Chapter 191 191
Aurélie POV
My thoughts refuse to move fast enough. Panic fogs my reasoning, but even through it, one truth stands firm: Damien hasn’t broken any contract. Not legally. Not technically. We are still married and if anything, the Bloodnight Pack is stronger than it’s ever been, now bound to Darkvale.
“Damien,” I say quietly, forcing calm into my voice, “if he comes back, I’ll stay. I’ll help you stand your ground. He won’t be able to defeat you not when you have another Alpha backing you.”
I reach up and smooth the hair that’s fallen into his eyes. He used to wear it longer when he was young, before adulthood forced sharper edges onto him. He’d cut it shorter then, though the top still carried length.
He’d been beautiful as a teenager dangerously so. Every girl had crushed on him. I had too. But I know now how much he hid behind that hardened exterior.
“If it comes to it, I’ll fight him,” he says steadily. “I’m not afraid of him the way I was as a child. But I am afraid of what he’d do if he won. Of what that would mean for Dominique.”
His voice lowers, weighted with truth.
“So please… do what I’m asking. My men will follow you. But I need to know you’re safe. And here right now you aren’t.”
There’s absolute conviction in his eyes. This isn’t fear making him reckless it’s strategy. He wants to enter battle mode without me or the children anywhere near enough to become leverage. Collateral.
“I understand why you want me to stay,” I say carefully. “But he won’t step foot on Darkvale land. He can’t risk appearing aggressive. Not with the new alliance watching him packs that have enough dirt on him to bury him.”
“Damien,” I add, gripping his arms, trying to anchor him to reason.
“Aurélie, listen to me,” he insists. “As long as you and the children are here, anything that happens on Bloodnight land can be buried. Covered up. Don’t you see what I’m saying?”
“Damien, we just need a moment,” I plead. “A rational plan just time to think”
He cuts me off with his mouth.
The kiss isn’t desperate or consuming like before. It’s slow. Intentional. He tastes me carefully, his tongue sending shivers through my lips and down my spine. He’s memorising me.
His hands trail down my body, unhurried, until they grasp my backside and lift me effortlessly. I wrap my legs around his waist as one hand anchors me there and the other secures my ankles behind his back.
He carries me to the leather sofa and sits, positioning me astride him.
Once I’m settled, his hands travel upward again, reverent, as his mouth continues its slow exploration. Every touch leaves echoes that I know will linger for days. When his fingers finally lace into my hair, he pulls back just enough to make me gasp.
“He won’t step foot on Darkvale land,” he says softly. “That’s where you’re all safe. Please… trust me.”
The logic is there but his kiss feels wrong. Too careful. Too final.
He’s kissing me like someone afraid there won’t be another chance.
Damien POV
I couldn’t protect my mother.
But I can protect my mate.
She has to leave. She has to be far from here safe in Darkvale with the children. He won’t touch her there. He won’t risk it. He won’t get the chance to tear me away from them like he did before.
If it comes to it, I’ll die fighting him before I let that happen.
He will not take the Bloodnight Kingdom. Not while I’m breathing.
I can’t stop kissing her. I want more but time is no longer ours to spend.
This is already in motion.
I know exactly what he’s doing. He hides behind companies, behind shares and investments, but it’s the same hunger it’s always been.
Power.
He vanished from the shifter world but in the human one, he’s grown stronger. Wealthier. More dangerous. I was blind to think he’d simply fade away.
Once I’m done here, I’ll end his reach there too.
“Damien…”
“Aurélie,” I say firmly, pulling back just enough to meet her eyes, “there are things I need to do. Things I don’t want you involved in. Things that if they go wrong won’t stain Darkvale’s name.”
She doesn’t have time to argue.
I hear the sound of small feet racing down the hall toward my office.
Fabrice’s low, disapproving growl tells me everything I need to know.
They didn’t listen.