Chapter 272 272
Sabine POV
I drag Aurélie from the lake, her body so utterly spent it can’t even muster a shiver against the cold. Dominique must see me struggling, because he wades into the water to help without a word.
She’s icy to the touch.
After only a short time with Maurice, I’d grown used to the unnatural warmth of a werewolf’s body heat that never fades. This… this is wrong. She barely feels alive.
I pull her away from Dominique, shielding him from the sight of her like this. He doesn’t need to see his mother broken on the ground.
I drop to my knees and begin pressing on her chest, again and again, forcing her heart to keep moving, forcing her lungs to remember their job.
What do I do?
Maurice always said werewolves healed themselves. But as I stare down at her pale, lifeless form, I see no sign of healing at all.
“Help!” I shout, my voice tearing through the night.
No one answers. We’re still alone miles from anyone.
“Aurélie… keep breathing,” I order, my hands shaking as I cling to CPR techniques picked up from far too many hours of daytime television.
I glance over my shoulder and see Dominique frozen behind me, a small statue of terror as his mother lies dying at my feet.
“Dominique get a blanket. A coat. Anything,” I shriek, panic clawing its way up my throat. I need to warm her. Now.
The threat is gone. Stéphane and Geneviève are dead killed by their own attack.
But the danger hasn’t ended.
Not for Aurélie. Not for Florence.
Both women are unconscious, and I am useless to them. I’m not a doctor. I’m not a nurse. I’m nothing.
All I know, I learned while trapped in that apartment, addicted to daytime television. And now that ignorance might kill them.
I caused this.
“There’s nothing, Auntie Sab,” Dominique says quietly. “Everything burned in the fire.”
His eyes never leave Aurélie.
I look up at the Lake House. It’s still roaring with flames, though they seem contained now, no longer spreading. As for the battle… I don’t even know if Damien survived it. For all I know, he’s dead too.
Maurice has been gone too long.
If he has any sense, he won’t come back. And even if he did what would he be coming back for? Me?
After everything?
I doubt it.
“Dominique, come here,” I say sharply. “Do exactly what I show you while I find something to warm her up.”
I guide his hands, demonstrate the motion.
“That’s it. Keep the rhythm. Is Delphine okay?”
“She’s with Florence.”
“Okay… okay…” I tug at my hair, my thoughts spiraling.
Do I call an ambulance? Is that even what werewolves do? Do they go to human hospitals? What if someone realizes what she is what if the government gets involved?
Tests. Experiments.
No. I can’t call.
I don’t even have a phone.
“Auntie Sab!” Dominique calls. “She’s breathing more now!”
I’m scanning the deck desperately, searching for a blanket anything Aurélie might’ve used on cold nights.
“But she’s a werewolf. She doesn’t get cold.”
That voice echoes in my head, sharp and judgmental. I ignore it.
“That’s good, Dominique,” I call back. “Keep going. Don’t stop.”
There’s nothing. Nothing at all.
I turn back just in time to see him still pressing on her chest.
A four-year-old saving his mother’s life.
What have I done?
Guilt twists in my stomach until I feel sick.
Then I hear it heavy footsteps in the distance. My hearing locks onto the sound, the low growl unmistakable.
Damien.
Thank God. He’s alive.
He can save her.
But I can’t stay.
I can’t.
“Dominique,” I say, my voice breaking, “keep her breathing. Keep her warm.”
“Where are you going?”
He hears it the shift in my tone. His head snaps up, eyes wide. There’s no anger there. No blame.
Only worry.
Worry I don’t deserve.
“I can’t stay,” I whisper. “This is all my fault.”
“No, Auntie Sab. It’s not,” he insists. “Please… stay. Don’t go.”
“I can’t.” I step backward.
Damien is almost at the lake now. This is my only chance.
I can’t go back to that apartment, or to another prison dressed up as safety. They’ll say it isn’t one.
But it will be.
Whether it’s Damien or Maurice, neither of them will ever trust me enough to let me choose my own life again.
This… this is the only way I can be free.