Chapter 194 194
Aurélie POV
“Fabrice, just pull off at the next road,” Florence insists, already pointing toward the upcoming turn on the right. “There’ll be bushes or something. We’ll be quick.”
“Please, Daddy,” Delphine whimpers from the back. “It hurts.”
Fabrice doesn’t argue. He takes the turn and pulls over beside a cluster of bushes lining the quiet roadside.
“Be quick,” he orders, tension tight in his voice.
Florence climbs out with Delphine before I can move, and I slip immediately into a mind-link with the warriors following behind us.
“What’s happening, Alpha?”
“Delphine just needs a quick toilet stop,” I reply calmly, keeping my voice steady despite the unease crawling beneath my skin.
They’re fast. Too fast to feel safe but Delphine returns looking visibly relieved, and Florence straps her back in securely.
We pull away again, easing back onto the road and attempting to reconnect with the main route
When a sudden push hits my mind-link from the car behind us.
“Alpha. We’ve picked up a tail.”
“What?” I snap, instantly opening the link wider to include Fabrice.
“You’re sure?” I demand.
“Positive, Alpha.”
“Let’s try to lose them,” Fabrice growls, already taking another turn in an attempt to circle back toward the highway.
I pull my phone out, fingers trembling slightly as I bring up the satnav, searching desperately for a faster route. We’ve never driven through this area before, and every road feels like another wrong choice endless turns, diversions that stretch on too long.
“Now?” Fabrice asks through the shared mind-link.
“Still there, Beta,” one of the warriors responds. “You’ll need to put your foot down unless you want us to intercept.”
“No,” I roar back instantly. “The kids are in the car.”
I am not that kind of Alpha. I will not leave them unguarded while others fight in my place.
Fabrice takes another sharp turn and relief surges through me as the highway comes into view at the end of the road. The stretch is quiet. Rural. Almost peaceful.
Then a man steps out in front of us.
At first, I think he’s confused lost, maybe. He’s carrying something heavy over his shoulder and stands squarely in our lane. I assume he’ll move. That he has to.
Then I see it.
The weapon.
A bazooka.
For half a second, my mind refuses to accept it. I think I must be dreaming. That I’ve nodded off and this is some twisted nightmare
He fires.
I scream as the missile tears through the air directly toward us.
“WATCH OUT!” I roar, terror ripping through me at the thought of my children in the back seat.
Fabrice wrenches the wheel just in time. The car skids violently out of the way
But not without cost.
I twist around just in time to see the warrior vehicle behind us take the full impact.
A fireball erupts, swallowing the car whole.
There isn’t even time for them to scream.
“No!” I howl as the pack link shatters violently inside my chest one by one, each connection severed. Each death tearing through me with brutal precision.
I can’t breathe.
The pain is immediate and overwhelming, knocking the air from my lungs as it reverberates through my chest. Their strength, their training, their loyalty it amplifies the loss.
The curse of being an Alpha.
Always feeling it.
Always carrying it.
“Aurélie?” Fabrice growls, grounding me as I force myself to breathe through the shock.
“They’re… they’re all gone,” I whisper.
He doesn’t respond too focused, too torn between his oath to retrieve fallen warriors and the living souls in his care.
“Shit. Hold on.”
He slams his foot down on the accelerator
And suddenly we’re hit from behind.
The same car that’s been tailing us.
I can’t see inside it. The windows are blacked out. Fabrice manages to gain some distance, hope flaring painfully
Then another car appears out of nowhere.
It slams into my side at full force.
The same side as Delphine.
The impact sends my head snapping into the window. There’s a sickening crack as glass meets bone. The car starts to roll once, twice, again over and over.
My babies are screaming.
Screaming for me.
And I can’t reach them.
The force pins me in place, keeps my arms useless as the world flips violently around us.
“Mummy”
The word shatters what’s left of my heart.
My head strikes something again
And the world goes black.