The True Luna's Forbidden Temptation - Chapter 49: Chapter 49

Analise.
I’m staring.
Still staring.
'Ours!' That voice in my head whispers again, sending a jolt through my body.
‘Shut up!’ I scream at it in my head.
"Ana?" Sebastian calls me again. This time, I can hear amusement in his voice. "Earth to Analise.”
I blink back at him, feeling the blush creeping up my cheeks. “I’m sorry. You said something?”
His mouth curves into a crooked smile. “I asked if you couldn’t sleep.”
“Yes,” I turn back towards the stove, trying to hide the violent blush on my cheeks. “I mean… no. I had a nightmare.”
I try to control the shaking of my hand as I pour the hot milk into my mug.
“Nightmares are not uncommon. Especially if you have gone through a lot,” Sebastian says. His voice sounds closer now. I can tell that he’s moved further into the kitchen. “I would be more worried if you were sleeping peacefully, after all you’ve been through lately.”
I feel him behind me, carrying the intoxicating scent of pine and mint. It’s making me dizzy.
I turn around and suddenly, I find myself face to face with Sebastian. He’s standing close—too close. For a moment, I forget to breathe.
I swallow hard. I feel the need to put some distance between us before I make a complete fool of myself. I move away from him, towards the island counter.
‘What is wrong with me? No matter how delicious he looks, Sebastian is still my brother!’
Sebastian pulls out a bottle of whiskey from the drawer.
"Tell me about it," he says, pouring a generous amount of amber liquid into his glass.
“Huh?” I raise a brow at him.
“Your dream. Tell me.”
I lift my mug to my lips, letting the warmth calm my nerves. "It's silly."
"Try me."
I take a deep breath. "I was being chased in a dark alley,” The memory sends a chill down my spine despite the warmth of the milk. "Then suddenly, a huge animal lunges at me.”
“What kind of animal?”
I hesitate. Because until now, I’m uncertain what to call that creature. “It’s a… wolf.”
Sebastian goes very still. So still that for a moment, I wonder if he's even breathing.
"Not just any wolf," I continue. "It was massive. Too big to be normal. And its eyes..." I pause, struggling to describe what I saw. "They were intelligent. Like it was thinking. Planning."
"Did it scare you?" Sebastian asks, his voice oddly controlled.
"Terrified. It felt so real," I admit. "But the strange thing is, I don't think it was just a dream. It felt like... a memory." I shake my head, embarrassed. "I know that sounds ridiculous. Wolves can't be in the city, especially not ones that size. I’m probably just seeing things. Wolves that big can’t be real.”
I don’t see a hint of amusement in Sebastian’s face as he stares at me. He takes a sip of his whiskey, his eyes never leaving mine.
"But what if… they’re real?” He sets his glass down with deliberate care.
“What?”
"Wolves,” he replies. “More specifically, werewolves.”
Heat pulses through my veins. I feel like there are a million warning signals going off inside my head. “That’s… that’s not possible.”
"Humor me," he insists, leaning against the counter. "If they were real, would you be afraid of them?"
I consider this, remembering how I felt in my dream. "Yes. Of course."
Sebastian tilts his head slightly, studying me. "Even if one saved you?"
"What do you mean?"
"In your dream," he says. "Did the wolf just attack you? Wasn’t there another one that protected you?”
I draw my brows together, trying to remember exactly what happened that night. An image flashes in my head. There’s a second wolf. Its fur is as black as midnight, its eyes a deep blue. It attacked the first before it can get to me.
"There were two," I whisper. "The second one... protected me."
"So not all wolves are bad," Sebastian says, a strange intensity in his gaze. "They are not all monsters.”
He’s right. That second wolf protected me. It lashed out on the other one. I remember, it even got hurt trying to protect me.
But suddenly, I remember something. “Hold on. How did you know there was a second wolf? I don’t remember telling you that.”
He shrugs. "I just assumed there’s always a knight in shining armor that will save the day.”
But somehow, I feel that something is still off.
“You shouldn’t be afraid of wolves,” he whispers. He moves toward me in slow, deliberate steps. “They are fiercely protective of what belongs to them.”
