Chapter 378 378
Maurice POV
It was late far later than I’d realised and my eyes burned with exhaustion after hours of patrolling the surrounding territory.
My wolf hadn’t settled all night. Restless. Uneasy. On edge in a way I couldn’t shake.
It was as if he was anticipating something an attack, a threat creeping closer with every passing minute. I hadn’t been able to rest until I personally checked every border point.
When I finally pushed open the bedroom door, I expected Bee to be asleep.
Instead, she was wide awake, propped up in bed with her laptop balanced on her thighs, the glow of the screen lighting her face.
“You have training in the morning,” I point out tiredly.
“I know,” she replies without looking up. “But I needed to check something. Did you see Damien’s eyes earlier? When he got moody… something changed. Something isn’t right.”
“Bee,” I sigh, stripping out of my clothes and placing them over the chair.
Of course I saw it.
Something hasn’t been right with Damien for a while now.
I’d recently stumbled across my father’s old journals pages filled with his growing concerns about Gaston. He’d written about noticing changes in him, the same uneasy feeling I was having now about Damien.
Near the end of Dad’s life, the two of them were barely on speaking terms. But there was a time they’d been close brothers in everything but blood.
So what had changed?
I knew Gaston had pressured my father to join his alliance, but there had to be more to it than that.
“You saw it,” Bee presses, finally lifting her eyes from the laptop, studying me with that sharp, knowing stare. “Don’t deny it.”
“I’m not denying anything.”
“Then what is it?”
“I honestly don’t know.”
“Do you think Aurélie knows?” she asks, fingers flying across the keyboard before she groans and shakes her head. “I can’t find anything.”
I pause, considering.
“Yes,” I finally admit. “She knows something’s going on. She was eager to leave earlier too eager. She feels it.”
“Then what is it? There’s nothing online.”
“There won’t be,” I tell her quietly. “Whatever’s happening is supernatural. You won’t find it on the internet that world was built for humans.”
“There are chat rooms,” she argues. “You just have to dig deep enough. I’ve already found stuff about werewolves”
“Bee.”
My tone hardens slightly.
“I don’t want you involved in this.”
She looks up sharply.
“What do you mean?”
“I want you focusing on yourself. On your wolf. Let me handle this for once.”
“He’s my brother,” she says softly. “If he’s in trouble”
I know how much she cares about Damien, Aurélie, and the children. I know she’d sacrifice herself for them without a second thought.
And that terrifies me.
Bee is impulsive. Reactive. She leaps before she looks.
Her wolf is still new, still learning to communicate danger and Bee is still learning how to listen.
“I won’t let him be in trouble,” I say firmly. “But you need to work on your shifting. You haven’t shifted yet, and that has to be your focus.”
Tension throbs between my eyes and I pinch the bridge of my nose.
“Which brings me to my next point,” she says casually. “I want to go back to Father’s apartment.”
This woman will be the death of me.
“No,” I snap instantly. “Absolutely not.”
“Just hear me out”
“It’s a no.”
“Maurice”
“Bee.”
“It’s my home.”
“More like a prison.”
“Call it whatever you want,” she snaps back. “But I have things there. And I want to reclaim my mother’s legacy. It’s mine by birthright.
If my father stole it from me, then I want it back.”
“You have people searching for you,” I growl. “In both worlds. Human and shifter.
That apartment will be watched. The second you walk through that door, you’ll be caught. I will not let you walk into a trap.”
“I’m not stupid,” she says firmly. “I know the risks. But I’m done hiding.
I want what’s mine. What my mother worked her whole life for.
I want that for us… for our children.”
My head snaps toward her.
She freezes.
Realisation floods her face.
“Our children?” I repeat slowly, lifting a brow as a grin spreads across my lips. “You’re thinking about our children now?”
“Well I mean not really”
Her cheeks flush pink as she shrinks behind the laptop, trying to hide from my stare.
God, she’s adorable.
I move toward the bed, crawling slowly, deliberately.
I hear her heartbeat pick up as I stalk closer.
“Well,” I murmur, “there’s only one way to make babies.”
I lift the laptop from her lap and set it aside before my hands trail up from her ankles to her knees.
A soft whimper slips from her lips turning into a surprised shriek when I tug her beneath me, her body warm and trembling under mine.
“Maurice,” she breathes, her voice thick with need.
She has no idea how long I’ve waited for this.
How long I’ve wanted her.
But for her I could wait forever.
“We can wait,” I whisper, brushing my lips along her jaw.
Her scent deepens sweet vanilla now blended with something sharper, citrus and heat.
As her wolf grows stronger, so does her scent.
“I don’t want to wait anymore,” she says, meeting my eyes with quiet determination.
She might think she’s ready but once I claim her, I will never let her go.
“Are you sure?” I murmur, my tongue tracing her jaw and brushing her lips.
“Yes,” she moans softly. “I’m sure, Maurice. I want you. It’s just…”
“What?” I pull back slightly.
“I’ve never been with anyone. You’re the only man who’s ever kissed me.
I guess… I’m yours. In every way.”
A low groan rips from my chest.
She has no idea what she does to me.
No idea the restraint it’s taken from me and my wolf to hold back since the day we found her sleeping in that warehouse months ago.
I’d thought I’d lost her forever.
Having her here beneath me now is almost enough to undo me.
“We can stop anytime,” I tell her gently. “Just say the word. I won’t be angry. Okay?”
“Okay.”
She’s been betrayed too many times.
Used. Taken from. Hurt.
Another reason I’d wanted to wait I needed her to trust us. To know she’s safe. To know we’re meant to be together.
If not today…
There will always be tomorrow.
I will always protect her.
Always choose her.
In every way that matters.