Chapter 209 209
Damien’s POV
“Lucas prepare the medics.”
I send the command through the mind-link and don’t wait for his response. I’m not ready to voice what I already know. Not yet.
A venomous growl rips from my chest as I surge forward, launching the attack. My men follow instantly, responding to my fury without hesitation.
We storm into the shipping container just in time to see the anonymous rogue disappearing into some kind of hidden passage beneath the floor.
So that’s how they’ve been doing it.
“Get him!” I snarl, pointing at the bastard as he tries to escape.
He doesn’t get far.
My attention snaps away from the chase, dragged violently to the scene before me.
Dominique is crouched over Aurélie, gently stroking her face. Fabrice and Florence are still chained to chairs exactly how Aurélie must have been.
My footsteps feel impossibly heavy as I cross the space, my chest tightening with every step.
I failed her.
I failed all of them.
I kneel, cupping my son’s face his skin blotchy and red, soaked with tears and gently ease him aside so I can reach her.
Her eyes flutter, struggling to stay open, but she sees me.
She smiles.
Relief washes through her face just knowing I’m here.
I check her head wound then my gaze drops to her chest. Her hand is pressed there weakly. I lift it, dread seizing my heart.
A bullet wound.
Greenish poison veins outward from it, creeping steadily through her bloodstream toward her heart.
No.
“Don’t touch her!” Fabrice shouts as Lucas frees him from the chains, then immediately moves to Florence.
“Aurélie…” Fabrice collapses to his knees beside me.
“Fabrice…” she pants, each breath a battle now. “Delphine?”
“We have her,” I say quickly, stroking her face, desperate to calm her. “She’s safe.”
“Mum, I’m so sorry…” Dominique sobs beside me.
My heart shatters for him.
No.
No, I won’t let them lose their mother.
“Sshh,” Aurélie murmurs, lifting her eyes to him. “You had no choice. You protected your sister. Don’t carry guilt, darling you did the right thing.”
She’s right.
He isn’t to blame.
“I need to get the bullet out!” Fabrice shouts at Lucas as my men drag the rogue outside.
“Aurélie, hold on,” Fabrice pleads once he has the tools.
I watch as he works, hands steady but frantic as he removes the bullet from her chest.
“Her leg,” Florence says urgently, already at his side. “Don’t forget her leg.”
Her leg?
She was shot in the leg too?
Fuck.
A sharp gasp tears from Aurélie as her breathing slows even further.
“Don’t you dare,” I growl, pulling her into my arms, terror crashing over me as grief claws its way up my spine.
Mark her.
My wolf’s voice cuts through the chaos.
“What?”
Mark her. She’ll gain our strength. The bond will snap into place.
He’s adamant.
And I have nothing left to lose.
I lift her slightly, cradling her closer to my chest. Her breathing is shallow now, poison stealing her from me breath by breath.
“You’re sure?”
Yes! he roars. We’re running out of time.
I wet my lips, steadying myself, then guide her neck toward me.
Please… let this work.
I sink my teeth into her skin, marking her as mine.
My fangs graze bone as the bond explodes between us vibrating, roaring, alive. A low, involuntary moan tears from my chest. I can’t stop it.
This is sacred.
Her eyes widen, her body stiffening as the mark takes hold, a soft moan escaping her too.
Then her pain slams into me.
Raw. Screaming. Familiar.
The agony I remember from when I was shot floods my senses.
I pull back, my mark burning vividly into her skin a crown beneath a howling wolf, framed by a blood-red full moon.
The royal mark.
“Stay with me,” I plead as I surrender control.
My wolf takes over instantly.
He shifts with purpose, knowing exactly what to do.
He allows Fabrice to finish removing the bullets, snarling at him for taking too long, then lowers his head to Aurélie’s body.
He licks her chest.
Her head.
Her leg.
Every wound. Every injury. Even her wrists, raw and bleeding from the chains.
“Keep going, Alpha,” Fabrice urges, fingers pressed to her pulse.
Then
“It’s working!”