His eyes never leave mine, with each step that he takes. Instinctively, I take a step back. He continues walking towards me, I keep backing away, until my back hits the edge of the counter, and I have nowhere left to go.
‘Why am I scared?’
This is Sebastian. He’s not going to step on the line.
He stops directly in front of me, close enough that I can feel the heat radiating from his bare chest. Close enough that I have to tilt my head back to maintain eye contact.
“Just like I am protective of what’s… mine,” he murmurs in a low guttural voice. I take note of his emphasis on the word ‘mine.’
‘Ours!’ that voice in my head screams again, as if responding to Sebastian’s statement.
He leans forward, his face only inches away from mine. I swallow hard, forgetting to breathe. His arm extends past me, reaching for something on the counter behind me. His chest nearly touches mine, our faces so close I can smell his faint aftershave.
I swallow hard, unable to move for a moment. And for a brief moment, I wonder what it would be like to lean forward… and press my lips against his.
‘This is insane, Analise! You have to stop this!’
He reaches for the glass on the counter, and he slowly pulls back, his eyes never leaving mine. The corner of his mouth curves into a crooked smile, as if he knows every inappropriate thought running through my mind.
‘Damn it!’ I curse internally. ‘I cannot take any more of this!’
Time stands for a moment. And we both stand there, staring at each other. Feeling each other’s warmth, and hearing the sound of each other’s breathing.
“Sebastian…” I breathe.
“I make you nervous,” he whispers.
“No!” I deny in an instant.
He stares at me for a moment, studying me, looking for signs that I could be lying.
Then, with a smirk, he steps away, saying, “Liar.”
‘Shit! He can read me like a book!’
He walks over to the fridge to fill up his glass with water. The spell breaks, and I’m finally able to breathe freely.
“You left TL Glam, I assume,” Sebastian says, changing the subject abruptly.
I take a moment to organize my thoughts. “Well, I’m officially divorced and jobless.”
Sebastian stares at me for a moment. Then he says, “Congratulations on your divorce," he grins, obviously making the mood lighter. "But you don't need to be jobless."
“How? I’m sure Tyler and his PR team will find a way around this. And I will end up being the bad guy. Knowing them, they’ll make it hard for me.”
"I've seen your work, Ana. I know you're the brains behind TL Glam's success."
I blink in surprise. "You've been keeping tabs on me?"
He nods slightly, not denying it.
"I have many subsidiaries." He takes a sip of his water. "What I don't understand is why you were never made VP, at minimum. From what I can tell, you designed their entire signature line."
I sigh, old frustrations bubbling to the surface. "Tyler said no one else was good enough to design for the company, so he couldn't promote me because he'd have no one to replace me."
Sebastian's eyebrows rise. "That's the most ridiculous business decision I've ever heard."
"Tell me about it." I roll my eyes. "But it worked for him. I stayed in my lane, designing everything, while he took all the credit and became the face of the brand."
"Without you, TL Glam will go down," Sebastian says matter-of-factly. "I bet their investors aren’t going to be happy about it.”
"Your investors?" I ask, confused.
He shrugs. “Lewis did not exactly come from a position where he could fund his business ventures all by himself.”
“That is true,” I whisper.
“I bet that if it weren’t for you, his investors won’t even give him a chance.”
“He didn’t think of it that way.”
“Well, you can prove him wrong, you know,” he says.
“How?” I ask, my breath shaping.
"Is that the revenge you want? To watch from a distance as your ex-husband fails?"
I laugh humorlessly, setting my mug down. "What I want is for him to look up at me one day, realize his mistake, and cower at my feet." My need for revenge is raw, primal. "But I'll have to wait for that to happen. With Father in a coma, I'm still the disinherited daughter. I have no resources to my name."
Sebastian steps closer again. "You don't have to wait long."
I stare at him, sure I've misheard. "What?"
"You want to get back at Tyler? You want to show them your worth?" His voice drops lower, more intense. "Then work for me. As CEO of my new company venture."
"CEO?" I repeat, stunned. "You can't be serious."