Chapter 201 201
Aurélie’s POV
“Delphine… sweetheart, are you alright?”
“Yes, Mummy. I’m okay.”
Her lower lip trembled as she spoke. She was trying so hard to be brave, but I could feel her fear like a live wire under my skin.
“Fabrice…”
“Don’t move, Aurélie,” he commanded sharply. “You hit your head. Stay still.”
Even as he spoke, he strained violently against the chains binding him, muscles flexing as he fought for freedom.
I tried to lift my hands to check my injury, but the restraints pinned my arms mercilessly to the floor.
When I lowered my gaze, my breath caught. My blouse was soaked dark, sticky with my own blood.
The gash must have been severe, yet the bleeding had slowed, already knitting itself closed as my wolf worked beneath the surface.
“Where are we?”
Fragments of memory clawed their way back. A man. A bazooka slung over his shoulder. The missile missing us by inches—only to obliterate the vehicle behind. My warriors… gone instantly. After that nothing. Darkness.
“I don’t know,” Fabrice answered grimly. “We were all knocked unconscious.”
“Not me,” Dominique cut in. His voice carried a hint of pride despite the situation. “We’re in a shipping container. The man who tied us up he’s a rogue. The same one you brought back to the pack, Mum.”
The anonymous rogue.
That bastard.
Damien.
I cursed him silently for stopping me from hunting the rogue down when I had the chance. Was he alive? Did he know we were missing?
The heavy metal doors of the freight container screeched open, and morning sunlight flooded inside. The sudden brightness burned my eyes my wolf had been relying on night vision.
I squeezed my eyes shut as the sting forced tears to spill, my body reacting before I could stop it.
He stepped inside.
The one man I would not allow anyone else to kill.
The man who would die by my hands alone.
I had trusted him foolishly. Now he had crossed the unforgivable line. He had attacked my family.
A gun hung loosely in his grip as he moved toward us, the doors left ajar behind him. Two rogues lingered outside, standing guard.
Delphine whimpered. She was only four too young to mask her terror as he approached.
“Stop crying,” he snarled, shoving her head roughly with his hand.
“Don’t touch her!”
The roar tore from my chest, my wolf surging forward through my eyes, my voice, my very bones. My body strained violently against the chains, every instinct screaming to rip him apart.
“She just wants her teddy,” Dominique snapped, scrambling closer to Delphine and positioning himself between her and the rogue, shielding her from that hateful stare.
“What do you want?” Fabrice growled, venom thick in his voice as he deliberately pulled the rogue’s attention away from the children.
The man laughed.
It was wrong unhinged.
He scratched at his temple with the barrel of the gun, amusement flickering wildly in his eyes. Fabrice’s distraction worked; the children were forgotten. Now the rogue’s focus shifted entirely to my beta.
He stepped toward Florence.
The gun rose.
He pressed into her space, laughing louder, closer. Florence froze, terror locking her in place. She could do nothing but track the weapon’s movement in the hands of a madman.
His laughter turned sharp and manic, as though his human skin and wolf were battling for dominance beneath the surface.
“Get away from her!” Fabrice hissed, teeth bared as he wrenched uselessly at his chains.
“Oh no, Beta,” the rogue drawled. “Not yet. We’re going to play a little game.”
His smile was cruel empty. Whatever soul he once possessed had been sold long ago.
My head snapped toward the open doors as footsteps echoed outside. My eyes, now adjusting to the light, narrowed.
The sharp click of high heels rang through the container.
A sound that didn’t belong here.
A feral growl ripped from my throat as realization struck.
The rogue hadn’t just betrayed us once.
He had sold his soul again.
This time to the devil herself.
Geneviève.