Hades

Chapter 44

"This can't be true," I gasped, turning to Rita for validation.

Her eyes were downcast. The beautiful chocolate cake that she was preparing for her son was completely forgotten. 

"Does Sebastian know?" I demanded, feeling the knots tightening in my stomach. This time, I knew they weren't from the silver pills I was taking. "Does Sebastian know that I could kill him?"

"Yes, and he didn't want us to tell you. Up until you attacked him we had no reason to, but it's only fair that you know," Rita admitted. 

"Dear God, this can't be happening. No, this isn't possible. I love him so much, I would never even dream of hurting him. I don't know what came over me, but I'm taking pills now, we are suppressing my wolf," I stammered, feeling tears flood my eyes.

"Charlotte, there is no immediate danger. We can see how much you care. You're taking pills to weaken your wolf. Many mates would never even consider doing such a thing because it could harm your wolf permanently. That's devotion. And, even before we told you, you obviously knew the risk," Henry said. There was still an edge of hardness to his voice, but his features were softer. "Look at all these guards that are here at your request. You are doing what you can. Sebastian wants you to stay otherwise he would've told you sooner."

"And it's not a very detailed account. It's from over four hundred years ago and we have no validation to back it up," Rita stated, but her smile was strained now.

"I need to leave. I need to get away from him," I sputtered, shoving back the stool and landing on my feet.

"Now, let's not be hasty," Henry murmured, placing a hand on my shoulder. He eased me back down onto the stool. "This is a lot of information and it can be frightening. Rita is right, this could all be mis-translated and mean nothing. For now, you've planned a wonderful party for your mate and taken extra precautions to make sure that everyone is safe. You need to talk to Sebastian about this, but you have a life time to do that. Just take a deep breath and let him enjoy a couple days with his friends and family. He deserves that much."

The next day Sebastian was due home. An hour before he was supposed to arrive at the house I went over everything for the hundredth time. I told everyone that I wanted everything to be perfect, but the reality was that I wanted one last chance to show Sebastian just how much I loved him. No matter what came after at least I had given him this.

And everything was beautiful. Rita needed some assistance but her multi-layered chocolate cake turned out wonderful and we had applied the icing together. Colin was actually decent at cooking and made a buffalo chicken mac n cheese dish with very little guidance. Henry was hopeless, but was content enough to make a dressing for the salad while I made a loaf of bread from scratch. The decorations were moderate at best, but I was sure that this was the most Sebastian had been celebrated in years.

And now, when Sebastian rode up to the house on one of his motorcycles I wrung my hands together, so nervous. 

"You look so wonderful," Rita murmured, gazing at my new floral dress. 

I had bought it specifically for this occasion, but I felt anything but cheery and bright now, waiting for the worst to happen. I tried to shoot her a kind grin, but my eyes went to the additional guards who were wearing civilian clothes. My eyes caught Keiko and she gave me a huge smile and a thumbs up.

A moment later the front door opened and Sebastian entered.

"Surprise!" Keiko shrieked, throwing her arms in the air.

"Happy Birthday," Rita and Henry greeted.

Sebastian seemed stunned for a moment, saying nothing as his eyes scanned everyone over. Then, when a smile stretched across his lips he came straight towards me. Even after everything I had done to him the ease and comfort was always there with him.