Chapter 212 212
Aurélie’s POV
Voices called for me from the sky, from the clouds themselves. Like gods speaking down to the forgotten. Yet I was alone, stranded in a vast wasteland.
Nothing surrounded me but sand and brittle, lifeless plants, scorched beyond recognition by the sun. The heat was unbearable. The sun burned into my skin, seeping deep enough that I could feel my blood boiling like I’d been dropped into a pan of scalding water, unable to climb free no matter how hard I tried.
“Aurélie, stay with us…”
Damien’s voice rolled across the sky, rich and commanding, edged with unmistakable desperation. I was here why couldn’t he see me?
“Damien… Damien, I’m here. I’m down here!” I shouted up at the clouds, spinning slowly, checking again just to be sure I truly was alone.
“Shhh… get some rest, sweetheart.”
His voice returned, calm and soothing, wrapping around me like a gentle hand. The sun began to cool, sinking lower, retreating until darkness took its place save for the soft, silver glow of the moon above.
I walked for miles, searching for something. Anything.
What had happened?
Where were my children?
Why was I alone?
What was this endless desert that refused to end no matter how far I went?
My throat burned with thirst, the earlier heat accelerating the dehydration. There was nothing. No water. No shelter. Not even animals to remind me I wasn’t entirely alone.
Then I saw them.
My parents.
They stood ahead of me, hands clasped together, their forms faint almost translucent. I ran toward them, hope surging through my chest, but no matter how fast I moved, they never came closer. In fact, they seemed to drift farther away.
Am I dead?
I couldn’t feel my wolf.
I must be dead.
I bent forward, bracing my hands on my thighs as I struggled to catch my breath. Without my wolf, I had only human strength and I’d pushed myself too far. The emptiness inside me was worse than the exhaustion. Not feeling my wolf felt like losing my soul.
No… it felt like I had lost it.
Why were they here?
Why was I here?
Where was I?
Confusion wrapped around my mind, tightening its grip.
“Mum… Dad?” I breathed, my lungs stinging from the dry, oppressive air.
They looked at me. A soft smile touched my father’s face.
He couldn’t speak.
They couldn’t speak because they were dead. I had to remind myself of that truth.
“I’m sorry…” I reached for them, but my hands passed through empty air. I couldn’t touch them. Couldn’t reach them.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save you,” I cried, my chest aching as grief I’d never truly released finally clawed its way out.
“Hold her down!”
Fabrice’s voice thundered from the sky angry, sharp with fear and concern.
I tried to run toward my parents again, but my legs refused to move. My arms were pinned at my sides, an invisible force pressing me into the sand.
Holding me down.
“I’m sorry!” I screamed as their bodies began to fade, dissolving into the ground beneath my feet breaking apart until they became the very sand I stood on.
I dropped my gaze, horror blooming as I scooped a handful of it into my palm. The grains slipped through my fingers as understanding crashed over me.
The sand was black.
Charcoal black.
This wasn’t sand.
It was ash.
My eyes flew open as my body jolted awake, my heart pounding violently as I fought for breath.
Where was I?
As my vision focused, a clean white ceiling came into view. The steady hum and beeping of machines confirmed what I already knew I was in a hospital room. I shifted slightly, wincing as the tubes tugged at my arm, reminding me just how real my body was.
I was alive.
A warm presence pressed against me soft breathing brushing my neck.
Damien.
He was wrapped around me as though I might disappear if he loosened his hold. His leg was draped over my thighs, his arms locked tightly around me. He slept, but his brows were drawn together, as if even in rest he couldn’t escape the fear.
Something felt different.
A faint buzzing moved through me something new, something that hadn’t been there before. Or maybe it was just the medication still lingering in my system.
I stayed like that for a long while how long, I didn’t know just watching him sleep. Watching his eyelids flutter, his long ash-brown lashes brushing against his skin.
I didn’t want to wake him.
But eventually, the pressure in my bladder forced me to move. Carefully, I removed the tubes from my body. I didn’t need a machine to tell me I was alive.
I gently untangled myself from his grip, letting him claim the bed as he instinctively stretched out. A quiet chuckle slipped from me when he shifted, searching for me in his sleep.
I liked him like this.
Asleep.
Peaceful.