Chapter 165 165
Dominique’s POV
“Dominique?”
I was in the middle of a dream, running across a wide green field, laughing as I played football with Damien. He’d been gone for a couple of days, and I missed him more than I wanted to admit. In the dream, I had just scored a goal and was lining up for another when someone grabbed my shoulder and started shaking me.
It irritated me. I was winning.
“Dominique?”
“Hm?” I murmured, half-asleep.
“Come on, quickly we need to get into the basement…”
“What’s going on?” I asked hazily, blinking as my eyes struggled to adjust to the darkness.
Miss Lambert had never woken me up before. Not once. Something had to be wrong.
“Where’s Mum? And Uncle Fabrice?” I demanded as I climbed out of bed and shoved my slippers onto my feet, a sharp spike of panic shooting through me.
“We’re under attack,” Miss Lambert said quietly far too quietly lifting a finger to her lips. “But don’t frighten your sister.”
My heart lurched.
“Where’s Delphine?” Her safety was always my first concern. Suddenly, not sharing a room with her felt like the worst decision I’d ever made.
“She’s still asleep…”
Miss Lambert moved on to wake Roland next. He’d been staying in my room while his mum was in the hospital, with Théo spending the night there with her. Théo had brought someone back earlier someone Mum hadn’t wanted in the house so she’d insisted Roland be watched constantly.
When Théo left again for the hospital, Roland had been… off. Shaken in a way I’d never seen before. I didn’t know what had happened, but it had taken Delphine a long time to calm him down. He’d clung to her like he was afraid she’d disappear.
Once Roland was awake, we hurried toward Delphine’s room.
The house felt wrong.
Why was it so dark? Why couldn’t I feel the moon’s glow? Even when it wasn’t full, there was always something some faint silver light filtering through the windows. But there was nothing. Just suffocating blackness.
We stepped into Delphine’s room. I let Miss Lambert wake her while I crossed to the window and pulled the curtains aside.
Instead of the moonlit garden, I was met with solid metal.
My stomach dropped.
“It’s too dark, I can’t see…” Delphine groaned as she stirred.
She was right it was pitch black. But I could feel my wolf sharpening my vision, the darkness thinning just enough for me to make things out. Delphine and Roland weren’t so lucky. They groped blindly around the room.
Miss Lambert switched on the torch from her phone, the sudden beam of light slicing through the dark. She didn’t hesitate she grabbed Delphine’s hand and hurried her out of the room and down the stairs.
Delphine struggled to keep up, even with the light guiding her.
“Dominique!” Miss Lambert snapped over her shoulder.
I followed immediately.
We’d never been in the basement before, and now I understood why. The space was all concrete cold walls, damp air, the smell of something old and sealed away. It was hidden beneath Mum’s desk in her office. I hadn’t even known it existed, let alone how to get inside it.
Roland and I had to help Miss Lambert shift the desk aside because Delphine refused to let go of her hands.
There were beds down here, but I knew none of us would be sleeping again tonight.
“What is going on?” I demanded, turning on the only adult among us.
“Dominique,” Miss Lambert warned, her tone sharp. “Don’t upset Delphine.”
“I don’t care,” I snapped. My chest felt tight, my pulse roaring in my ears. “Where’s Mum?” I shouted, a strange, unfamiliar anger surging through me.
I clung to that anger, held onto it like a lifeline until Miss Lambert’s head snapped sharply to the side and she responded.
Only then did the anger fade, as suddenly as it had come.
“We are under attack,” she said. “The Alpha is outside.”
“Mummy?” Delphine whispered. “Is she okay?”
Before anyone could answer, the entire house shook. The foundations groaned, forcing us all to grab onto whatever was closest to stay upright.
Miss Lambert let out a shriek.
Delphine screamed in terror.
She clamped her hands over her ears, her whole body trembling as she slid down the wall and curled into herself on the floor.
That had been an explosion. It had to be. Either that or an earthquake and we didn’t get earthquakes.
I looked at Miss Lambert. Her eyes were unfocused, her posture rigid she was in a mind-link. She wasn’t comforting Delphine like she always did.
I moved toward my sister, but she screamed at me to stay away.
She was angry with me. Punishing me for being distant lately.
Delphine never forgot. And she never forgave easily.