Chapter 23 23
Aurélie POV
Élodie’s gaze snapped to me before it swung sharply toward the sound of footsteps.
“Mummy! Mummy! I won again!”
Delphine barreled into the room, her muddy hands smearing fresh handprints across my black jeans as she threw herself into my legs.
“Only because I let you,” Dominique muttered, strolling in behind her, already sizing up our guests with the keen eyes of the little Alpha he was becoming.
My attention never left Élodie. She watched my children with a focus that made every instinct in me rise and bristle.
“Children, you need to wash your hands oh, Alpha! I didn’t realize…” Miss Lambert appeared breathlessly behind them, halting when she noticed the visitors.
“That’s quite alright. We’re hands-on with children in our pack too,” Beta Simon said with a reassuring smile that instantly eased the tension in her shoulders.
Four years.
Four years I spent guarding the truth, guarding my pack, guarding my children.
And in barely thirty seconds, that fragile barrier had been shattered.
“Aurélie?” Fabrice’s voice called from down the hall.
The instant he spoke, Élodie shot upright and growled at me an instinctive, furious sound.
“Élodie!” Simon snapped, reprimanding his mate just as Fabrice stepped into the living room.
“What’s gotten into you my apologies, Alpha.” He threw Élodie a sharp glare for showing disrespect.
“Miss Lambert,” I said calmly, masking the storm inside me, “please take the children upstairs. I won’t be long.”
“Of course, Alpha.” She immediately understood the need to remove the children from a tense situation.
“Come on, little ones…” She offered her hand to Delphine, who took it sweetly. Dominique, however, stayed put eyes locked on Simon.
“What’s your position?” he demanded boldly.
Simon’s lips twitched. “I’m the beta of the Saint Wolf pack. And you?”
“I’m the future Alpha of the Darkvale pack,” Dominique declared, puffing out his chest.
“Well then, Alpha,” Simon replied, extending a hand, “I look forward to working with you in the years to come.”
Dominique shook his hand with a proud sparkle in his eyes.
“Dominique,” Miss Lambert prompted gently, “let’s give the Alpha privacy.”
He finally followed her out, tossing one last suspicious glance over his shoulder.
“This is a surprise, Aurélie,” Élodie murmured once the children were gone, her voice trembling between disbelief and accusation. “Here I was thinking you were dead…”
“Not my mum,” Dominique chimed in from the hallway before disappearing fully. “She’s stronger than anyone. She could even defeat the Alpha King!”
A cold pulse shot through me.
“And how do you know of the Alpha King?” I asked, keeping my voice even even as my heart stuttered.
“We learn things in school prep, Mummy.”
Delphine gave a tiny, exasperated sigh as if I should have known this already.
I inhaled deeply, steadying myself. I couldn’t blame Miss Lambert. Damien’s name carried weight legendary weight. And she had no idea he was their father. Only Fabrice knew the truth, and he carried that lie willingly, letting the world believe the children were his.
The twins disappeared upstairs, and the room shrank to just the four of us.
“Doctor Fabrice. This is a surprise.” Élodie greeted him, though her tone lacked the warmth it once carried.
“Élodie.” Fabrice nodded, slipping an arm around my shoulders. Her eyes immediately dropped to my neck, searching for a mate mark that wasn’t there.
“How have you been?” he asked politely.
“So you’re the doctor here?” she replied bluntly she hadn’t changed.
“Fabrice established our first-class medical facilities,” I corrected. “But no he is my beta.”
“The tour…” Simon interjected, clearing his throat to steer us away from the rising tension.
“Yes. Allow me to take you to the medical wing,” Fabrice offered instantly, the perfect beta stepping in to handle the perfect beta.
As they moved toward the hallway, I lingered beside Élodie. Her silence burned with words unsaid.
“Beautiful children, Alpha,” she murmured.
“Thank you, Élodie,” I replied, starting to follow the others.
“Very blonde,” she added under her breath. “They don’t resemble the beta at all.”
Her earlier comment replayed mercilessly in my mind. Even as I guided them through the pack house, showing them the strength and progress of Darkvale the advanced facilities, the security infrastructure, the alliance benefits her words cut deeper than any blade.
Because she wasn’t wrong.
And she knew it.
And now she was here.
A threat wrapped in a familiar face.