Chapter 342 342
Sabine POV
“Mate?” Didier let out a short, almost hysterical laugh. “So you go from human, to werewolf, to already having a mate… all in one day?”
“What’s the joke?”
Gilles’ voice cut in smoothly as he entered the room, a wide grin on his face though there was something unmistakably sultry in his gaze.
“You,” I snapped, pointing at him.
I pulled away from Maurice and crossed the room, jabbing my finger into Gilles’ chest. He didn’t flinch. Didn’t even look bothered. In fact, he glanced down at my finger, a small pout forming as if I’d mildly inconvenienced him.
“Me…”
“You,” I repeated, my voice rising. “You lied to me. All this time you knew who I was?”
“Yes.” He shrugged, light and playful, as though we were discussing the weather.
I felt no humour in it. None at all. This wasn’t a joke. This was my safety. My life.
“I was assigned to watch you to keep you safe,” he added.
“Correction,” Damien interjected coolly as he lifted Delphine into his arms, Dominique moving to stand at his side. “You were assigned to find her. Not keep her hidden for this long.”
“Children, why don’t you go put a film on?” Aurélie said gently, trying to usher them away from the implosion unfolding in front of us.
“But I want to stay with Auntie Sab,” Dominique whined, his voice sweet and earnest. One pointed look from his mother was enough. He obeyed, Delphine following after him once Damien set her down her bunny teddy still clutched tightly in her arms.
“Oh my god…” I whispered, watching them leave as my mind betrayed me with memories of early morning farm feeds.
“What?” Gilles asked softly.
He must have seen the pain in my eyes because he gently pulled my finger away from his chest, curling his hand around mine. His other arm slid around my waist from behind, holding me there.
Every moment of the last six months crashed over me at once.
Gilles had joined barely a week after I arrived. He could have taken me back to Damien and Aurélie then any time. Which meant every dawn feed he insisted on sharing, every campfire meal, every late-night conversation… every laugh, every silence.
I’d thought I’d made a friend. Thought I was building something new. A new chapter.
But he’d been there on my brother’s orders.
A low growl behind me snapped my attention back to the present those dark, reddish eyes locked on me.
“Every single moment was a lie.”
“No, Sab calm down.”
My anger dulled the longer I looked into Gilles’ eyes… until strong hands pulled me out of his embrace. The emotions came rushing back all at once.
Anger at him for lying.
Embarrassment that I’d believed I was carving out a simple, independent life for myself.
“All this time,” I groaned, “I thought I was surviving on my own.”
I could feel the weight of everyone’s sympathy pressing in. I’d even been arrogant enough to think my survival skills were decent.
And all along I’d had help.
“You did that yourself,” Gilles said quickly. “Sab, listen”
For the first time, I saw panic flicker across his face.
“No!” I shouted, pulling away. I just wanted to be alone.
“Where are you going?” Maurice demanded, catching my elbow gently.
“I want to be alone.”
“Sab?” Gilles stepped toward me.
Maurice’s warning growl didn’t deter him.
“No, Gilles. I just need space. I’ll see you all in the morning.”
The moment I left the room, raised voices followed accusations flying back and forth. Maybe, if my hearing were sharper, I could’ve listened in.
I didn’t want to.
I didn’t want to hear them discussing me. Picking apart my supposed inability to look after myself.
First, it had been Father.
After Mum died, he locked me away in that apartment tower until I was eighteen ripped me from the world Mum and I had built together. He promised I could return to normal life at sixteen. When sixteen came, it became eighteen. Then, on my eighteenth birthday, I still remembered how my heart sank when he changed it again to twenty-one.
That was when I left.
That was when I escaped.
Then I learned the truth.
I never had diabetes. The medication I’d been taking was suppressing my wolf. My own father a werewolf. The retired Alpha King of a world I’d never known existed.
And now?
I felt lied to all over again.
Gilles had known from the start. Damien could have pulled me out at any moment. Maybe he hadn’t known my exact location but he was the Alpha King, for goddess’ sake. He could command any wolf to find me.
I slipped my backpack open and discreetly took out a tablet, swallowing it quickly before pulling out my phone and turning it on.
I was still furious with Father but Damien was coming a very close second.
I typed out a message, telling him I was safe and asking where he was. My finger hovered over the screen as I took a steadying breath.
I knew I was reacting emotionally hurt, raw but it had been so long since I’d heard from him.
I just needed to know he was okay.
Then I hit send.