Chapter 366 366
Maurice POV
Addiction.
By the time I reach the Alpha house, the truth is already settling heavily in my chest. Her dependence on the white pills was never just about craving the drug itself it was rooted in something far deeper.
In her refusal to accept who she truly was.
Not human.
A hybrid.
Half human. Half werewolf.
Her entire childhood built on a lie.
The rejection of her true nature had driven her here, pushing her into this spiral. Whether she understood it or not, her wolf was waking now fighting to break through after years of being suppressed by the substances her father first forced on her.
Years of being dulled.
Years of being controlled.
Until she couldn’t imagine surviving without them.
She was mine.
My mate.
Every part of her the fragile human form and the powerful wolf buried inside.
Yet she had lied to me.
Hidden the pills.
Arranged another delivery just last night a delivery that had cost my pack blood and injuries.
How long had the deception been going on?
When would it end?
I find her in her room.
Half beneath the bed, rummaging wildly through her rucksack before scrambling up and rushing into the bathroom.
Addiction.
I stay back, watching.
She collapses to the floor, fingers clawing at the tiles of the ensuite as if something might magically appear beneath them. Her hands tangle in her hair, gripping hard as her breathing turns ragged and uneven.
Her eyes dart frantically barely registering my presence as she staggers back into the bedroom and drops again, scanning the floor desperately.
She needs this.
As much as it tears me apart to witness it, she has to go through it to heal.
I can’t do this for her.
She has to fight it herself.
“Bee,” I call softly, keeping my voice low so I don’t startle her.
“They have to be here somewhere!” she shrieks, grabbing at random objects, knocking things aside without even knowing what she’s touching.
“Bee.” I step closer.
“Just one,” she gasps. “There has to be at least one left.”
“Sabine.”
Using her full name snaps her attention to me for a brief moment.
“I flushed them down the toilet,” I tell her quietly. “Every single one.”
I search her eyes.
This isn’t my Bee.
Not right now.
Something darker has taken control a demon of her own making, born from pain and fear.
“In the bag,” she blurts out suddenly. “Were they still in the bag?”
I barely understand what she means before she lunges past me.
I catch her as she drops to her knees again the skin already raw and red from how hard she’s been falling but she leans over the toilet, plunging her hand into the bowl, trying to reach down into the pipes.
“Sometimes things get stuck,” she pants desperately. “Especially if they were in a bag.”
“No, Sabine,” I say firmly. “I flushed them away.”
But she doesn’t stop.
She starts tearing through the bathroom drawers, searching frantically until she pulls out tools a screwdriver preparing to dismantle the toilet itself.
Enough.
My wolf growls inside me.
I stride forward and wrap my arms around her chest, pinning her arms tightly against herself.
“Bee, listen to me,” I murmur into her hair. “They’re gone.”
“No!” she cries. “They can’t be! You don’t understand!”
She fights wildly, legs kicking, pushing off the toilet in an attempt to break free.
But she can’t.
Without her wolf’s strength even with it she’s no match for me.
I’m Alpha.
And I’m her mate.
“Then make me understand,” I say softly, though my grip doesn’t loosen. “What don’t I understand?”
“I need them!” she sobs. “I can’t be like him!”
“Like who?”
“Like Father… like Damien.”
My chest tightens.
“What do you mean?”
“So angry,” she cries. “So full of hate.”
Her body shakes violently as the truth pours out.
“You won’t be,” I promise fiercely. “I won’t let you become like them.”
“No!” she screams, thrashing her head wildly against my chest as if possessed.
“I promise you, Bee.”
“No!” she screams again, struggling harder.
“Bee… my love…” I whisper urgently. “I swear to you. I won’t ever let you turn into them.”
She keeps fighting, spiraling further into chaos until I have no choice.
I release my command.
My alpha aura floods toward her meant for her alone.
Instantly her body stills.
Her breathing slows.
She sags back against me, surrendering completely to my control.
“Maurice…” she whispers weakly.
“I’m here, my love,” I murmur. “I promise.”
Her strength drains away and she slips unconscious in my arms.
Not wanting her to wake up to the destruction she created in the room the pain tied to this place I lift her gently and carry her to my room.
Our room.
Somehow, over time, it had become ours.
I’ll have someone clean her room thoroughly. Wipe away every reminder of this moment. Every trace of negativity.
Hopefully, she won’t remember.
Whoever had been feeding her addiction would be cut off permanently.
They would never reach her again.
From now on, I was making the decisions.
I would guide her through this.
I would show her she was nothing like those men who had hurt her.
She was gentle.
Kind.
Beautiful.
A soul raised in lies and manipulation ever since her mother died.
She was mine to protect.
Mine to love.
Mine to heal.
My Luna.
“Maxime,” I growl through the mind-link.
“Alpha?”
“I want patrol numbers doubled starting tonight. For the next week.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Two rotations,” I continue. “One on our usual borders. The second pushing farther out into human territory.”
There’s a pause.
“Alpha?”
“Someone believes they can use our Luna for their own benefit,” I snarl. “I intend to find out who and destroy them completely.”