Chapter 193 193
Aurélie POV
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
I repeat it over and over, a silent mantra meant to keep me composed to make me look calm, collected, unshaken. But beneath that fragile control, my heart is splintering.
If my wolf had hands, she would be tangled in my hair by now. For the past hour she hasn’t stopped pleading begging us to turn back, to reclaim our mate and drag him with us to safety.
Why didn’t I do that?
If Gaston can’t touch us on Darkvale land… why didn’t I say it? Why didn’t I insist?
Damien moved so fast, urgency driving every decision, that my mind couldn’t keep up. Thought lagged behind instinct, and by the time clarity tried to surface, we were already on the road.
It feels like defying gravity except I’m not soaring.
I’m falling.
Backwards, somehow. The sensation makes no sense, but it clings to me all the same.
With every mile that stretches between us and the Bloodnight pack, my chest tightens further. I can feel my heart pulling apart, threads snapping one by one, leaving only a few fragile strands holding it together.
Those threads are the only reason I’m still breathing.
I refuse to look to my side refuse to meet Fabrice’s gaze. Anger simmers beneath my grief. He sided with Damien. Undermined me. Dismissed my ability to fight, to stand beside my mate when it mattered.
I am an Alpha too.
I command warriors. I lead. I bleed for my pack.
I sit rigid in the front passenger seat as Fabrice drives, leading the convoy with a car full of warriors following close behind. In the back, Dominique and Delphine are separated by Florence, as expected. Their bickering hasn’t stopped since we left over Roland, of course.
Dominique insists Roland is his friend.
Delphine insists Roland belongs to her like her bunny.
As if ownership can be declared loudly enough to make it true.
Dominique’s anger simmers beneath the argument, directed squarely at Fabrice for hauling him out of Damien’s house by force. The air inside the car is thick his budding aura colliding with my own, which is anything but subtle.
Fabrice pretends not to notice.
Florence, on the other hand, struggles. I am her Alpha now, and my aura presses against her far more heavily than Alpha Quentin’s ever did back at Saint Wolf. Mine is stronger. Sharper. Less forgiving in moments like this.
I feel Fabrice attempt to push against my mind-link.
I shut him out.
Whatever he wants to say, he can say it aloud where everyone can hear it.
“Your safety was his priority, Aurélie,” Fabrice says at last. “Yours. And the children’s.”
“I know that,” I reply tightly. “I just” A low growl vibrates in my chest before I can stop it. “I’m an Alpha too. I could have helped him.”
“He knows that,” Fabrice says calmly. “That’s not what this is about.”
I finally look at him and realise he isn’t looking at me.
His eyes are on Florence in the rear-view mirror.
“Do you want to know what it’s like?” he asks quietly.
“What… what is it like?” I ask, lowering my voice, suddenly aware that this moment whatever it is—is being trampled by my children’s arguing.
“To find your mate,” he says softly, “and not mark them.”
I still.
“He’s showing a hell of a lot of restraint, Aurélie,” Fabrice adds with a small chuckle. “Honestly, I’m impressed.”
I arch a brow. “Don’t tell me you’re starting to like him now.”
“Let’s just say,” he replies, winking before returning his eyes to the road, “you bring out the best in him.”
Despite myself, I smile.
I’m not sure that’s entirely true. Maybe I simply draw out his warmer edges. Because as a pack leader, I wouldn’t want to face Damien in battle. He is still a force one his father is about to rediscover the hard way.
“I just think,” I murmur, “if we’d stayed… figured it out together”
“There are two Damiens,” Florence speaks up gently from the back seat. “One who thought you were gone. And one who found you again.”
Her voice is steady. Certain.
“He doesn’t ever want to be the first one again.”
Dominique nods. “Mum, if Dad had a reason for us to leave, then you need to trust him.”
Since when did I get outvoted in my own family?
“I need a wee,” Delphine suddenly announces, completely derailing the moment.
“We can’t stop for a wee, princess,” Fabrice sighs. “You’ll have to hold it.”
“But I can’t, Daddy,” she whines. “I really, really need to go…”
The sound she makes next has even me questioning my bladder.