Chapter 400 400
Maurice POV
“Where is my husband… where the fuck are my children?”
Aurélie’s roar slams into us the moment we reach the Black Mist Alpha house.
Damien and I share a single glance brief, sharp, devastating. The realization hits us both at the same time.
The children aren’t here.
He doesn’t even try to hide it. The raw panic fractures his expression, terror bleeding through the king he usually is. Without a word, he lowers Maxime to the ground and explodes into motion, sprinting for the house with lethal speed. He hits the front door full force, kicking it open
and I’m right behind him.
Bee is still clutched tight against my chest, her body only now beginning to warm beneath my arms. Fear coils viciously in my gut. I don’t dare let her go. I don’t dare risk her slipping away if I set her down. Damien abandoned his beta without hesitation, but I won’t do the same to my mate.
I can’t.
The scene waiting inside is one neither of us was prepared for and judging by the way Damien skids to a halt outside the alpha office, neither was he.
Aurélie, Fabrice, and Lucas have Clémence surrounded, boxing her in like a cornered animal. She has a knife pressed tight against Caroline’s throat, steel biting into skin as Caroline trembles beneath her grip.
Blood is everywhere spattered across skin and clothes. Whether it’s theirs or Clémence’s, I can’t immediately tell. Clémence herself is injured, desperation carved deep into her features. She’s running purely on survival now, using Caroline as her final bargaining chip.
It won’t save her.
If Damien doesn’t kill her, I will.
Her eyes blaze with hatred as they snap toward us locking first on Damien, then drifting to Bee cradled in my arms.
Yes. She cannot survive this.
As long as Clémence breathes, she remains a threat to all of us.
Aurélie follows her gaze, relief crashing across her face when she sees her husband standing alive in the doorway the father of her children, her mate, safe.
“It’s over, Clémence,” I snarl, my voice cutting through the room.
In response, she digs the knife deeper into Caroline’s neck. Caroline struggles, Didier’s sister fighting desperately against her hold.
“Release Caroline. Now.” Damien’s command rolls out, his aura flooding the space dark, heavy, oppressive, like a storm cloud forming above our heads.
But it’s different.
The corruption that once clung to him is gone. His power is intact stronger than ever but he is in full control.
My gaze drops instinctively to Bee.
Gilles took the darkness from her. I saw it. I know he did. But was it enough? Were we too late? Did she still have her wolf?
I glance back down the hallway.
Gilles is gone.
He appeared exactly when needed pulled my mate back from the brink and vanished just as suddenly between the cave’s collapse and our frantic return. He saved her… and disappeared like a ghost.
“You took everything from me!” Clémence snarls at Damien, lowering the knife from Caroline’s throat only to aim it toward Aurélie.
“I took nothing,” Damien fires back coldly. “Your father was a traitor and he was dealt with accordingly. You endangered my entire family… even my sister.” He points sharply toward Aurélie.
“Peh. Your sister,” Clémence scoffs an unforgivable mistake.
“Yes. My sister,” Damien snaps. “And you manipulated her, didn’t you? Dragged her back into drugs for your own gain. There is no escaping this.”
“Then perhaps I’ll take someone with me.”
Her eyes flick to Aurélie.
“I’ll snap your neck before you even think about lunging for my mate,” Damien warns, stepping closer to Aurélie. The movement is smooth controlled but Clémence doesn’t miss it.
“Maybe it’s the almighty Alpha King who needs to fall,” she sneers, swinging the knife toward Damien while her other hand tightens around Caroline’s throat.
Caroline begins to choke.
I shift instinctively, preparing to lower Bee to the floor reluctant, terrified but Damien lifts a hand without looking at me.
Don’t.
This is his.
“Release Caroline. Now.”
The command detonates through the house, the walls trembling under the force of it.
“This little runt has been living in my home,” Clémence spits. “Her brother controlling my pack members”
Her grip tightens further. Caroline claws at her wrist, gasping, fighting for even a sliver of air.
“As ordered by me,” Damien cuts in savagely. “Your problem is with me. Let her fucking go.”
“Got them hidden away, have you?” Clémence growls. “Your precious little bastards safe somewhere?” Her smile is cruel. “Shame you didn’t get to see them one last time.”
Then she shoves Caroline away.
Caroline crashes to the ground. Lucas moves instantly, hauling her back behind him as she coughs violently, clutching at her throat and sucking in air like it’s the last thing she’ll ever do.