Chapter 386 386
Sabine POV
I forget completely that I have a wolf capable of healing me as I cling to the car seat for the entire drive, my fingers digging into the leather while Maurice weaves recklessly through traffic in a desperate race to reach Aurélie and Frédéric.
“This is going to break her,” I whisper, my voice tight with fear. “We need to find them and quickly.”
“We will,” Maurice answers without hesitation. “We have to.”
The thought of not reaching them in time… of something happening to them… it’s unbearable.
I refuse to let my mind go there.
The royal pack gates appear ahead, guarded more heavily than usual. Maurice doesn’t slow, flying straight toward them. The guards clearly expect us, swinging the massive gates open just in time for us to surge through.
The second I open my door, Maurice is there, arms already around me, pulling me tightly against his chest.
There was no danger here.
He needed to steady himself.
This wasn’t about us this was about Damien and the children.
Inside the royal house, we’re met with a sea of faces.
Alphas from both alliances fill the hallway, gathered to offer their aid. Their dominant auras hang thick in the air like a suffocating storm cloud, each one battling silently for superiority.
It doesn’t seem to faze Maurice.
But even as his Luna now, the heavy, charged atmosphere makes my head spin.
We push through the mass of powerful wolves, Maurice’s grip on my hand never loosening for even a second.
“The King’s sister…”
Whispers ripple through the hallway as the alphas begin parting, clearing a path for us. Eyes follow my every movement as an eerie silence falls.
Maurice doesn’t break stride.
Unlike me, he pays them no attention at all the alphas of the alliances the Ash Valley pack never joined.
Yet here we were.
The first ones summoned to help.
“She’s been marked,” one male breathes in shock.
Maurice stops abruptly just before reaching the alpha office door.
He turns sharply, yanking me closer, his arm wrapping possessively around my waist while his other hand remains tightly linked with mine.
“You’re damn right she’s been marked,” he snarls.
I look up at him.
His eyes glow with his wolf pressing forward, sending a clear warning to every male watching.
It hits me then something I hadn’t considered before.
Any one of these men would have taken me as a political advantage. A bargaining chip. A way to strengthen their position with the royal family.
Yet Damien never once questioned my mate bond with Maurice.
Never tried to use it to benefit himself.
Never denied it to forge a stronger alliance.
Instead, he honored the Moon Goddess’s choice.
If anything, in the early days, he had been even more protective of Maurice and our bond.
Damien had done the complete opposite of what our father would have done.
“Calm down,” I murmur through the mind-link, trying to soothe him.
“Every male in this hallway would have marked you purely to gain power over the others,” Maurice replies darkly.
He’s right.
Every one of them would have except him.
And with that realization, my heart swells even more for him.
“Then it’s a good thing the Goddess gave me you,” I say softly, turning within his arms and lifting my hand to his cheek. “Now let’s help our family.”
Anger still pulses through the bond, hot and sharp, but he needs control.
Aurélie needs him calm.
When he refuses to tear his gaze away from the watching males, I lean around him and knock on the alpha office door.
“There’s no point,” an elderly alpha grunts behind us, eyeing Maurice suspiciously. “The Queen’s in a meeting.”
“Aurélie,” I call firmly. “It’s Maurice and Bee.”
“Thank the Goddess,” Aurélie’s voice comes instantly. “Come in.”
I shouldn’t.
This isn’t the time for power plays.
But protectiveness surges through me for Maurice, for his place among alphas who believe he doesn’t belong.
The alpha who refused their alliances.
The outsider.
“Like one of you said,” I turn back slowly, letting my Luna aura spill freely into the hallway, powerful and commanding. “I am the King’s sister.”
The energy rolls outward, pressing against them.
I may not be an alpha…
But I am the daughter of Gaston.
And royalty by blood.
Even if that truth brings me no comfort, it should leave them trembling.
The door swings open sharply, revealing Beta Lucas, who steps aside to allow us through.
Inside, I spot Fabrice seated at the meeting table, laptop open, speaking urgently into his phone. He cuts the call the moment we enter.
Lucas leans toward Maurice, whispering something quietly.
I feel the surge of beta anger rolling from him his alpha had been taken.
But my focus is already elsewhere.
On her.
On my sister-in-law.