Chapter 267 267
Aurélie POV
Damien had blocked me out completely but my warriors hadn’t. Neither had Fabrice.
I should have blocked them out too, should have shut everything down… but I couldn’t. I needed to know. I needed to understand what was happening out there.
“Tea?”
Florence’s voice cuts gently through my mind-link with Fabrice, her hand resting on my shoulder, grounding me pulling me back into the room.
“Please,” I reply softly. “That would be lovely.”
When I turn, I realize Maurice is no longer in the house.
“Where’s Maurice?”
“He had to check on something with his warriors,” Florence answers smoothly. “I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”
Weeks of midwife training had taught her how to sound calm in moments of crisis. Or perhaps how to appear calm. Her tone is measured, practiced the same voice used to soothe a panicked mother mid-labour.
I watch her as she moves about the kitchen, fumbling. Water sloshes over the edge of the kettle. Tea bags tumble from the cupboard and scatter across the counter. Neither she nor Fabrice has their block up.
“Florence,” I say carefully, concern tightening my chest, “you need to put your block up. You’ll feel everything every blow as if you’re standing beside him. I can’t believe he hasn’t blocked himself…”
I’m genuinely stunned that Fabrice hadn’t considered what this would do to his mate.
“No,” she says quietly. “I asked him not to. I need to know what’s happening. I need to know that he’s okay.”
“Daddy will be fine,” Delphine chirps brightly. “He said he’d read me a bedtime story later snap!”
She slams her card down with innocent confidence, completely certain that her father could defeat countless rogues and still make it back in time to tuck her in. To her, Fabrice is invincible. A hero.
“Auntie Sab, do you want to play this time?” Dominique asks, turning toward Sabine.
I notice then how much more relaxed Sabine seems with both Damien and Maurice gone. Lighter. Less guarded.
“Go on then,” she replies with a small smile as Dominique begins dealing the cards for another game of snap.
I watch them play together. Sabine’s bond with the children has grown subtly, steadily. Dominique especially seems determined to chip away at her walls, and somehow, between him and Delphine, it’s working.
Perhaps Maurice should take notes from my children.
A sharp clatter snaps my attention back to the kitchen.
Florence has dropped one of the mugs.
It shatters against the floor.
Her hands tremble violently now, unable to hold anything steady.
“Florence?” I rush to her immediately, pulling her into my arms. She’s unraveling struggling under the weight of Fabrice’s absence, of knowing he’s fighting and she can feel everything.
“Fabrice…” I push hard against the mind-link. “Put your block up. Fabrice?”
I scream his name mentally, knowing he hears me and still doesn’t respond. I understand why. He wants to stay connected to her. But she’s standing in my kitchen, barely able to hold a mug of tea.
A mug of tea.
She’s the female beta and she’s falling apart.
Smash.
For half a second, I think she’s dropped another mug.
Then Delphine screams. Sabine screams.
I spin and sprint back into the living area, straight toward the front of the house.
A beer bottle lies on the floor.
The massive front window has shattered completely, glass scattered everywhere from the sheer force of impact. I move closer and see the bottle more clearly a filthy rag stuffed inside, soaked in liquid.
“What in the name of the Goddess…?”
“Aurélie, watch out!” Sabine shouts.
Another bottle sails through the broken window this one already burning.
I stare at it for a heartbeat too long.
It explodes.
The blast rings in my ears, my senses reeling as more bottles start flying into the house.
“Run!” I shout, my hearing still distorted as the explosions continue.
I grab Delphine, crushing her to my chest, and seize Sabine by the back of her top.
“Dominique back of the house,” I command.
He doesn’t hesitate, sprinting ahead and sliding the back door open for us.
The Lake House becomes a storm of fire and shattering glass as we flee, dodging explosion after explosion. When we finally make it outside, I turn back
And my heart breaks.
Fires have already taken hold. Small pockets of flame crawl hungrily along the walls, catching the curtains, devouring furniture, merging into something larger. More vicious.
No… not here.
This was my safe place.
My sanctuary.
The place untouched by bloodshed. The place I shared with Mum and Dad.
The Lake House had to survive.
But my family was with me.
I had to get them to safety.
Who was doing this?