Chapter 364 364
Sabine POV
The moment I opened my eyes, an ominous feeling settled over me heavy, suffocating, as though I’d been watched through the night. It began as a sharp spike of dread, then slid into nausea, a sudden jolt of panic rippling through my body. I wasn’t used to emotions crashing into me all at once like this, and it took a few seconds before I could steady myself enough to sit up.
Morning light filtered weakly through Maurice’s room. I scanned it instinctively, half-expecting to find him sitting in the chair beside the bed, keeping watch the way he sometimes did. Instead, I saw his shirt draped over the back of the chair the one he’d worn the night before. Relief and unease tangled together. He had been here. I hadn’t imagined it.
A deep-rooted urge pushed me out of bed. I needed to find him. That feeling refused to loosen its grip as I pulled on yesterday’s clothes, my hands moving with urgency, my body insisting I get downstairs.
To find Maurice.
At the foot of the stairs, I nearly collided with Maxime. He stood with his back to me, rigid, waiting.
“Morning, Luna,” he said, without turning around.
It was wrong. Maxime was always warm with me, always quick to smile. This time, there was no smile just distance.
“Morning,” I replied carefully. “I was looking for”
“The Alpha is otherwise indisposed.”
The bluntness of his words stopped me short. Maxime had never spoken to me like that. Since my arrival, he’d been nothing but respectful, welcoming. Now his tone was cold, clipped. Even when I reached the final step, he didn’t turn to face me, as though he couldn’t bring himself to look at me.
“I don’t need babysitting, Maxime,” I said, irritation seeping through despite my effort to contain it. “If you need to be with Maurice, I can entertain myself.”
His attitude put me instantly on edge, my posture stiffening, my instincts flaring.
“The farm is off limits today.”
I blinked, certain I’d misheard him.
“Says who?”
“A direct order from the Alpha. You are to remain in the house.”
“All day?” Disbelief sharpened my voice. Since when was I under house arrest?
“Until the Alpha returns.”
I hadn’t watched daytime television since the days I’d been hidden away in my so-called ivory tower, long before I knew about the werewolf world. Back then, I’d watched films about monsters and legends, never imagining they were real. The person I was a year ago wouldn’t recognise me now.
The television droned on in front of me, but I hadn’t been watching for hours. That wrongness in my gut only grew heavier. Maurice should have been back by now. He always checked in after training. Always.
I peered out the nearest window. Nothing. No movement. Not even pack members walking the grounds.
Where was everyone?
When I stood, I felt Maxime’s gaze snap to me, sharp and unrelenting. He’d been watching me constantly, like a hawk waiting for prey to bolt.
Dark memories surged up of my life before I escaped my father’s control, of trusting Clémence, of being locked away “for my own good.” I hadn’t survived all of that to be caged again. Not by a man who claimed to care for me. Not through secrets and silent walls.
Maurice wasn’t my father. He was nothing like him.
So why did this feel the same?
I stayed still when Maxime stepped away to answer a call, his voice low as he left the room. The moment I was alone, my pulse spiked.
This was it. My chance.
The old version of me would have run out the door, off the land, never looking back. But something stronger pulled me in the opposite direction. Something was wrong. And whatever it was, it involved Maurice.
I slipped out unnoticed and broke into a steady jog, retracing the path to the hospital. My first days here had blurred together, but when the large white building came into view, I knew I was in the right place.
The electronic doors slid open, releasing that unmistakable sterile scent of a medical facility. It was overpowering today, sharp enough to sting my nostrils and make my eyes water.
At reception, a staff member pointed me toward the blue ward on the second floor the Alpha’s ward.
The lift doors barely had time to close before they reopened on the second floor. That sick feeling churned violently in my stomach.
As I stepped out and pushed through the double doors, I realised I’d entered a waiting area. Every head lifted toward me. The expressions I met grief-stricken, hollow, heavy with despair hit me square in the chest.
Someone had been badly hurt.
In the corner, Odette was holding two older wolves her parents, I assumed murmuring comfort as they clung to one another. My heart stuttered. I turned to leave, desperate to find Maurice, when Odette’s eyes locked onto mine.
They flashed with pure hatred.
She surged to her feet, a venomous growl tearing from her throat as she charged at me, hands outstretched, fingers curling toward my neck.
“If he dies,” she screamed, “this is on you.”