Chapter 123 123
Aurélie POV
I place my phone beside me and let my head fall back against the day bed, sinking into the luxury of it. My eyes burn with exhaustion. So much had happened lately too much and too many truths had been laid bare, from both sides. Truths you couldn’t unhear once spoken.
A familiar tingling brushes my lips, drifting slowly to my cheek, skimming my ear, tracing my neck before returning to my mouth.
“Aurélie, wake up.”
His lips vibrate softly against mine as I blink my eyes open, still heavy with sleep. Damien is there, kissing a slow path along my neck and collarbone.
“Damien” I begin, instinctively ready to protest him being so bold in front of the children, when I push myself upright and realise
Both Dominique and Delphine are fast asleep in the massive bed.
Dominique has smudges of mud still streaked across his face, but Damien has clearly managed to settle him on his own. I decide not to ruin the proud, boyish grin on Damien’s face by asking whether Dominique brushed his teeth. Judging by the evidence, I’d wager the answer was no.
“He went out like a light.”
“He did?” I stare at Damien, genuinely surprised. Ever since Dominique’s ordeal, bedtime had been a nightly battle. Sleep had never come easily for him anymore.
I wasn’t an expert but I knew enough to understand he was afraid of what his dreams might bring back.
“Why are you sleeping out here?” Damien’s gaze trails slowly down my body.
“I was just resting my eyes,” I admit softly. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
Though the truth was I’d been right about sleeping out here. The twins were sprawled across the bed like starfish. There was no space left for me now.
“I think this will be my bed for the night anyway,” I chuckle quietly, nodding toward them.
Before I can say more, Damien’s thumb slides beneath my chin, lifting my face toward his. He kisses me gently not like earlier. He knows the difference. This kiss is slow, intimate, reverent.
“We need to talk about earlier…” he says as he climbs onto the day bed beside me.
He shifts me closer, guiding my legs over his lap. His hands move in unhurried strokes up and down my bare legs. I’m still wearing my pink designer dress, never having changed.
The motion becomes rhythmic, deliberate his touch climbing higher, slipping beneath the hem of my dress, sending heat pooling low in my body. He feels my reaction instantly and smirks, stopping just as suddenly, resting his hands on my knees.
Cocky bastard.
He knew exactly what he did to me.
Maybe one day soon, I’d remind him of what I could do to him too.
“How would it even work?” I ask quietly, finally meeting his eyes. Every ounce of vulnerability I feel is laid bare in that moment.
The thought of starting something only for it to fall apart terrifies me. I couldn’t fall that deeply again not for him. I wasn’t sure I’d survive it if he broke my heart a second time. And worse… I knew he had the power to make me fall all over again.
If I ever truly had recovered from him at all.
I remember choosing the twins’ names Dominique and Delphine and how the letter D had slipped into my thoughts without resistance. As if, somewhere deep down, I’d hoped they would one day share a bond with Damien… even when I told myself I hated him.
Perhaps I hadn’t been as over him as I believed.
“Do I need to show you how it would work?” he teases arrogantly, his hands beginning their slow ascent again.
“I meant with the alliances,” I snap, slapping his hand away.
“There are ways around it,” he says calmly. “But let’s not worry about that yet. No need to get ahead of ourselves.”
It isn’t the reassurance he thinks it is.
If anything, it makes my chest tighten.
Was I thinking further ahead than he was? Was this only temporary to him a way to reconnect with his children before walking away from me again?
“You’re overthinking,” he says gently, pulling me from my spiral.
“You just implied this isn’t long-term.”
“I said nothing of the sort,” he counters. “I said we’d deal with it when the time comes. If anything, I don’t want to scare you off. You’re the one who ran from me, remember?”
He gives me a pointed look before pulling me fully onto his lap, pressing a kiss to my shoulder.
“I want to come back to the Darkvale pack with you,” he says quietly, his fingers tracing slow circles around my knees.
“Are you sure?” I ask. “You’ve already spent so much time away from the Bloodnight pack.”
“I’m very sure, Aurélie.”
“And the twins?” I glance back at the two sleeping forms before turning to him again. His ocean-blue eyes never leave mine. “When do we tell them?”
“We tell them the truth.”
“And what is the truth, Damien?” I ask, eyebrow lifting.
“That I fucked up,” he says without hesitation, “but you are mine. And so are they.”