled tightly behind her back like he was holding something in–like he was holding himself in.
Poor Jane. She thought she married a man. She had no idea she married a mask.
Aaron always played the hero in our little family tragedy. The grieving Alpha. The doting husband. The loyal son. The broken father. But I knew better. I’d seen the cracks long before they started to show.
And now… I was back to finish the job.
From my place in the shadows, I watched Bob–the man who fathered us both but only ever claimed one–sweeping the room with narrow, twitching eyes. He was looking for me. Of course he was. His posture was tight. His gaze was too sharp. He could feel my presence even if he couldn’t see me.
Good.
Let the bastard sweat.
I should’ve walked away after church. I’d done enough for one day. Stirred the pot. Disrupted the fairytale. Just enough to remind them I still existed. I could’ve gone home and continued perfecting my plan, brick by bloody brick.
But I didn’t leave.
Because something held me there in that alley, pinned to the shadows like a moth to the flame. I couldn’t stop watching.
Then they rolled out the cake.
Three tiers of sugar–coated delusion. Pink and blue flowers piped on with hope and lies. The kind of thing women gasped over and cried into their champagne flutes for.
So I stayed. And I watched.
And when they sliced into that pristine cake and revealed the blue center, I nearly laughed.
A son.
Another one.
The universe had outdone itself.
Aaron’s firstborn had gone into the ground in a box no bigger than a suitcase. I was there that day. Not that he knew. I stood behind a tree like the family ghost they never buried. I watched him cry like a man who’d lost everything.
But he hadn’t.
Not really.
He still had the title. The house. The pack. The bride. The future. He still had everything that should have been mine.
And now… he had an heir.
For a moment, I almost pitied him.
Then the moment passed.
If I had any heart left in my chest, maybe I would have felt something like pity. But all I felt was… clarity.
But this was never going to be enough. One ruined wedding wasn’t the end.
It was the opening move.
The first crack in his perfect little world.
And I wasn’t going anywhere until I shattered it.
From my post in the shadows, I felt his gaze before I saw it—sharp, cutting, blue like ice set on fire. Our eyes locked through the ballroom window, and for a second, the noise of the party dulled around us. He stared like he wanted to kill me.
I smiled. Slow. Calculated. The kind of grin that used to make him snap when we were kids.
Unsurprisingly, it still worked.
A heartbeat later, he broke away from the spotlight and stormed out of the ballroom, fists clenched, shoulders tight with rage. My dear brother, always so predictable. Always so easy to pull by the strings.
I didn’t move. I stayed rooted in place, letting the night air wrap around me like armor. Let him come to me.
His scent hit first–sharp, familiar, laced with fury–and I turned to face him just as he stepped into the courtyard light.
And there he was.
Alpha Aaron Lorenz, all grown up and still seething like the boy I used to beat bloody on the marble floors of our father’s house.
“Sebastian,” he growled, voice low and dangerous.
Music spilled faintly through the ballroom windows behind him, but between us, there was only silence. And fire.
“Congratulations are in order,” I said smoothly when he finally reached me. We were only a few feet apart as I clapped slowly. “A baby boy. Let’s hope this one lives a little longer than the last.”
His hands curled into fists. “Shut your goddamn mouth.”
There he is.
The real Aaron. This was the fucking bastard that I know.
He took a step forward, and I didn’t flinch. I never did when it came to him. I knew every move before he made it.
“You were always easy to piss off,” I said with a chuckle. “All it ever took was a smile.‘
He didn’t laugh. Of course not. Aaron Lorenz never did enjoy jokes- especially when they were on him.
“This is just a game to you, isn’t it?” he growled.
I shook my head slowly. “No, brother. You’ve always underestimated me. This-” I gestured vaguely to the celebration inside, “-isn’t a game. This is strategy. I’ve been planning my return for a very long time.”
His eyes narrowed. “Stay away from my family. You so much as breathe in Jane’s direction again, and I’ll make your life a living hell.”
I smirked. “You already tried that, remember? Had me run out of town like some villain in your bedtime story. Guess what, Aaron? I’m back. And you’re not the only one with connections anymore.”
His breath hitched just enough for me to see the doubt creep in.
That’s all I needed.
“You can fucking try, but you’re never going to win,” he snarled.
I leaned closer. “Oh, but I already am, brother.”
Then, he shoved me.
Hard.
My back slammed against the stone wall, pain flaring across my shoulder blades, but it didn’t stop the satisfaction blooming inside me. The tighter he wound himself, the faster he’d unravel. That was always his weakness–he didn’t know how to let things go.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” I whispered, letting my voice darken.
I could feel the burn ripple down my spine. The tremble in my arms. It was happening.
My blood howled with rage. Bones cracked beneath my skin as my wolf surged forward. All the years of exile, of watching from the shadows, of being the dirty family secret–boiled to the surface.
I let go.
With a snarl, I shifted midair, fur bursting from my skin, claws tearing through the sleeves of my jacket. My paws hit the cobblestone with a deafening thud as I lunged for him.
Let’s finish what we started, Eden.
This time, I wouldn’t stop.
