Chapter 348 348
Sabine POV
The tremors had already begun.
My hands felt unsteady, my body restless, aching for the next pill aching as she stirred, her strength creeping back in despite everything I’d done to keep her buried.
I didn’t want to reach out to Clémence. I didn’t trust her. But she was the only thread left my only remaining connection to something that could help me.
Father still hadn’t come to me.
His absence his refusal was starting to irritate me more than his suffocating control ever had. The silence felt deliberate now. Punitive.
I sat in the garden, watching the children play once again. Their laughter drifted through the air, light and careless, while Maurice sat nearby, quiet and observant.
Watching me.
Every time our eyes met, that infuriatingly cocky smirk tugged at his lips.
Oh, he could feel her.
He could feel her growing stronger.
“Not long now, Bee…”
His voice was low, purring, intimate.
“Not long before what?” I snapped, chiding him, even as a shiver slid down my spine. I hated how she responded to him how she strained toward him. I needed pills. Now.
“Not long before you beg me to claim you.”
I laughed harshly. “Yeah? Maybe I’ve kept her locked away for so long she’s completely deranged. Maybe you’ll be begging me to reject you.”
The words flew from my mouth like knives.
“Don’t joke about that,” he growled.
I’d hit something raw. I could hear it. Feel it.
Guilt flickered through me brief but sharp.
This wasn’t his fault. He’d been patient. More patient than most would have been. Still… he needed to understand something.
I would never be the mate he imagined.
“Just admit it, Maurice,” I said quietly. “I’m not what you expected. Not what you wanted. Why not move on? Find someone else.”
“Because you’re mine,” he said simply. “And no one else even comes close.”
He stood, scoffing softly as he turned toward the house then stopped.
He moved too fast.
One second he was walking away, the next he was there and suddenly I was sitting in his lap, straddling him, his hands locked firmly around my thighs.
My breath hitched.
“Now this,” he murmured against my ear, voice dripping with heat, “is a position I could absolutely get behind.”
My body betrayed me instantly. Heat pooled low, my pulse quickening as he pulled me closer, our groins separated by little more than fabric.
“Wolf or not,” he whispered, breath warm against my neck as his fingers brushed my hair aside, “you can’t deny this. You’ve just been gone too long.”
His mouth hovered at my skin.
“But I can wait.”
A moan threatened to escape when his lips brushed my neck—but before I could respond, he lifted me effortlessly and set me back onto the chair.
The absence of his touch left me cold.
He turned toward the house and stopped again as Gilles stepped out through the French doors.
One look at the playful, wicked smirk on Gilles’s face and I knew exactly what was coming.
“I told you she was cold to the touch,” Gilles chuckled.
That was all he managed to say before Maurice slammed him to the ground, fingers locked around his throat.
“Maurice!” I screamed, leaping up, clawing at his arms. He didn’t budge.
“Damien!” I yelled as panic tore through me.
Within seconds, chaos erupted.
Damien tackled Maurice off Gilles, restraining him with brute force.
Gilles coughed, clutching his neck but I knew better. He could have fought back. He chose not to.
That was Gilles.
Provoking. Poking. Getting reactions.
The same thing he’d done with Didier.
“I was just saying goodbye,” Gilles said lightly, rubbing his throat, playing the victim.
Goodbye?
“Yes,” he continued casually. “We’re leaving.”
“We?” I turned toward the house.
Didier and Caroline stood just inside, backpacks slung over their shoulders, speaking quietly with Lucas.
“What’s going on?” I asked, stepping inside.
“We’re moving on, Sab,” Didier said gently, sliding a map and compass into his pack. “We’re grateful but we need to keep moving.”
“Without me?”
“We can go overseas without you.”
The words hurt more than I let show.
Because he was right.
I was holding them back.
“Will you stay in touch?”
“Of course,” Caroline said, stepping forward and placing a hand on my shoulder. “As soon as we find somewhere safe.”
“Do you still have that old phone?”
Lucas’s gaze sharpened instantly.
My heart jumped.
“No,” I said quickly. “I lost it.”
Caroline studied me but smiled. “We’ll find a way.”
“I’ll take them to the station,” Lucas offered, stepping back outside as Gilles came in.
“Well,” Caroline said softly, tears gathering, “this is it.”
“Look after yourselves,” I whispered, pulling her into a tight hug. I hugged Gilles too though I tsked when I heard a warning growl from outside.
Part of me wanted to go with them. To cling to that closeness we’d shared for six months.
But they deserved more than a life on pause because of me.
Emotion swelled, blurring my vision.
“Will you be okay?” Didier asked quietly, stepping closer, his hand brushing mine.
Concern flickered in his eyes anger too but I knew he’d let me go with them if I asked.
“I’ll be fine,” I sighed. “Time to admit what I really am.”
“No,” he said gently. “You can be whoever you choose. Just don’t punish your wolf. She’s there to guide you if you let her.”
He kissed my cheek before shaking Damien’s hand.
I looked outside.
Maurice was pushing Delphine and Dominique on the swings. Laughing with them.
But the moment I looked at him, his eyes found mine.
Watching them drive away broke something in me.
They’d been my everything.
The tears came freely now.
I watched until the car vanished, a small hand slipping into mine.
“You’ll be okay, Auntie Sab,” Dominique said brightly. “I’ve got you.”
“We both have.”
Strong arms wrapped around my waist from behind, his cinnamon-and-coffee scent flooding my senses.
I leaned back against his chest, soaking in the comfort I’d been denying myself for so long.
If only for a moment.
Maybe… maybe it was time to stop running.
Maybe it was time to let myself feel what I’d been fighting all along.